As near as I could count time, I had been in jail a year, when one fine day they threw a little Englishman in. As the soldier shoved the man through the doorway he gave him a vigorous kick, and the Englishman whirled and knocked the soldier out into the yard. 'Bravo!' said I, and the little Briton turned and came close. He asked how long I'd been in and I told him. I ventured a guess that they would shoot him at sundown. Not on your sombrero,' said he, I'll be out by that time.'

"To my surprise the Englishman showed not the least uneasiness. He had some tobacco and made cigarettes, but I could not smoke. I had been so long on the vile jail victuals that I dared not take the risk.

"Late in the afternoon we heard a great hubbub outside, the door opened and in swept a bewildering woman. She glowed and glistened in the shaft of sunlight that followed her, and looked like a beautiful butterfly in a muddy lane. "Ah, Signor," she cried, giving both hands to the

BL.E. 1904

NASHVILLE, TENN.

Briton. A severe-looking man, whom I was able to remember as the Jeffe Politica, the chief or head of the government police, followed the young woman, and a moment later the jailer came in with the soldier who had been knocked down. The soldier was very angry. The Englishman explained to the girl and the girl spoke Spanish like lightning for a whole minute. The Jeffe said something, and the girl told the prisoner to go outside and show them just how he had been jailed. I saw a devilish grin on the old rascal of a chief's face as the soldier and the Englishman stepped out. The Briton looked mean as he could, caught the soldier by the collar, shoved him in and gave him a kick that fairly lifted him off his feet.

"Bravo!' shouted the girl, the chief smiled, the jailer scowled and the soldier slunk away.

"After that they began to investigate the Englishman's other offense. The girl did most of the talking. Her cheeks were flushed and her dark eyes glowed as she argued and pleaded for her friend, but it was a long time before the chief showed any signs of melting. Finally, however, he agreed to let the man go upon the payment of some slight damage done to the property of a Mexican restaurant keeper.

"As soon as his fascinating counsel had succeeded in freeing him, the Englishman began to intercede for me. Up to that time I had been sitting on a long bench with the rest of the prisoners, unnoticed, being about the size and shape and color of the others about me.

"After listening for a few moments the chief threw up his hands and started for the door. He was hungry, thirsty and hot. Already he had been persuaded by the eloquence of the butterfly-colored interpreter and was impatient to be off.

"My heart and hopes went down, but the girl turned, gave me her warm soft hands, and said the chief would come to

morrow.

"To-morrow,' I gasped, and she withdrew her hands and hurried away.

"She was gone, the dungeon was silent, and still the sound of her musical voice seemed to echo from the dingy walls. She was gone, and it was dark, save for the recollection of her sunny smile, that, lingering, lit the prison gloom. She was gone and the world grew cold again, but my hands were hot where her finger-tips had touched them.

"To-morrow she will come,' I repeated, and fell asleep.

"The next day dawned as the day before had dawned. There were the same sights and sounds, the same hot stuffy smell in the atmosphere, the same sad faces about, another scant meal, and the same soul-crushing silence to follow. The

morning passed, the afternoon waned, the evening shadows fell about the old jail, but the chief came not. The lift this rift in my clouded life had given me, served only to deepen the gloom in which I seemed to sit. I tried for hours to put the brazen woman out of my mind. I tried to hate her. After all, she was not two pesos better than a peon. She had lied to me when I had asked nothing of her. I closed my eyes to shut out the memory of her and saw her as plain as day. My hands were still warm. I fell asleep hearing the echoes of her melodious laughter, and dreamed that I was back in God's country, where they have grass and rain and running water.

"The next day began just as the three hundred and sixty-five others had begun, but when I had eaten what I could swallow of the morning meal, and sat down to try to think, the door opened quickly and the butterfly blew in. She stood for a moment, glancing this way and that. I watched her and hated her. 'Signor! Americano! she called, then catching sight of me, she fluttered across the little patch of sunlight that came in through the one narrow window, cooing like a dove: Signor! Ah, Signor!' and I felt the hate going out at the back of my neck. She put out her hands, and as I stood up, touched mine and then dropped them again. I watched her and could have died for her.

