Year: 1877

o CLOCK. The hours at the railwa


station were marked as by some gi


gantic clock that told the laggard mir


utes by screaming whistle and clano


ing bell. The 4 40 accommodate


had gone east, the western express


due there at 4:55, had thundere,
| through the village, gone on over til


great vladuct, and disappeared roun,


the vast curve beyond.


80 one counted the hours by tn


trains, Lydia by name, a girl of tn


pest New England type, quiet, an,


yet with an immense capacity for do


ing and daring should love and the q,


caslon demand. The local freigh


would have came next and then-ther
she would see him again. She laic
aside her work, put some split-zephy1
vanity upon her head and went out
toward the railroad. As she approach.
ed the station she saw her brother.
the station master, opening the little
freight house on the further side of
the track. BY this she knew that the
local freight would stop this time.
Her heart beat the faster and she
quickened her steps.


On reaching the passenger station
where the village street crossed the
railway, she looked up and down the
line and then crossed over and turned
to the left and walked beside the
track toward the freight house.


To understand all that took place
on this occasion, and to fully appre-
clate her consummate skill in con-
trolling the events so quickly to crowd
upon her, we must study the con-
struction of the road at this point.
The main line for more than a mile
to the right, or toward the east, was
perfectly straight and comparatively
level. To the left, or the west, it
crossed a deep valley by lofty stone
and beyond the valley it /
curved toward the north and mounted
he hill by long grade. Just east
'f the passenger station branch
Dad entered the main line and there
vas, as might be supposed, a cross
'ver switch. Beyond the passenger
tation, on the west. was a short sid
hS endlng In small freight house,
md directly opposite was another sid
ng with a freight shed and coal yard.
1t this point there WAS also another
r1ss5nfr ia walked on past the freight
ouse. and crossing the side track,
,und large fiat rock beside the way
nd there, under the shades ofan all
ent apple tree, she sat down to wait =.
II her lover should come.


He comes! She heard the three
ing whistles souLd far down the line,
nd bright blush mounted to her
Lce. The train would stop. That
as the signal for the train master.
Ter brother came out of the freight
Ouse, spoke pleasantly to her and
len walked on towards the switch at
le head of the siding.
Suddenly the main line track b e.
re her began to sing in sharp metalic
urmurs. The train had entered that
,ction of the road and he was near.
hen there came the sound Of escaping
cam. The engine was slowing down :
ld the steam, no longer employed,
as bursting with lound roar from
ls safety valve as if impatient Of de-
".


With jar that shook the ground
le immense freight engine rolled past
cr, and the engineer, leaning out
{ his window, nodded to her rs he .
id past. Then the cars in long pro-
ession came into sight and moved
asst with slowly decreasing speed.
our brakemen busy at the brakes
'ent past, and still he came not. At
lst, the rear car appeared, and a
oung man swung himself down from
ne iron ladder on the car and sprang
0 the ground at her feet.


A sooty man, clad in blue canvas
ow black with smoke and dust. Only
brakeman! No; a trifie better
he conductor of the freight train. A
ear ago he had been glad to take
he place of q brakeman, and already
e had been promoted. Love did it.
lie had met and loved Lydia in the
Law of his foolish idleness, and she
Iad insisted that he do some manly
york or she cohld not-yes, she could
md did love him, but he must show
himself worthy of her love. Already
he had advanced, and she was well
pleased with his progress, and they
lad become engaged.


A grimy, dusty man in unlovely
but, in her eyes, he was q
man made for better things. AS he
stood beside her one could see in
her clear eyes and sensible face that
he had good stuff in him and was wor-
thy Of her love.


1t becomes us not to linger while
they talk quietly together beside the
track. The train moved slower and
slower till finally it stopped with the
last car just beyond the switch. The
iron horse was moved on, the station
master signalled with his arms in
curious fashion. and each Of the four
brakeman repeated the motion in turn.
White pufs of steam rose high in the


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