The Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Cherry Co., Neb.) 1896-1898, April 14, 1898, Image 6

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contentment
SAVED THE TRAIN
pine went through Polly was the sta
tion agent at Kane Creek Any one
could have told that a woman presided
in ihe little depot for was there not al
ways a bouquet in the window and
dainty pictures surrounding the grimy
ime tables on the walls and a kitten
curling upon the doorstep At 17 Polly
has gone in as assistant to learn teleg
raphy and when Clark the agent was
called to Mercer the company had left
the independent girl in charge She
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CHEEK was a railroad
KAXE on the S C Rail
read about two miles from the
divisional terminal at Mercer It was
in the midst of a scrubby pine forest
with a sandy road crooking out from
the trees on one side and into the trees
on the other There were only two or
three houses a little general store with
a porch like the visor of a military cap
and a schoolhouse all arranged in a
scraggy row along the railroad track
A dozen trains whirled through Kane
Creek every day with only a shriek of
greeting and a whipping wake of fine
sand Only two of theni paid the slight
est attention to the girl in a blue ging
ham dress who stood in the little ob
servation window One of them was
the way freight which stopped at
Kane every tinie it came along while
the conductor handed the girl a bundle
of yellow papers and received another
like it in return The other was the
night express westward bound from
St Paul and running at fortyvjniles an
liour It was a splendid train ten
cars with the finest engine on the road
big Xo GOG As its glaring eye flashed
around the bend in the direction of
Mercer the girl in the gingham dress
often thought of the great train as a
powerful and ferocious beast snorting
and roaring westward on a race with
the sun and she knew the hand that
trained it When the train was a mile
away there were always two blasts of
the whistle Every one in Kane
thought they meant simply Wake up
look out for that is what all locomo
tives say at every crossing but the girl
Su the gingham dress heard Hello
Polly and darted out on the platform
and waved her handkerchief As the
great train thundered nearer a hand
was thrust from the engineers win
dow and although it was usually dark
she could see the flutter of something
white and oftentimes as the engine
darted past the station she heard the
blurred sound of a voice and caught a
glimpse of a grimy face and a blue jean
jacket and then she went back tocher
place in the little station with a sigh of
sent her the warning dispatch so mys
terious interrupted She knew the ope
rator at Pinckney well Every night
he told her of the approach of her Tattl
ers train and whether or not it had
left his station on time
Pinckney quiet Cant get answer
was the report of the wires Whats
the trouble
Polly answered as well as she could
and Mercer made another attempt to
arouse Pinckney
Her fathers train was now due It
should be whistling cheerily at the
lower bend Polly stepped out on the
platform and peered up the track Yes
there was the familiar headlight She
would have known it among a hun
dred Then came the whistle Hello
Polly and Polly ran back into her
office much retieved and sat down to
warn Mercer At tibat instant she heard
a peculiar cracking sound that sent
her heart quivering deep in her bosom
Then there was the shrill scream of the
locomotive whistle suddenly interrupt
ed as if the hand that had drawn the
lever had been struck from its place
Polly knew it was a cry of distress
It seemed to say Help in a long
tremulous wail Instantly Polly dart
ed outside and flew up the track Al
ready the express should have thun
dered past the station but she could
see its headlight a hundred yards or
more away
With a hundred terrifying questions
flashing through her mind Polly ran
on through the gloom When she was
almost within range of the big head
light she saw half a dozen armed men
swarming around the engine she heard
fierce oaths and then the engine start
ed up again She saw in an Instant
that it had been cut free fromthe train
In the cab window where her father
usually stjood there was a big unfa
miliar figure managing the lever and
throttle Terrified Polly sprang to one
side into a clump ofJbushes As the
locomotive passed her on its way u
the track she saw that the man in the
cab wore a black mask on his face and
then she knew -what had happened
She understood why Pinckney had
For it was a moment of great joy to tried to warn her and failed Robbers
Polly Marshall when her fathers en
had held up the train and were pre
