Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, September 19, 1914, Page 2

PAGE TWO A e52525252525as25a525a5252525252525 | ———————— A BAD BOY'S CHOICE By C. D. NOYES. [ XXXOORXIXIXXNXIXXXXXXXXXX | (Copyright.) Jo Flyn, alias “Snippy,” was never & good boy. We all knew that he was ad, for our parents and teachers sald 80, but we boys all liked him. “Snip- ®y” could be depended upon. When lie promised any one a licking he de- Qivered the goods, or took one him- self, which answered the same pur- Ppose. He never told on another fellow, and studied his lessons to good purpose, | when nothing more to his liking was to be done. But his lessons never in- terfered with the other things. “Snippy” was undersized for his age, but a natural leader, with an ir- resistible bent for forbidden places and things and a remarkable inde- pendence of character. He always took the consequences of his own acts gracefully and never grumbled. We realized these and many other of his characteristics later in life. As | & boy, we only knew that he was bad —but we liked him. Before any of us were more than half-grown boys, “Snippy” left school and went to work in the rolling mills. First, he was a buggy-boy—wheeling t balls of white-hot iron from the | rnaces to the giant trip-hammer on ' B curious little two-wheeled, long- handled iron cart, called a “buggy.” Then he was a fireman—stoker, the | Welsh iron-workers called it. “Snip- py's” furnace was always hot, the hot- | Jtest in the mill. Finally, about the| {ime the rest of us left grammar | hool he wes advanced to a furnace 8, or puddler, » ‘We used often to see him stripped ' fto the waist, the great muscles show- | Ing on his back and shoulders, work- Ang before the open mouth of a glow- ing furnace, with a long bar forming the half-molten iron into the great fall which we had so often seen beat-' ien into ingots by the trip-hammer. It mlmost seemed the realization of many familiar warnings to see the bad boy THE EVENING TELEGRAM LAK been handsome, or even passable 1 appearaice, and age had not improved him. He was still undersized, except as to his arms, which were much '.ool long. His chest and shoulders were pro- portionate to his arms, and much too large for his head. His hair was brick- red and his freckles overlapped each other. Both toes turned in and one eye turned out. They were the same peculiarities we | had known in boyhood, all accentuated by age. He had, in addition, a large scar extending from the right ear un- der the chin to the middle of the left ! cheek. Some well-intentioned, but badly in- forined, person had thought to im- prove the world by putting “Snippy” out of it, and had left the job un- finished. He was a bad man to look at and worse to handle. “Snippy” was reticent. He gave no account of himself or of what he had been dolng during his years of ab- sence, and his reticence was catching. No one asked him. It was natural to associate the scar with the prison uni- form. Somehow, we felt that the other fellow had more need of sympathy than “Snippy” had. He wanted a job. Steel-making had changed while he wore the striped suit; new tools and new methods had come into use. “Snippy” did not want to learn his trade over again, so he went to railroading. There was activity, danger, to tempt him. Then the mutual de- pendence and reliance of trainmen on each other appealed to him. His rug- ged qualities of self-reliance and lead- ership demanded action and expres- sion, and found both in the strenuous life of the freight brakeman. The mysterious feeling of fellow- and | { hardship enough in a brakeman’s life I I trafic was heavy and that Babcock,! the engineer, had all the cars he could handle on the slippery rails. But he, rode well forward that night, knowing | that the frozen ground, thawing in! the rain, made the road-hed soft, and! that if it were possible for a land slip | to occur the conditions were just right for it. Something did happen. It was just as the train was starting, after having stopped for water at a tank 30 miles from their starting point. “Snippy” stood on the third car back of the en- gine. A sudden jolt and lurch threw him to the ground between the tracks. He knew that something was wrong as he fell, and he heard the cutting! hiss of escaping steam. Babcock was too careful a man to stop his train so, without first giving