"Rapidly, in bad, broken English, she told me how her friend, who was a mining engineer, had been obliged to go to the hills, and that she had, by the merest accident, seen the Jeffe passing her mother's shop that morning and asked after me. The old sinner had thrown up his hands and confessed that he had not thought of me since he left me. She had gotten him to promise that he would meet her at the jail in an hour, and she had come to talk to me and cheer me up until he could arrive. That was the shortest hour of my life. She had brought tobacco and cigarette paper, and she made me smoke and I smoked it, and enjoyed it as I had never enjoyed a smoke before.

"When she had been there ten or fifteen minutes, the old rogue came in, and she upbraided him for being an hour late. I learned then that the old chief was the girl's uncle, and immediately his stock went up.

"The girl did the talking, but for nearly an hour the head of the detective bureau sat silent, impassive as the sphinx. Suddenly, as if the thing had just occurred to him, he began to make terms. The girl listened, smiling and frowning alternately. Presently she explained.

"I was to be released conditionally. The chief was to go over the road with

A GOOD ILLUSTRATION OF THE GROWTH IN THE MOTIVE POWER ON

OUR

GREAT TRUNK LINE RAILROADS-ENGINES NO. I AND 1141, NORTHERN PACIFIC RAIL

WAY.-Courtesy Bro. C. C. Dean, member of Div 290

me on the engine, and if I could satisfy him that peons were in the habit, as I had stated, of walking, standing or sitting on the track for the purpose of annoying the engineers, I was to go free. If there was no evidence to justify my assertion, I was to go quietly and peacefully back to jail and await trial.'

"I consented, of course; was immediately released, got an engine at once, and a few days later the Jeffe and I were sailing down the canyon. We had covered two-thirds of the run, and as often as we came upon a peon he stepped aside and allowed us to pass him without bloodshed. To my consternation and deep disappointment, the peons appeared to be getting sense. I had almost lost heart when we rounded Diable curve, and found a peon on the bridge. Suddenly now, and with startling vividness, the recollection of the awful look of agony that I had seen upon the other peon's face came to me. I forgot my trial and the man of the law who stood behind me in the cab. The shadow of the dungeon that had haunted me all day disappeared. My only anxiety now was to save the peon. I worked the lever, kicked the cylinder cocks open, gave her steam in the back motion, but to no purpose. She literally skated across the short stretch of straight track, and when I looked out again her nose was on the bridge. The peon stopped, turned round, and glared defiantly at the black engine. Seeing we were not going to stop, he jumped out on the edge of the bridge, and grinned insolently up into my face as I passed him.

"The train came to a stop with the caboose barely off the bridge, and when the chief walked back he met the peon, and when he had grown weary of kicking him, they rolled him into the way-car, the conductor gave me a go-ahead signal, and I pulled out. We had to cut and double on the hill and the delay went down against the peon. At the trial that followed, the old chief was the principal witness, and prosecuting attorney. They gave the peon seven years in the 'Hot Country,' he added, reaching for the rope, and I have not seen a Mexican on the bridge from that day to this, and that was ten years ago."

"And what of the mining engineer who found you out and the raven-haired angel who rescued you?'"

"The Englishman made a fortune in the mines, married the girl, took her away with him, and, as a compromise between England and Mexico, they live in Spain; and if this story had been much longer we must have cut and doubled, for this is the end of my run."

The hostler climbed into the cab, the yardman pulled the pin, and the big en

gine rolled away to the roundhouse and to rest. The engineer stood and watched her until she was lost in the sea of cars that covered the maze of tangled trackage.

Then he turned and waved his hand to me and said, "Adios."-Cy Warman, in the Winnipeg Voice.

Beans and Peanuts as Food.

The Department of Agriculture reports most interesting experiments made by Professor Poffa, of the University of California, upon men engaged in hard manual labor most of the time and students working to support themselves while pursuing their studies. The Professor says: "Nuts are the cheapest source of energy, peanuts ranging far ahead." The price, 3.6 cents per 1,000 calories of energy, is at less cost than any animal food, or potatoes at 90 cents a bushel. Peanuts deserve special mention because the cheapest domestic nut containing the highest percentage of protein, with maximum fuel value and minimum refuse. Ten cents, for instance, will purchase more protein and energy when spent for flour and meal, but these are raw materials, requiring considerable preparation before they are eaten. This is not necessary with fruits and nuts. Ten cents' worth of peanuts will contain about four ounces of protein and 2,767 calories of energy. Although peanuts supply protein and energy for a smaller sum than bread, they are outranked by dried beans, which, at 5 cents a pound, will supply for 10 cents over 200 grains of protein and 3,040 calories of energy. If more peanuts and dried beans were used by the fruitarians the diet would be enriched and the cost decreased. Fifteen cents a day was the average cost, with fruit, nuts, beans, and a limited quantity of cheese and eggs.-The Outlook.