paring to rob the express car
For a moment Polly was torn with
doubt and terror Had they siot her
father She knew that he never would
submit to have his train captured with
out a struggle Should she go to him
Then she remembered her station and
the telegraph and without a moments
delay she was flying down the track
toward the depot She would send for
help to Mercer but squarely in front of
the little depot the locomotive stopped
and her father lived in one of the and theblack masked man sprang from
woooen nouses a stones throw back
from the depot and since Pollys moth
er died they had been everything to
each other
Engineer Marshall was a big silent
man and his companions some of
them thought him gruff and ill-tempered
but to Polly he was always as
lender as a kitten Often when she
-was a little girl he took her with him
-to Mercer on his engine and while she
-sat on his black leacther seat at the
cab window clinging on with both
hands he explained to tor how the big
black creature under them was started
-and stopped what this brass crank
was for and how when the engine
squeaked here or squaeked there a lit
tle oil was needed in this cup or in that
cj evice and Polly had learned to know
an engine as well as she knew the neat
little pantry In the house at home In
deed she had more than once managed
the levers and throttle although it was
very heavy work for a girl to do
It was one night late in the fall that
Polly Marshall had need of all her
knowledge of engines She was sitting
at her desk in the little observation
window a shaded light throwing its
rays down on her telegraph instru
ments and the sounding key clicking
sleepily- Suddenly she was startled
by the call of her number Instantly
her fingers sought the keys and she
gave the answer that signified that she
was ali attention
Look out for - clicked the sound
er then it suddenly ceased and
try as she would Polly could get no
further commuuicatiou from the sta
tion next to the eastward What could
the trouble be Polly sprang to her
feet remembering that the night ex
press of which her father was the en
gineer was the next train due Could
anything be the matter She ran out
on the dark platform to see that her
lights were all in place and that the
switches were properly set so that the
express would slip past the station
without an accident Then she went
back and called up Mercer
Cant you get Pinckney she asked
the cab window and darted across the
platform Hardly thinking what she
was doing Polly ran up on the other
side the firemans side of the engine
and raising herself up peered into the
cab She had half expected to see her
fathers dead body lying on the floor
for she had heard much about the ter
rible doings of train robbers
Through the cab window she could
see the robber sitting at her own little
desk in th depot sending a message
It flashed over her all at once that he
was wiring Mercer that the express
was delayed thus preventing any
alarm The robber had pushed up his
mask and she saw him plainly
What should she do She dared not
enter the office and she a mere girl
could be of no service where the rob
bers were making their attack on the
train If only she had the little revol
ver that lay in the drawer of her desk
She set her teeth as she thought what
she would do with it
At that moment three shots rang out
clear and istinct from the detached
train The man at the telegraph in
strument sprang to his feet and ran to
a side window in the waiting room arid
looked up the track
Now was her chance Hardly th ink
ink what she did Polly sprang to the
engineers cab threw back the reverse
lever and opened the throttle steadily
The big steel wheels began to turn
very slowly at first Farther and far
ther the throttle opened and faster and
faster turned the wheels and yet they
did not go half fast enough to suit
Polly who was now glancing fearfully
over her shoulder
Suddenly the depot door was thrown
open and she saw the robber darting
up the track He had a pistol in his
hand He was pointing it at her and
shouting for her to stop but the engine
was now going at good speed- and ruu
as he would the robber could not catch
it but he stopped and fired the bullet
ripping through the cab over Pollys
head
The engine was now tearing down
ruickaey was tic ctation which- haC the track at full speed
Polly knew
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that It must be fired or it would not go
far and so leaving the throttle open
she sprang to the coal pit flung open
the firehole and with the heavy shovel
in her small white hands threw in load
after load of coal When she returned
to her place she could see the first sig
