Part 15 (2/2)
I did not recognise the young ay costu and silver spectacles; he looked like a respectable divine of the Church of England, of about sixty-four years of age; to complete that character, he held a volume of serht have been his own
”'I do not wish to threaten you, young lady,' he resumed, 'and I think, besides, that I can trust your kind face Will you promise me not to reveal this metamorphosis until your journey's end?'
”'I will,' said I, 'uard and a person in plain clothes looked into our carriage
”'You have the ticket,to h he were my father
”'Never mind, sir; we don't want them,' said the official, as he withdrew his companion
”'I shall now leave you, madam,' observed my fellow-traveller, as soon as the coast was clear; 'by your kind and courageous conduct you have saved my life and, perhaps, even your own'
”In another one, and the train was indid I learn froentleery to an enormous amount, in London, a few hours before I met him, and that he had been tracked into the express train froraph had been put in , when the train was searched, he was nowhere to be found”
SAFETY ON THE FLOOR
Many concussions give no warning of their approach, while others do, the usual pre of the train It is well to know that the bottoe is the safest place, and, therefore, when a person has reason to anticipate a concussion, he should, without hesitation, throw hie It was by this means that Lord Guillaers some years since, when a concussion took place on one of the Irish railways His Lordshi+p feeling a shock, which he knew to be the forerunner of a concussion, withoutopposite to hie; the astonished persons at first iined that they had been set upon by afor their liberty, but in a few seconds they but too well understood the nature of the case; the concussion cae in which Lord Guillamore and the other two persons as shattered to pieces, while the floor was untouched, and thus left thees of the train presented nothing but a ghastly spectacle of dead and wounded
-_The Railway Traveller's Handy Book_
LIFE UPON THE RAILWAY, BY A CONDUCTOR
The Western Division of our road runs through a very inia, and the stations are few and far between About three h a deep gorge of the Blue Ridge, and near the centre is a s hills, stood a s cabin
The few acres that surrounded it ell cultivated as a garden, and upon the fruits thereof lived aand her three children, by the name of Graff They were, indeed, untutored in the cold charities of an outside world-I doubt much if they ever saw the sun shi+ne beyond their own native hills In the suht berries to the nearest station to sell, and with the ht a few of the necessities of the outside refinee to be about twelve years, and the youngest about seven They were all girls, and looked nice and clean, and their healthful appearance and natural delicacy gave theht up to fear God and love their humble hoet off at their ho found the of their berries
I had children at ho three miles, and therefore felt that it would be the same with these fatherless little ones They seemed so pleased to ride, and thankedthem off near ho baskets of fruit fortheir full value
Now, if you remember, the winter of '54 was very cold in that part of the State, and the snoas nearly three feet deep on the ht of the 26th of December, of that year, it turned around warm, and the rain fell in torrents A terrible storm swept the mountain tops, and alhtits way, at its usual speed, around the hills and through the valleys, and as the road-bed was all solid rock, I had no fear of the banks giving out The night was intensely dark, and the winds es of theto sleep, others were talking in a low voice, to relieve the monotony of the scene Mothers had their children upon their knees, as if to shi+eld theht, when a sharp whistle froer by that whistle, and sprang to the brakes at once, but the brakesht the train to a stop I seized my lantern and found aze! A bright fire of pine logs illuminated the track for some distance, and not over forty rods ahead of our train a horrible gulf had opened its ether with the rain, had torn the whole side of the mountain out, and eternity itself seemed spread out before us TheGraff and her children had found it out, and had brought light brush froe fire to warn us of our danger They had been therebeside that beacon of safety As I went up where that old lady stood drenched through by the rain and sleet, she grasped my arm and cried: