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REITERATION.7rom out lt;ho long ugo There stents the ln'auly of :* thought A noble poet nobly wrought.I fa every won! I know.Anil yet 1 n .itl It uVrwl o'er,Anil every n mling umkcs it more.1 From out tho dri-muy postA grnnil nlil Illr. n dear old strain,I Floats kirk lo memory ugniu,1 And memory holds It fast.*! And still I lovr its sound alt; much4 As though not knowing every touoh.^ Ton love mr. Vm, 1 know.1 know it wi ll, liy life rind death.I know It by your latrst l.mitli That whispered s'Ah.tho.r itsA RAILROAD GHOST.Ghosts! snort oil the conductor scornfully. Why. mini ulivr. tho woods mo lull of ’em in these inoiintriiiis. dust wait till wn toko tho .shllng for No. :i tu pa—, anil I’ll tell you about Granny Whittaker and her cow, whoso spooks I soon with air own oycs. Ghosts! Tliero's at least into fall grown sjiook fur every mile post tin tbfl division.No it wns I held my peaee util II t lie I raid was safely on the slillng and we weiv pnlhcroil nnmnil the stove in the calniose. Tho wind was howling wildly through the gorges, inn Icing I he windows rattle anil Uio doors creak, while the unusual draft mused the iron slave lo glow redly in il .■ winltwilight. One fell mighl.v ciiinforta-liloinside the fab tlial evening.Now, nimnt them spook-, remarked tlio eomlnelor. pulling away his limeli poll mill lighting Ills pipe. I'm mil goin to toll you any fahey tales, hm just give you a short arroum of what I seen with my own eyes one winter alum! ten years ago, and you run believe It or not, as you sou fit. At that time 1 was front, brake man tin old llill Staley's crew, ami we had till! Unmoor belli the toughest, gang on Hi-division all through, iiieliidin t lie engineer anil 11 roman. Pole Smith was at Hi.’ throttle, and I do solemnly lieli. tv he was tlio most. Impious num oil the fact! of the earth. Swear! Why, profanity enme to liin lips easier than anything else. I've seen him sit down on a log and rur.se the road from president to apprentice heeaiise a nut got loose or a tmuplln broke.And he was us rrauky as he was profane. For Instance. one day hi’ got il intn bill head the telegraph operator at Hie Tunnel kept the red signal up a lew second* longer than nieessar.v. tvlib h nils-rl hill wrath, so that when lire I.e.:,! linally dropped old IMe wouldn't start. Inn in-slioid got a wrench anil began mUIn ..If a cylinder head. We knew 11 wasn't any a-e rumonsirutlu with liiui. as he’d have his own sweet will in the matter. Meantime train idler train drew up behind im. ami thodi-pnlcher at tlu-oilier end el the division was nearly crazy. 1 !e ad by wire several limes wlml was lire mall. and ai Inst sent a me-sage ibv.-aienin i-n-puinl Pule unless he got -lul led wit Idi. tell lain tiles.Will’ll he gel Ibis word. Pole, who all the t ibin had been Mukcrin with I lie eylin-ilcr ii’i If lie was nml;in big repairs, began to swear, lie -at dawn on I be plba anil salivated that dlspnteher until words failed him. Then he renewed his leisurely work upon I ho engine. At. Iasi ho got'in the mood to start idler we had laid there hours and d(l mill lilts. The vvnrsl of it was nobody eoulil say positively the cylinder didn't need repairs, no nothin'was done.I mentioned this just to show tvhal a mean, cantankerous cuss Pete was, and so you’d better understand what I'm goin to tell you. Ten years ago the emiiitrv hereabouts wasn't near as well settled as II is now. Tho old residenters weren't ate -good ell her. They Imil the name of belli a had let, and nlxjut '.lie worst was Granny Whittaker, who lived in a rickniy lliilo lag linnso lit a clearln nenr the lop of the mountain. Il wns said she was a witch, and most people avoided her as they would thnnlil Kick.Nl’.u lmd an old uiouluy cow tlml used to run free all over lie- maintain, often its not tiikin tho railroad Tor a short, cut. homo. That cow mused lots of tnmhle, for thero wasn’t, tin engineev on tlu-dlvi-sion who wouldn't a blame slgln rather slap his engine nml clmsc the hrnle a wav Hum Incur Granny Whittaker's anger In killln it— Hint Is, except In Pete, One day that cow got on the track ahead of liliii when lie was In mi extra had humor, and lie tried to run It down, snyln hod send the enw to kingdom come if lie gel. linn clianco. llegot.it. The next day the etnv wasn’t quick enough, anil Pete eauglit it w|unru in the center, kneekin It down the hank like a feather. Then he laughed. I