warning with his whistle. “Snippy” was dazed and half stunned by his fall, but he jumped to his feet instantly. His first impulse was to find the cause of the trouble. The coupling ahead of the car on which he stood | was broken, and the two cars between it and the engine were off the track. The engine moved forward slowly, dragging the two cars over the ties. He knew now that a rock had fallen in the cut as the engine passed. Bab- cock and his fireman were evidently | injured, or the engine would have] stopped. bridge—an old fashioned wooden af- fair, over a small stream. The east- track. “Snippy” knew all of this and more. The same knowledge or intuition that had told him what had happened told him also what would happen should ; =% 3 DPOBLHDCDL SO PP BT OHIT TR BN K el Sl ubinlud Sg g & Fifty yards ahead was “i:fi: 1% bound express was due on the omerlWW&*&J@WW%Q‘WW'QE'Q:Q;’Q':O EL. DSOS PSSO OF0EE ARM o Phone No. 340 3 3 % N <0 SOSOTREISNEOPNPOSIE L0 for hauling fruit thiss fall, see us. “COLUMBUS” make and the name is a guarantee of quality, AGONS (. We can save you moncy cn Wagons. Our stock of | and 2-horse Wagons is compiete, and if you neced a Wagoy ad We sell (he — MODEL HARDWARLE G C. E. TODD, Myr. We Want YOUR Business SO HOIOBOTHTO S FHE PIPRBUELSAIATODOS office stating that there had been a freight wreck, caused by loose stones falling on the track, in which a brake- A man had been killed; the fireman se- | Babcock and his fireman were help- ggapiations. Indeed, it may pe less on the floor—injured, but not ypat we now entertain a focling o1y fatally. ! The cab was full of live steam e8-' worth than the izncrant « w telligent appreciation of their Rrogty rship of reach the bridge. The car bodies, be-| riously, and the engineer slightly in- caping from a broken injector, not gq, jured. They may have seen the dis- | merely vapor such as comes from the the engine pulling the derailed carsl ing so far from the center line of the track, would strike the upper works | patch, but they certainly did not know | 8Dout of a boiling teakettle, but super- MOST SUITABLE FOR Y( ship that binds together all men en-| of the bridge and perhaps cause the | gaged in a dangerous occupauon—| collapse of the whole structure. At when the care or neglect of one may , any rate, it would block both tracks. that the brakeman had coolly, delib- | heated steam from a boiler under inch. save or lose the lives of many—in- stantly recognized that “Snippy” could be depended upon. instinctively that he would never be found wanting when the test came. He was employed on one of the trunk Hnes, running east and west on a division of 140 miles of double track, with light grades and easy curves. Trains of 456 or 50 freight cars were writhing and sweating amid the sul-| %fl AL RN R L e e g engineer and fireman went out | On the engine, conductor, flagman, and | two brakemen, one of whom should . | always be on or near the engine, and -Ml w;e:::rd ,}.‘:zzmiu‘z;:'mcge“:ohne near the caboose, in which the Jown that he had been seen wearing | Others might ride. “Snippy's” usual rk. Soon after this “Snippy” West to a newly opened steel mill, \a striped suit in a western prison. post was in front. Rumors were followed by facts. ™Snippy” was a convict. Many wise heads wagged, and the wiseacres re- joalled that they had foretold the end ot the bad boy long ago. Unexpectedly, one day “Snippy” re- Bppeared among us. He had never Gy 354 2 d §rgege Sefudd SABLHBO SO P OISO PR DD £ PRRPRLOD B SE0E & & feiattal Sel il el 2n ] LRt 2etRal Bl alBal BulBut tulZad Ralinl Sudinl et tnd & One rainy night in early spring One’ knew | either. And the east-bound express? No, “Snippy” had not forgotten thut.] He caught the glint of her | headlight rounding the curve at Hick- ory Grove, only two miles away. Railroad men think quickly in an emergency. “Snippy” did. He knew that the others were coming up from the caboose, 1,500 feét away, as fast as they could. The express would reach the bridge in half the time it would take them to reach him. The! derailed cars would reach it before ' any of them, unless the engine was stopped. “Snippy” paused to consider and weigh these things a long time under| the circumstances, possibly a fraction over two seconds—long enough for the express to travel 200 feet nearer to | erately, and knowingly sacrificed his