St. Landry Democrat

A GREAT ENTERPRISE

Science Allied With Love Makes a Useful "Circuit."

John Mills, the hero of this sketch, was a railroad engineer, and had been for a long time in the company's employ. When the new engine "59" was completed and placed on the road, John was given charge of it, and he evinced a natural pride in his preferment. At one of the stations there was a young girl, a telegraphic operator, between whom and the engineer there had sprung up a warm attachment, and whenever "59" came along Kate generally managed to be at the door and exchange signals with her lover. One day the train was detained at the station, and the locomotive detached and sent up the road to do some additional work, and Kate went along for a ride. As she listened to the sharp, shrill notes of the whistle, it occurred to her that she might teach John to sound her name in the Morse telegraphic characters, so that she could distinguish his signal from that of the other engines, whenever his train approached. The plan worked to a charm, and far and near the whistle shrieked K-a-t-e, until one day, as the operator stepped upon the platform, she overheard a conversation between two young men, and learned that they understood the signal and were laughingly wondering who Kate could be. Their means of communication having been discovered, they were obliged to discontinue it. In the meantime Kate had, by means of the telegraph, made the acquaintance of a young lady in a distant city, but whom she had never seen, and to her she had made known the fact that that secret had been discovered. Then her friend suggested a plan as brilliant as it was ingenious. It was simply to arrange a means of telegraphic communication between the approaching train and the station, so as to ring a bell hidden away in the closet in Kate's office, engine '59' being the only one provided with means of completing the circuit, which was done by laying the poker upon the tender brake so as to touch the wire in passing. Kate found an opportunity to acquaint John with the proposed plan, and in the meantime had found an abandoned wire which ran for a long distance close by the track, and which she proposed to use for carrying out her purpose. Thanksgiving Day came soon after, and John fortunately having a holiday, he and Kate went bravely to work, and before the day had ended the task was a complete success. The dramatic finale of their little episode is told in the following:

It was singular how absent-minded and inattentive the operator was on the day that the great scientific enterprise was finished. No wonder she was disturbed. Would the new line work? Would her little battery be strong enough for such a great circuit? Would John be able to close it? The people began to assemble for the train. The clock pointed to the hour for its arrival.

Suddenly, with startling distinctness, the bell rang clear and loud in the echoing room. With a cry of delight she put on her dainty hat and ran in haste out upon the platform. The whistle broke loud and clear on the cool, crisp air, and "59" appeared round the curve in the woods. The splendid monster slid swiftly up to her feet and paused.

"Perfect, John! Perfect! It works to a charm."

With a spring she reached the cab, and sat down on the fireman's seat.

"Blessed if I could tell what he was going to do," said the fireman. "He told me about it. Awful bright idea! You see, he laid the poker on the tender-brake there, and it hit the tree slam, and I saw the wires touch. It was just prime."

But the happy moments sped, and "59" groaned and slowly departed, while Kate stood on the platform, her face wreathed in smiles and white steam.

So the lovers met each day, and none knew how she was made aware of his approach with such absolute certainty. Science applied to love, or rather love applied to science, can move the world.

Two weeks passed, and then there suddenly arrived at the station late one evening a special with the directors' car attached. The honorable directors were hungry—they always are—and would pause on their journey and take a cup of tea and a bit of supper. The honorables and their wives and children filled the station, and the place put on quite a gala aspect. As for Kate, she demurely sat in her den, book in hand, and over its unread pages admired the gay party in the waiting-room.

Suddenly, with furious rattle, her electric bell sprang into noisy life. Every spark of color left her face, and her book fell with a dusty slam to the floor. What was it? What did it mean? Who rang it? With affrighted face she burst from her office and brushed through the astonished people and out upon the snow-covered platform.

There stood the directors' train on the track of the on-coming train.

"The conductor! Where is he? Oh, sir! Start! Start! Get to the siding. The express is coming."

With a cry she snatched a lantern from a brakeman's hand, and in a flash was gone. They saw her light pitching and dancing through the darkness, and they were lost in wonder and amazement. The girl is crazy! No train is due now! There can be no danger. She must be—

Ah! that horrible whistle. Such a wild shriek on a winter's night! The men sprang to the train, and the women and children fled in frantic terror in every direction.

"Run for your lives," screamed the conductor. "There's a smash-up coming!"

A short, sharp scream from the whistle. The headlight gleamed on the snow-covered track, and there was a mad rush of sliding wheels, and the gigantic engine roared like a demon. The great "59" slowly drew near and stopped in the woods. A hundred heads looked out, and a stalwart figure leaped down from the engine and ran in the bright of the headlight.

"Kate!"

"Oh! John, I"

She fell into his arms senseless and white, and the lantern dropped from nerveless hand.

They took her up tenderly and bore her into the station house and laid her on the sofa in the ladies' room. With hushed voices they gathered round to offer aid and comfort. Who was she? How did she save the train? How did she know of its approach?

"She is my daughter," said the old station master. "She tends the telegraph."

The president of the railroad, in his gold-bowed spectacles, drew near. One grand lady in silk and satin pillowed Kate's head on her breast. They all gathered near to see if she revived.

She opened her eyes and gazed about, dreamily, as if in search of something.

"Do you wish anything, my dear?" said the president, taking her hand.

"Some water, if you please, sir; and I want—I want"

"Are you looking for any one, miss?"

"Yes—no—it is no matter. Thank you, ma'am, I feel better. I sprained my foot on the sleepers when I ran down the track. It is not severe, and I'll sit up."

They were greatly pleased to see her recover, a quiet buzz of conversation filled the room. How did she know it? How could she tell the special was chasing us? Good Heavens! If she had not known it, what an awful loss of life there would have been. It was very careless in the superintendent to follow our train in such a reckless manner.

"You feel better, my dear?" said the president.

"Yes, sir, thank you, I'm sure. I'm thankful I knew John—I mean the engineer—was coming."

"You can not be more grateful than we are to you for averting such a disastrous collision."

"I'm sure I am pleased, sir. I never thought the telegraph—"

She paused abruptly.

"What telegraph?"

"I'd rather not tell, sir."

"But you will tell us how you knew the engine was coming?"

"Must you know?"

"We ought to know in order to reward you properly."

She put her hand in a gesture of refusal, and was silent. The president and directors consulted together, and two of them came to her and briefly said they would be glad to know how she had been made aware of the approaching danger.

"Well, sir, if John is willing, I will tell you all."

John Mills, the engineer, was called and he came in, cap in hand, and the entire company gathered round in the greatest eagerness.

Without the slightest affectation she put her hand on John's grimy arm, and said:

"Shall I tell them, John? They wish to know about it. It saved their lives, they say."

"And mine, too," said John, reverently. "You had best tell them, or let me."

She sat down again, and then and there John explained how the open circuit line had been built, and how it was used, and frankly told why it had been erected.

Never did story create profounder sensation. The gentlemen shook hands with him, and the president actually kissed her for the company. A real corporation kiss, loud and hearty. The ladies fell upon her neck, and actually cried over the splendid girl. Even the children pulled her dress and put up their arms about her neck, and kissed away the happy tears that covered her cheeks.

Poor child! She was covered with confusion, and knew not what to say or do, and looked imploringly to John.

He drew near, and proudly took her hand in his, and she brushed away the tears and smiled.

The gentlemen suddenly seemed to have found something very interesting to talk about, for they gathered in a knot in the corner of the room. Presently the president said aloud:

"Gentlemen and directors, you must pardon me, and I trust the ladies will do the same, if I call you to order for a brief matter of business."

There was a sudden hush, and the room, now packed to suffocation, was painfully quiet.

"The secretary will please take minutes of this meeting."

The secretary sat down at Kate's desk, and there was a little pause.

"Mr. President!"

Every eye turned to a corner where a gray-haired gentleman had mounted a chair.

"Mr. President!"

"Mr. Graves, director for the State, gentlemen."

"I beg leave, sir, to offer a resolution."

Then he began to read from a slip of paper:

"Whereas, John Mills, engineer of engine no. '59,' of this railway line, erected a private telegraph; and, whereas, he, with the assistance of the telegraph operator of this station (I leave a blank for her name), used the said line without the consent of the company, and for other than railway business;

"It is resolved that he be suspended permanently from his position as engineer, and that the said operator be requested to resign—"

A murmur of disapprobation filled the room, but the president commanded silence, and the State director went on:

"—resign her place.

"It is further resolved, and is hereby ordered, that the said John Mills be and is appointed chief engineer of the new repair shops at Slawson."

A tremendous cheer broke from the company, and the resolution was passed with a shout of assent.

How it ended they never knew. It seemed like a dream, and they could not believe it true till they stood alone in the winter's night on the track beside the glorious 59. The few cars the engine had brought up had been joined to the train, and "59" had been rolled out on the siding. With many hand-shakings for John, and hearty kisses for Kate, and a round of parting cheers for the two, the train had sped away. The idlers had dispersed, and none lingered about the abandoned station save the lovers. "59" would stay that night on the siding, and they had walked up the track to bid it a long farewell.

For a few moments they stood in the glow of the great lamp, and then he quietly put it out, and left the giant to breathe away its fiery life in gentle clouds of white steam. As for the lovers, they had no need of its light. The winter stars shone upon them, and the calm, cold night seemed a paradise below.—Woman's Magazine