Part 29 (2/2)

But the clever ine had been noticed by a peasant in a field, and Hodge, in his wonderan to talk about the affair all round the country-side Then the story found its way to a station ht theadvised not to do the saain It was held that under the circumstances the train should have been stopped

ENGINE DRIVERS' PRESENCE OF MIND

An able writer upon railway topics remarks:-”I have alluded to a driver's coolness and resolution in an accident, but no chronicle ever has or ever will be written which will tell one tithe of the accidents which the courage and presence of mind of these ht be called an arm of the sea: as it was the inlet to an ied to be , and so the piece of line which crossed the water, at a height of seventy feet, was, in fact, a bridge which swung round when large vessels had to pass I need hardly say that such a point was carefully guarded At each end, at a fitting distance, a e was open or shut One day, as the express was tearing along on its up journey, the driver received the usual 'all right' signal; but to his horror, on coe, he found it ide open, and a gulf of fatal depth yawning before him

He sounded his brake-whistle, that deep-toned screauard, and he and his fireulator The speed of the train was, of course, checked; but so short was the interval, so great had been the impetus, that it see over into the chasree slippery, any of the brakes out of order, or the driver less determined, there would then have occurred the land; but by dint of quick decision and cool courage the danger was averted; the train was brought to a standstill when the buffers of the engine absolutely and literally overhung the chasht have had to be chronicled

”Some of my readers may remember an incident in railway history which dates back to our first great Exhibition Iknown the driver whose coolness was so radient, the hinds when at the top; the engine rattled on with the remainder, while these ran down the slope, which was several th, with a velocity which, of course, increased every moment To make matters worse, the next train on the same line was coht The driver of this second train, a watchful and experienced hand, saw the carriages rushi+ng towards him, and divined that they were on the sa on, of course, in a couple of minutes he would come into direct collision with thees would probably gather such way that they would leap froment of speed, he ran back at a pace not quite as fast as the carriages were approaching, so that eventually they overtook hiine with a blow that was scarcelyon a fresh carriage When this was done, all the rest was easy; he resuers safely before him until they reached their destination, where the officials, as may readily be supposed, were in a state of frantic despair at the loss of half the train”

A SMUGGLING LOCOMOTIVE

A singular adaptation of the loco been given to the authorities at Alexandrovo, on the Polish frontier, that the loco that station for Warsaw had been ingeniously converted into a receptacle for s its sojourn at the station

Though nothing was found wrong, it was deemed advisable that a custom-house official should accoine furnace and boiler were emptied and deliberately taken to pieces In the interior was discovered a secret co one hundred and twenty-three pounds of foreign cigars and several parcels of valuable silk Several arrests werethat of the driver; but his astonish accustoainst the laas so genuine that he was released and allowed to return to his duties

THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY

An English lady accusto abroad, and able to converse fluently in the languages of the countries she visited, recently found herself alone in a railway carriage in Gerners entered with pipes in theirtobacco furiously

She quietly told thee, but they persisted in continuing to s that it was ”the custom of the country,” upon which the lady took fro theust at the nauseous effluvium, when she remarked that it was the custom of her country She was soon left in the sole possession of the carriage

-_Truth_

AN INSULTED WOMAN

Mark Twain in his interesting work ”A Tramp Abroad,” thus refers to a railroad incident:-”We left Turin at 10 the nextby a railhich was profusely decorated with tunnels We forgot to take a lantern along, consequently we missed all the scenery Our compartment was full

A ponderous, tow-headed, Soman, who put on many fine-lady airs, but was evidentlyit, sat in a corner seat and put her legs across into the opposite one, propping them intermediately with her up-ended valise In the seat thus pirated sat two Areatly incommoded by that woed her, politely, to reave hi By-and-by he preferred his request again, with great respectfulness She said, in good English, and in a deeply offended tone, that she had paid her passage and was not going to be bullied out of her 'rights' by ill-bred foreigners, even if she _was_ alone and unprotected

”'But I have rights also, mada half of it'