Pressure of 160 pounds to the SG“BNI ! life to save theirs. | Nature’'s Wisdom. When the world was young its in- habitants took the naive view that it was adorned to minister to thelr pleas- ure. This view, alas, has had to give way under the attacks of the modern sclentist. We now know, thanks to these men, that the refreshing green of the wood and meadows is not pro- i vided for our enjoyment, but for the serious and practical purpose of plant nutrition; the flowers display their bright colors to attract the insect that conveys the pollen from stamen to sigma. By the same token, it appears, the alpine hare is snow colored so as The higher the pressure the greater | the heat, and this was steam that would sear the flesh like molten lead, | more fatal to breathe than direct | flame. “Snippy” may not have known the theory of superheated steam or water boiling under pressure, but he did | know the facts and did not hesitate. He had already calculated the chances during the two seconds that he stopped to think. He climbed to the cab, dived into the hissing cloud, and shoved in the throttle as he sprang. The engine stopped two car lengths from the bridge. A score of seconds later the east- tol bound express with hundreds of pas- be hidden from the sight of its enemy; | Seéngers passed safely. When the rest 'g i g it I ) i I GIEGIGHENE EAEHEAGIE AN “Snippy’s” crew was ordered out for the 140-mile run westward. He had no faith in omens or premonitions, so when he noticed that it was March 13, and that there were thirteen names on the “board,” he only thought that . the bridge. It may have taken “Snippy” half a minute to reach the engine, while the express covered half a mile. He knew the state of things in the cab of the engine without stonping to investigate. L 3 BHODDBIDE : mkmmwwa-s»a«s»azsimwwwm@&m»«s)‘sws’wmmmaz $R0HS EACHBIOLECH OB o @ SRS S FO SO BL ST S SIS BHIS I S SO S SBIPUH SO SO0 pEnnods PRINTING YES, WE DO IT—-DO IT RIGHT Lakeland Evening Send Your Next Order to The La keland TELEGRAM BUILDING & First Hous AT THE HEAD OF while the lfon is tawny and the tiger ' Of the crew came up from behind and |18 striped, in order that they may be | 4ragged “Snippy” out of the cab he undistinguishable from the natural; %28 dead. background as they e in wait for The mext day, in the city, these their prey. same passengers may have seen All these facts are plain enough and ~STIPPY's” obituary—a fourline dfs- wo admire the nerfection of these RAtch from an unknown. telegraph SOBQHOEOE QOO D0 Telephone Nu GENTLEMAN called at our office and said that he did not know we did Job Printing; that he had ordered some Printing done elsewhere, because he had been told that we confined our attention to newspapers, and did no Job Printing. This gentleman was a new comer, otherwise he would have known that for years we did ALL the printing used in this town; that right now we are doing more, probably than all the other printing offices in the county combined ; that we have a larger investment in printing facilities than the eight or ten other printing shops in Polk County combined; that we have built this business on correct and workmanlike service; that we have both t ment and know-how, and that we give an order for 100 visiting cards careful attention we bestow on a large catalogue or the publication o wide newspaper. We Do Do‘Job Printing; Indeed, We Do! GGG G G G G G I S I e R S R i he equip- the same f a State- Telegram News € On Main Street THINGS Ji Braided Rugs That May Be Mage 3 Home Effective Adornments for Young Man’s Room. What could be nicer for a vouyg man’s room than one of the new brajj ed rugs? These rugs are made out¢| discarded neckties and it is quite thy thing nowadays for young ladiy porch work. 5 Put together two bright ties angy) dark one, braid quite tight and fasta each end to the next (after they ) braided), so the seams will not shor, As they are braided roll in a ballw til enough has been sewed. The rugs are made round or obloy| and are sewed together and prese quite flat, Very proud is the possess, of one of the necktie rugs. The real old-fashioned rag rugh also being used. To make these s together in a long strip rags of w color and about an inch and a b wide. Make three balls and braid | gether, Make the rug up exactly Iy the necktie rug. ESHORCHEHOHEACE BONEGo o B AN 10g mber 37 & GG e et -