think it tvas the first time I ever heal’d him laugh, and along with the n-t of Hie trainmen I didn’t like It a hit. for we wns all afeared of Granny Whittaker.Tho followin day when we reaehrd that spot again there was a red Hag si irk n tip hoi ween the rails, foul rare a- P.te was, be didn’t, dare run past a danger signal, so ha Mowed for breaks, and lie- tram came to a stop. All at, onrc aid Graiinv Whllinkcr rose up from somewhere anil ojioiiRd on l’ele. Silo called down the nm-l blood curdling curs.s on him.I ever heard, liar skinny linger paint in at him anil her ryes Hash In lire and lirlmsfonc. Old I Vie wiggled ami tried toiiii.swer.hiil she didn't give him a elinncc until slm ran out of breat h. I wns look I a for him to do some svvcarin himself, hut. ho only wild, Nliel tip, yo old ling, or I'll send ye to jinn the cow.' Than ho started Ids engine.Sho run alongside hisrnh. anil scremn-io, ‘I'll put a spoil on yon unit yonren-gino. you murderer!' threw a litlln bottle of what looked llko ink at him. It hit the window and busted, Ilyin nil over him arid the ongine. She cackled and veiled with delight: ’ Vou ll die l,y your own i n-plno, you wrolcli, mid me' and my row will haunt you,' no the onpina moved awoy. Pete wiped Hie stnfl off wit I. some waste ami said nelldn. I saw the ,,l.l woman Mmnlln and polntln nfler as iill wo turned tho IkiiuI.■'Ahoiit a week after that we were changed from a day ion night, run. In spittief old Pete’s crankiness he wns one of tlio best engineers on I he road and had one of the. hi st engines loo. No when t liing-hi’irnn to go wrong with the machinery old 21)0 tlio master mechanic couldn't uu-derstiuid It. ...... would rim allfight for a spell and then got balky. At s'lieh limes it wouldn't steam, the valves would slick, druwhomls would he jerked out, or the lire would get choked up. nil npjiarently wllhcut any came. Of course everybody hlamed l’ete, hut after the road foreinnn of engines made two „r three t rips In her It was sren Pete wasn't respon-sllile. Ho they sent her to the shop for general repairs, and Pile was given nuulhrr engine on unothur run. It was about two months before2D0 was turned outfor scrv-Ico ugiilit Iu Iho meantime old Granny Whittaker wns found dead und wns hurleilIn her garden, the cmircli jionplo retuslu tu let her lie in cunseerated ground.’’ l*’or a week nfler Sim wns n’liaireil she run like a charm. Then they pm her back on our run, and l’ete took her again. We started out the llrst night with a heavy train, anil belli front lirakeman my place was oil Hie ears next in tho engine. It was raw and foggy, the kind of weather to make a man feel nervous in spite of lilmself. especially when goin through these mountains I was thinkin of this will’ll 1 heard I’clo blow for brakes, or rather a- if (hero WIIS somethin on the track. I edged ever to the sido of the box ears between which 1 was stamlin, and huldinon to the grab irons tried tnsce what was the matter, .lust tin'll I felt a sofl Immp anil saw .- iiicHiIii Unable down the hank. •Thai's an aiiiiiml,' thought I, hut. will'll the train Slopped and we nil went luiek to look for it not a tiling could ho found.'Thai's mighl.v funny,' said Pole. ‘I'm sure I hit a cow.- Cow'r' said the flagman. 'Why, thero ain't a cow within l’ii miles of here since Granny Whittaker's was killed.'Then Hie same thought seemed to strike all of us as the fireman remarked thut this was the exact spot where the old woman's cow had been killed. Nobody wanted to seem afeared. hilt wo all hustled hack to the train, not savin a word, except iu Pote. who begun oiirshi the old woman, licr cow and cows in general. Ail of a sudden the underbrush rattled, and there stood Granny Whittaker.Now. I'm not tellin you a fairy tale, or mnkin anythin up. I'm jti-t tellin what 1 saw. ami I don't mean to lev . pkdli It. hut there stood the ol,| worn:.’, v.k .had ...... dead for weeks, point In her linger c,tPete. Then she disappeared as quick asGrahhiii a lamp, Pole rushed into the Woods and swindled all around, hut not a -iii of a human hcln could lie found. I tell you that frightened us nil hut Pete, lie swore It was « trick, and that he'd get I veil Willi whoever was tivin to fool liiui.Next night Hie same thing happened, except in uu one hut Pete tried to And the mysterious cow or Hie old woman, who appeared al. i lie ditch I he same as liu'nre. Pete lin’d a pi.