nal light of Mercer already blinking
into view She pulled down on the
whistle cord and the engine shrieked
its distress
Five minutes later Polly strained at
the heavy reverse lever turned hard
on the airbrake and brought the great
iron horse to a sudden standstill How
she ever managed to stammer the story
she never knew but in a few minutes
the engine was headed back with a
half dozen armed men aboard of her
Behind them came another load of men
on a switch engine and two men were
racing up the street of Mercer calling
the alarm
They heard the firing before they
reached Kane Creek but it ceased soon
afterward The robbers had gone
They had taken with them much plun
der from the passengers but they liad
not been able to get into the express
safe although they were at wori drill
ing it open when relief came
From the time that the engine
stopped Polly was missing When the
rescued and excited passengers and ex
press messengers began to crowd
around and inquire the Mercer men
remembered her A party of them went
out to find the girl who had brought
help to the beleaguered train
In a little clump of bushes they heard
a man moaning and an instant later
they saw Polly kneeling in the sand
with her fathers head in her lap cry
ing bitterly and they gathered up the
brave engineer and his daughter and
carried them down to the train cheer
ing all the way
Engineer Marshall was not badly
hurt and he was able to be in Mercer
when the general manager of the road
thanked the blushing Polly officially
and offered her a new and better posi
tion in Mercer and of course all the
passengers and express messengers
heard about Pollys brave deed and
said a great many pleasant things
about her but Polly being a sensible
girl only blushed and said that she had
to do it and that any other girl would
have done the same under like circum
stances Which no one believed of
course
Later when the robbers were cap
tured Polly was able to identify one of
them positively the one who had run
the engine and through him the en
tire party was convicted and sentenced
to the penitentiary Brooklyn Standard-Union
DEGENERATE FRANCE
In Every Particular She Is Failing in
the Race of Civilization
In the view of tihe rest of Europe
France is seen at her worst since the
tiger like outbunrt of the commune
writes Harold Frederick The scandal
of the -Panama canal corruption was
nothing by comparison for that taint
ed only a single case in public life Nor
was even the commune itself so bad
for then at was only Paris which went
wild and it was the rest of France
which roughly put it right But in this
abominable Dreyfus crime the dry rot
permeates all of France It is easiest
to describe the disease as anti-Semitism
as that is what one sees on the
surface The cheap newspapers which
have the largest circulations have
been for years openly preaching de
struction to ithe Jews until they have
filled tlhe weak and ill balanced brains
of their hundreds of thousands of read
ers with the most cavage ideas But
in reality anti Semitism is a symptom
and not the disease dtself The true
malady is degeneracy The French are
no longer able to keep up with the rest
of the world under the tremendous
strain of the pace at which contempo
rary civilization moves They have
broken down by the wayside Their
adults cannot adapt themselves to the
new conditions Their youth are piti
fully below the standard of any past
generation of Frenchmen we know
about From every standpoint numer
ically commercially financially men
tally and spiritually they perceive
themselves dropping further and fur
ther behind their rivals Nobody any
longer treats French opinion with in
tellectual respect Even Russia hav
ing borrowed more of their money
than they could spare laugfhs in their
faces and makes open overtures to
their enemy It is 1he disordered in
formed and more or less vehement
rage at the vague perception of these
things which is the matter with the
French masses It needs no prophet
to see thac they will be much worse
before they are better
Another Delusion
Mrs Fadde Faith Curist How is
your grandfather this morning Brid
get
Bridget He still has the rheumatics
mighty bad mum
You mean he thinks he has the
rheumatism There is no such thing as
rheumatism
Yes mum
A few days later
And does your grandfather still per
sist in his delusion that he has the
rheumatism
No mum the poor man thinks now
that he is dead We buried um yister
day
Signs of the Times
With a single break about fourteen
miles in leng ih it is now possible to go
in trolley ears from Providence R I
to Nashua N H a distance of consid
erably over 100 miles This is a strik
ing reminder of how the trolley has
spread over New England during th