Charcoal a Disinfectant.

Charcoal may be had of any druggist, usually, in either powdered or tablet form. The powdered form may be taken mixed with honey. Its effect isto absorb gases and impurities from the stomach and intestines, and it acts as an internal disinfectant. Ask your physician.

MR. MATTHEW WRAGG, the oldest engine driver in the world, has just died at York, England. He was close on 80 years of age, and fired on the old No. 1 engine, which is now on view at Darlington Station. He had been a driver for 60 years, never had an accident and was never fined.

Correspondence.

All contributions to our Correspondence and Technical columns must be in not later than the 1oth of the month to insure insertion.

Articles must be written on one side of the paper only. Noms de plume may be used, but every article must be signed with full name and address of the writer to insure insertion.

We shall be glad to receive articles on any subject of general interest to the fraternity.

All communications are subject to revision or rejection, as the Editor may deem proper.

The Editor does not assume responsibility for the opinions expressed by contributors in this department. C. H. SALMONS, Editor and Manager.

A Song for Old-Timers.

I toss my old chapeau in air
To cheer Divisions everywhere,
Now forty years surviving;

They're worthy of our best acclaim,
Because they've won an honest name.
Today they all are thriving.

They've witnessed dismal days of old,
When up men scarce their heads could hold,
And chains they trailed behind them;
When whips were cracked with vengeful might,
And wrong was victor over right,

And vicious foes did grind them.

Oh, what a change! The honest cause
Of Brotherhood has won applause

From men of every station;
Officials of our railways now,
Impartial and with truth allow,
'Tis proving men's salvation.

Division sixteen, some moons ago
Screamed out her forty summer crow,
Without a fear or falter;
And eloquently all declared
How every joy and woe they shared,
Since first they kissed her altar!

They're worthy of sincerest praise,
Of eloquence and pleasing lays,

Those pioneers all over,

Who kept their membership along,

From days, when smarting under wrong,

Till now, chin-deep in clover.

-SHANDY MAGUIRE,

Trouble and Triumphs of Travel.

BY SHANDY MAGUIRE.

[Continued from February JOURNAL.] "Then you intend to leave on Friday?" "Yes, if his nibs from the lower regions stood at the door, saying, 'Thou shalt not pass,' I'd say, 'Get behind me, Satan, for I shall pass.' Here is a telegram sent me by Mr. Wills, which Dick Kelly and

Myer Hurley have helped me to, which

says the pass is waiting for me in Chicago.'

66

Very well, you will not have to wait for me.

"Good girl! Just think of the scenes in the rotunda and parlors of the Hollenbeck just now! The boys and girls are there from every part of this continent between old Mexico and Vancouver, and we here; but we shall get there and foregather with them in a very few days. The many conventions which we have attended leave nothing but pleasant memories in our breasts, and we can look back on this one also with the very same endearing feeling of gratefulness for being participators in its never-to-be-forgotten enjoyments.

Long, long be my heart with such memories

filled!

Like the vase in which roses have once been distilled;

You may break, you may ruin the vase if you will,

But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.

You see, I am calling upon Tom Moore in his most witching language to express the fullness of my heart tonight, for my own limited vocabulary is too poverty. stricken to tell my joy.

Next morning I sent a letter to General Superintendent Clarke, asking him if the pass between Buffalo and Chicago had reached his office to kindly send me it. In the same letter I explained the telegram which I received from Mr. Wills.

The train carrying my letter was not thirty minutes in Scranton when the characteristic kindness of the gentleman manifested itself in the following reply, sent me by wire:

"An enclosure to you this evening on No. 3."

When the train arrived I found my pass to Chicago and return, and as good things were flying in flocks about my head just then, I met Trainmaster J. H. Halleran, of the R. W. & O., by chance, who asked me:

"How are you fixed to Buffalo?"
"Around the horn," I answered.
"I'll take care of you our way."