Evening star., 1924-05-25
81 OUR VERY BEST PEOPLE 6

sensitive and somewhat vain, as al
good Irishmen are.
What Dan Yard saw of Hannah
over the rim of his cup she never
quite knew. He would begin. when
she asked him: II said to myself
Mrs. Dan Yard 7 felt all the blood
up in my head. fit to smother me-"
| 1T was the hot coffee"
| at was the hot love-" said Dan
being the reverse of mincing.
| He had finished his coffee that
| night, had reached for his glass OF
| ice water, swallowed it in one long
draught and had walked out
Why said the girl who had
hardly touched his doughnuts at all"
EOR six weeks Hannah withstood
him. In those six weeks she
learned much of Dan Yard. He came
from a family of railroad workers
His father had been Engineman John
Yard killed in the wreck at Algo-
dones, on the Santa Fe. Another
uncle killed acting as yardmaster at
La Junta. Two cousins were brake
men. Another a conductor. His fam
lily tree. and proud of it He had al
most gone through high school. Quit
his third year because he had to go
to work. BY next January he would
have his job as regular brakeman on
the main line. Then they could be
married
No. said Hannah, trying to laugh.
Then. NO" family, his eyes on hers
and her own closing flutteringly as
she felt his strong hand on her arm.
HiIda was in Europe. In January
Hannah wrote her, fearfully yet bold
ly-and certainly baldly-'1 am going
10 be married"
They had been married some weeks
before FIi1da' 8 reply reached them II
hope he's one of those millionaire
ranchers or oil kings that seem to
grow exclusively out there in the
west"
The hot tears of resentment came
to Hannahs eyes. She spent hard
earned dollars to cable her sister her
answer, unthriftily worded: Hes
king, all right, but not the kind you
mean. Dams a brakeman on the Santa
Fe railroad"
A cable from Hilda: You must be
insane Cable if a joke"
Hannah replied tersely, NO joke.
Silence. Silence that lasted twenty
years.
They went housekeeping in San
Ouerto. Hanna busted herself in the
little house with it's mission furni-
ture and it's Navajo rugs, but while
Dan was gone she found time heavy
on her hands. She learned telegraphy
and was a telegrapher at San Querto
for two years, until her first child
was born. They had two boys. Al
ways there was with her that little
fear ever present in the heart of the
railroad workers wife.
Dan. / wish you'd stop railroad
ing"
stop, What for"
I'm afraid you'll get k-hurt."
me, Nav, 1 won't get killed
"They did"
Not me-
She used to lie awake. always, on
the nights when he was out on his
run-wide awake, listening, until she
heard the whistle of seven. Dams
train. They made him freight train
conductor one year later. Not so
dangerous and better pay. A step
up the ladder. BY the time she had
got accustomed to her duties as
telegrapher in the little station at
San Querto he was promoted to yard
master at that point. Dangerous
again.
The rise of Dan Yard is history in
the annals of the Santa Fe road. From
brakeman to freight-train conductor;
conductor to yardmaster; yardmaster
to station master at San Querto.
Hannah with him all the time. toning
down his MISUNDERSTANDING him
down" she called it; saying quietly,
Nov, Dam when he became too
coltish. Just enough Tune in her to
keep him impressed Plenty of her
spirited mother to hold him.
At thirty he became an "office man:
clerk to the division superintendent
at San Querto. At thirty-three he