last ten years Boston Journal
A colored philosopher says it is fool
Ish to count your chickens before day
break
mAii
SHAKSPEARE IN SHORTHAND
German Rewriting the Plays in Eliza
bethan Tachygraphy
Dr Eduard Engel has written the fol
lowing letter to one of the Berlin news
papers
In a lecture I delivered some years
ago to the Berlin Society of Stenogra
phers who use Stolzes system I sug
gested that those accurately acquainted
with the oldest English shorthand sys
tems of the sixteenth century should
try to ascertain whether many of the
deficiencies of the text of Shakspeare
might not be explained by stenograph
ic mistakes The idea was suggested to
me by the old and well founded conjec
ture of Shakspearean scholars that the
oldest copies of Shakspeare s plays the
so called quartos were printed from
stenographic notes taken in the thea
ter and that many of the unintelligibili
ties of the text are due to this My
suggestion fell on fruitful soil and I
have now the pleasure of making the
excellent work of a young savant who
has thus sprung at one leap into the
ranks of our best Shakspearean schol
ars known to wider circles In a series
of articles on Shakspeare and the be
ginnings of English stenography Herr
Kurt Dewischeit has proved beyond the
shadoAV of a doubt that the quarto edi
tions of Shakspeares plays were pira
ted editions printed from stenographic
notes that the stenographic system
used was that of Timothy Bright who
was born in 1550 and that innumerable
mistakes in the quartos innumerable
contradictions between them and the
first authorized folio editions can be at
once and most simply explained by the
defects of that stenographic system and
the indexterity of the stenographers of
that time Herr Dewischeit has con
firmed my conjecture almost beyond
my own expectation He is at present
the only person who possesses all the
requisite qualifications for this quite
new kind of text investigation and it is
to be wished that he with his accurate
knowledge of the oldesfEnglish sten
ography combined with solid Shak
spearean scholarship would subject
the texts of the dramas to a 1 horough
reinvestigation The purification of the
text of Shakspeare is raised by him for
the first time from arbitrary fantastic
ality to the rank of a strict science
with which however only Shakspear
ean scholars Iheoretically and practic
ally trained in stenographic questions
are at liberty to busy themselves Sel
dom has a higher never has a more de
lightful task fallen to stenography t
A BAD COMPANION
He Didnt Like to Correct a Lady fcut
He Had To
The man with bronzed skin and long
ish hair was hanging upon every word
that the charming young woman spoke
says the Washington Star She was
telling of an actress whom she greatly
admired
I will never forget how she looked
the young woman said She was as
beautiful as Juno
The weather beaten auditor moved
uneasily and then said I oeg yer
pardon miss but I aint sure that I
heard yer remark jest right
I said that she was as beautiful as
Juno
It aint fer me ter crect a lady he
began in apologetic tones
I am quite willing to be corrected
when there is any reason for doubt
she replied in a tone with traces of con
gealment through it But I do not
perceive how this can be such a case
I dont persume to conterdict no
body he replied I havent no obser
vations to make further than that there
aint no accountin fur tastes
Have you ever seen this actress
No miss
Then I dont see how you are quali
fied to speak
Might I make so bold as to inquire
whether you was as tur west as Brit
ish Columbia
Never
Then miss you cant relize that Im
standin up fur the ladys good looks as
much as you are Ye cant believe half
of what these here miners that come
East tell ye If ye aint even been as
fur West as British Columbia it sfcans
to i eason that ye cant have no idea of
what a lonesome ramshackle
place Juneau is
Mannsing the Woman with a Whip
It has always been a question with
the country newspaper man what he
would do if an indignant woman set
out to horsewnip him Some years
ago W W Wick of Topeka was run
ning a coumtry paper and a woman as
sailed him on the main street of the
town He gathered her up under his
arm and paraded around the square
She kicked and squirmed but be march
ed laughingly along displaying her to
the crowd that had gathered It morti
fied the woman so much that she left
town on the first train and never both
ered the editor afterward
His Linguistic Limit
He had been a Latin scholar
And had mastered modern Greek
For a paltry wagered dollar
He learned Hebrew in u week
Sanscrit and antique Phoenician
Or the scripts of Yucatan
Were as simple as addition
To this language learned man
Patois race pronunciations
And the Chinese alphabet
He liiiew well to fifty nations
He could speak their tongue and yet
Finally his learning failed him
And his thought and speech were off
For So language gifts availed him
With the dialect of golf
Coal Tar lor Dyes
Coal tar when used for dyes yields
sixteen shades of blue the same num
ber of yellow tints twelve of orange
nine of violet and numerous other col
ors and shades
Burning kisses always result
sparks
from
DIDNT MIND BULLETS
The JndRC Lifted an Argument Too
Well to Ec Feased by a Shot
During the day I had attended court
where a lawsuit of considerable impor
tance was on trial and which was not
decided until G oclock in the evening
says a writer Then I went home to
stop for the night with the judge who
had the case in hand On the way
home we were stopped by a man who
said
Judge it is quite likely that the loser
Df that suit will shoot at you through a
window to night to secure revenge
Yes quite likely thanks pleasant
ly replied the judge as we passed on
At the supper table his wife appeared
uervous and uneasy and before the
meal was concluded she said
Alfred a man has been seen in front
of the house acting rather suspiciously
and Im afraid he means you harm
Yes Im afraid so my dear replied
the judge and then took up the conver
sation she had interrupted
Aftor supper we adjourned to the li
brary and by and by as we sat at the
table with a kerosene lamp between us
there arose an argument connected
with the political question
Sir said the judge as he grew heat
ed by opposition they may bring all
their sophistry to bear on the question
but nothing will convince me that
At that instant I felt a hot streak
along my left cheek and the lamp chim
ney was shivered into a hundred
pieces and the light went out The
judge rang a hand bell which was with
in reach and I thought I heard the notes
of the bell before the report of a rifle
In front of the house A negro man
came running in and the judge said
Julius bring us another lamp
When the lamp was brought I looked
at the judge He had not changed in
the slightest
Wasnt that a bullet which broke the
lamp chimney I asked
Very likely it was he replied as he
looked around
And wasnt it meant for you
I presume so There it is in the
back of a law book As I was saying
however sophistry is not argument
and those champions
Excuse me judge I interrupted
but the next bullet may kill one of us
Oh they never shoot but once and
I want to convince you that your posi
tion is untenable You see to begin
with the Democratic party
But his wife came in and Insisted
that he give an alarm and the argu
ment was never finished
Making Bread in Camp
Good bread on which your climbing
and digging depend may be made di
rect from the flour sack with a little
salt and water stirred in After the
dough is worked to the required firm
ness squeeze it into thin cakes about
the size of ship biscuits throw them on
hot coals raked from the heart of your
camp fire turn them before they be
gin to burn and when firm enough set
them on edge to be toasted until thor
oughly baked through Or if the weath
er is bad cut a stick about the size of
a whip handle of birch pine spruce
Cottonwood or willow according to the
flavor desired and sharjien it squeeze
out a handful of dough coil it in a thin
spiral around the stick and set It up
right in the ground at baking distance
from the fire giving It a quarter turn
from time to time until the bread
spiral is thoroughly baked and browned
all around Wholesome bread may bo
quickly made in this way in any kind
of weather with the flavor of sunny
wheat fields in it and that of the stick
on which it is baked while the losses
from smearing of pans and the soggy
heart of thick loaves and dampers that
must be thrown away are avoided If
you must have your bread old-fashioned
and light bloated into a fiuffy
mass full of airholes then instead of
a heavy case of powders take a quarter-ounce
-cake of bakers compressed
yeast to start with and after each
baking put a handful of the fermented
dough into the flour sack and with this
store you may go on raising cerealine
billows as long as you like San Fran
cisco Examiner
rcsrai
TSm
Blood
Is Life
Pyre Blood
Is Health
Without blood circulating through your
veins you could not live Without pure
J blood you cannot be well The healthy
action of every organ depends upon the
purity and richness of the blood by which
it is nourished and sustained If you
have salt rheum scrofula sores pimples
boils or any kind of humor your blood is
not pure If you take Hoods Sarsaparil
Ia it will make your blood pure and
promptly relieve ail these troubles In
the spring the blood is loaded with impu