-hil at her. hut she only hissed and vanished. The third night Peteasked me to ride in .......... with him,and although it was ag.-iin-l llle rales I (lid anted, for ton-11 the truth I wasa frai’ll tri’lf.. thing seemed to go wrung Hint night. We were nearly an hour late gel tin darted, ami before we had gone ten miles i coal ear jumped the track, eauslll 10 minutes' delay. In tryin to yank it on n drawhead was pulled out, and wo had to rig up a chain ■ampUii. Then somethin beneath the holler worked loose, ami Pete tinkered at It Jo mlnnles before he made -e all this didn't Improve by i lie Hme we got on a is ..... and eursinciv.Well, when we reached Unit, stretch of track when’we'll killed Hie enw there wns Hie hrnle on Hie ties as usual, only old Granny Whittaker was stamlin beside It. I stiwlhnl as plain as I .-ee you siltiji on Hint keg I Ids in-lam. Pole was crazy mad, and instead .-I reversln lie ripped' out a curse, put on a full head of steam, and ..... give a jerk which nearlyknocked If the lank. I reckon wowen- goin all miles an hour when the pilot struck 'em./.Ip! Hump! Th went Ilyin downthe hank. Then Pete give a yell. Gankin pa-i him. 1 saw somethin erawliu over the pilot ami steam cl,c,i. It. was Granny Midi taker. .Maybe T wasn't searral. She reached up and grasped the saml rod und turned lier eyes an Pete. God, how horrible she looked!Then slm beckoned to him. and would you believe il, hu got up and crawled out on the footboard toward her. The (lronmn and me was paralyzed. We couldn't say a word or move a linger. The engineer moved slowly toward the ohl woman, and she stepped I nick ward, w-cmiii to Influence him hv her eyre. Back, linek, on in tin steam che.-i. then-oii to the pilot and tliei around in hunt.of the boiler rail.uf on sight she led him. A scroml later w heard a yell.That broke the spell, and Iid Ioff IMowed for liruks. The tcrrlllo speed al which we were innvln caused us to go a CMUsittrrnlilc disianee M’fore we stopped, hut as soon as the train slackened we jumped off and rim furwurtl. Pete wasn’t there. We didn't think lie would he. Wn found him u mile buck, mid them wasn'l a whole I lone in hi- body. The next ilav -uglne gun exploded within fill feet, of theWtll’l. I -I IVI hose ihlngs with my own eyes, and I'm not tellin you any yarns, lull Urn downright truth. Some time if I get arlmncc I'll tell you aboutmint her spool,, bill I guess you don't wunt any more tonight 1 dill mil.—t'Meugii Tribune.Music by (lie Hand In Africa.A great crowd had coilraled, siligin,■ •pen nmin hud. mil led Iw n man withdrum nhaiii four r.a t hie I the top ofWllicll W.l- -I,-el. In ,1 piece n| skill llllllllta fool 111 illmm III. lie lilt Hiis near the edge with Hie palm of his hand near Hie wrist, producing a comparatively deep note, and with his lingers In the middle to producer, higher note. Hcnlwnys thumped Il ill three time—low note once, high m twice—will, unvarying regularity and with ahsolnie luilllViTeiiee as to whetli Hie crowd amnial him were singing In ..... three. The singing wan muchof the clmmi’icr we had heard before, only here the tenors and basses were morn oi less separated Into groups, mid at time.* Hie singing was In parts, like a catch, different people coining in at different times. Sometimes there would he solos, with tlio chorus singing a word or two at intervals, mid a regular chorus al tho end of eachverse -if verso it Id he called when thesame words were repealed each lime.— N'u tlonal Itoview.The Man Who Sings.Give us, nil, give us, writes Carlyle, the man who sings nl his work I Bo his occu-pation wind II may, he Is superlarto those who follow the sumo pursuit In silent sul-lonncss. lie will do more in the same time, ho will do It better, he will persevere longer. Onu Is scarcely sensible of fullguc while onu marches la music. The very f.tnrs are said ■ make haranmy as thcy revolve in their spheres. Wondrous Is tho Strength of cheerfulness; ’altogether past calculation are its powers of endurance. KlVorts, lo lie pcniiiiiicilHy useful, must ho uniformly joyous, a spirit all sunshine, IK'tirefa 1 from very glmlness, heamlful he-cause bright.Her Itensou.Ihd why liaVo you thrown GeorgnOh, 1 Imle 1dm! The other evening he nsLed me If lie might give me a kiss, ami because 1 said he didn't.—Lon-
Newspaper Details
Roanoke Daily Times
Roanoke, Virginia, US
Tue, Sep 24, 1895
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 03 Jul 2024
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