Year: 1875

that he did not find it easy to keep
pace with her along the track, and that
when they reached the little station he
was more exhausted than She In fact,
when they had effected an entrance to
the building, he had just breath enough
left to peevishly inquire what she meant
to do, while she, thanks to her long
training in the gymnasium, was toler-
ably cool


" want match," said she, "to light
the gas"


There amt no gas" said Johnny.


To light the lamp, then. Stop; how
many matches have you?"


Cone said Johnny, searching his
pockets eff my mother let me smoke
I'd have more, but matches amt no good
to me, you see."


| Find the lamp first, then" said she:
"we can't risk the match"
/ Johnny found the lamp while she took
off her gloves, lighted it, and then
again inquired: "What are you going
to do ?'


Telegraph" said she, shortly, sitting
down at the operators desk.


Telegraph! You" said he.


&c Precisely" said she; 1 learned ut
school,"


| The next three minutes, she says, gave
her first gray hairs. Would they notice
her signal at the Office in the great city
SO many miles off, or would they be too
busy with listening to the messages from
more important stations, and would her
petition for help be inaudible9 Would
they be able to signal along the line of
her own town, where she knew that the
telegraph office was open all night, and
have messenger sent to the railway sta
ton i'll time to stop that train which was
t1nveling swiftly along the line to sure
, destruction, bearing that president whose
whole fortune was in the line, and with
out whom the whole thing would go up"
Would Christmas be day of sorrow to
! the loving hearts which were waiting for
the many men and women on that train,
or would it be made day of thanksgiv-
ing for danger escaped Again and
again she made her signal slowly and
clearly, and at last the answer came,
! evidently give: by an operator with
plenty of time, and some surprised i'll
humor:


"What on earth do you WANT


Back went the answer, "Stop the eX-
press train on the Southern road Plot
to kill the president.


The answer was prompt: "Send a
message off Immediately" Ten minutes
latter came another message. Have re-
! ceived a telegram from Creysville. Man
gone down to the station. Train will be
stopped. Tell us about it."


But the telegraph operator at the cen
tral station was racked with the pangs of
curiosity for hours, for Miss Fairbanks
tainted, and Johnny did not know the
telegraphic alphabet, and was slightly
afraid of the apparatus, having vague
! ideas as to its capabilities of "going
off, and when she recovered, the oil in
the lamp was exhausted, and she did not
care to try to signal in the dark, and was
too nervous to do 40 inteligibly, even if
she had tried.


At last, at Johnny's suggestion, she
gathered together her scattered faculties,
and the two walked slowly up the road,
clambered over the pile, which might
have been so fatal but for them, and
went Oh toward the station. Suddenly,
to their intense horror, they saw the
headlight Of an engine approaching
them. Had all their labor been in vain ?
Miss Fairbanks screamed and johnny
shouted, and the engine, which was
moving very slowly and to which no
train was attached, stopped almost i'm
mediately, and half dozen men came
toward them


Johnny told the story, and Miss Fair
/ banks stood and listened, and everybody
shook hands with her, and she found
that she was heroine, and also that the
| president and his son were in the party
to which she was talking, and she also
learned that gratitude could be oppres-
sive; and then they all got upon the en-
gine and steamed down to the obstacle
and inspected it, and then Miss Fair
banks was sent back to her own town on
the engine, with u man who carried an
order from the president for the i'm
mediate dispatch of construction train
and a gang of men. She went home and
went to bed, and her family physician
says to this day that if she hadn't been a
disgrace to her sex she would have had a
brain fever, instead of which she was up
and ready to receive the president and
his son when they called upon her in the
evening. "And that's all about her
Christmas eve, seven years ago." said
Lenox, ascending the door-steps of his
boarding house.


" Is that really all (" / asked.
Oh, you want to know what came of
its" asked Lenox, with provoking
smile. "Well, she married the presi-
dents son. He's my cousin, and that Is
why | know the story so well. Good
night"