rities Hence all those unsightly erup
tions that languor and depression and
j the danger of serious illness Hoods
Sarsaparilia is needed to purify enrich
and vitalize the blood and protect and for
tify the system
HOOdS farina
Is Americas Greatest Medicine Sold by all drug
gists SI six for 55 Get only Hoods
Hnnnc Dillc are the only pills to take
llUUi i lUS with Hoods Sarsaparilia
SEH1 FOR I BigYOLE
HlKh Grade 88 Model 14 to 40
GREAT CLEARIHC SALE or 97 nml 38
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K C MEAD CYCIE CO CHICAGO
A Daring Joke
The celebrated Handel had such sen
sitive nerves that he could not bear to
hear the tuning of instruments and so
this was always done before he ar
rived at the theater A musical wag
wishing to make mirth from Handels
irascibility of temper stole into the or
chestra on a night when the Prince of
Wales was to be present and untuned
all the instruments As soon as the
prince arrived Handel gave the signal
for beginning con spirito but such was
the horrible discord that the enraged
master started up from his seat and
overturning a double bass which stood
in his way he seized a kettle drum
and throw It with such violence at the
head of the leader of the band that be
lost his wig in the effort Without wait
ing to replace it he advanced bare
headed to the front of the orchestra
breathing vengeance but so choked
with passion that he could not speak
In his ridiculous attitude he stood
stamping and staring for some mo
ments amid a convulsion of laughter
Nor could he be prevailed upon to re
sume his seat until the prince went in
person and with much difficulty ap
peased his wrath
A Trolley Coach
The people of Greenwich Conn are
riding in a trolley stage coach that
needs no rails for its operation The
wires are at one side instead of being
overhead The coach can be turned
around or moved in any direction with
out interfering in the least with the
ordinary traffic of the highway Cer
tain property owners would not permit
the operation of a regulation trolley
over a road and this trolley stage
coach was devised as a means of over
coming their objections
A Pessimist
I suppose he ventured that you
would never speak to me again if I
were to kiss you
Oh George she exclaimed why
dont you get over the habit of always
looking at the dark side of things
Cleveland Leader
G Ws Motto
Boys said the school teacher who
can tell me George Washingtons mot
to
Several hands went up
Philip Perkasie you may tell
When in doubt tell the truth De
troit Free Press
Lake Erie is the lake of the wild
cat the name given to a fierce tribe
of Indians exterminated by the Iro
quois
THE SECBET OF A GOOD DISPOSITION
Mrs Pinkham Says a Careful Regard for Bodily Health Makes Women
Sweet and Attractive to All
The world is filled with sweet women who are held back from usefulness by
some trouble of the female organs
Fretf ulness and nervousness rapidly destroy sweet dispositions
jcx nrn
WTtro life
I i fzi v u I
bickly all-worn-out women cannot live happy
lives Nearly every woman may be well and
happy if she will follow Mrs Pinkhams advice
See what Mrs Craig says
Dear Mrs Pinkham I have taken LydiaE
n Pinkham s Vegetable Compound and
think it is the best medicine for women
in the world I was so weak and nerv
ous that I thought I could notlivefrom
one day to the next 1 had prolapsus
uteri and leucorrhcea and thought that
I would die I had dragging
pains in my back burning sen
sation down to my feet and so
many miserable feelings Peo
ple said thatl looked like a dead
woman Doctors tried to euro
me but failed I had given up
when I heard of the Pinkham
medicine I got a bottle I did
not have much faith in it but
thought I would try it and it
made a new woman of me I
wish I could get every lady in
the land to try it for it did for
me what doctors could not do
Mrs Sallie Craig Bakers Landing Pa
That Lydia E Pinkhams Vegetable Compound is a
safeguard of womans health is clearly proven by the
thousands of letters constantlv beintr received TTro
Is one from Mrs W P Valextixe 566 Ferry Ave Camden N J
Dear Mrs Pinkham Before writing to you I felt very bad had terrible
sick headachesno appetite gnawing pain in stomach pain in my back and right
side wss tired and nervous and so weak I could scarcely stand I wasnot
able to do anything had sharp pains all through my body Before I had taken
half a bottle of Lydia E Pinkhams Vegetable Compound I found myself im
proving I continued its use until I had taken four bottles and felt so well
thatl did not need to take any more I am like anew personn
Ask Mrs PinKfeams Advlce A Womai Best understands a Womans lib
k
f
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