en I was a very young girl, it became necessary for me to take a
journey of several hundred miles to visit a near relative who lived in
the State of Pennsylvania, a little over the New York border. It
happened that I was obliged to go alone and in an inclement season of
the year, but the circumstances were imperative, and my love of
traveling prevented any anticipation of fear or danger.

The morning of the third day after my departure from home found me
seated at breakfast in the large hotel at Corning, N. Y., which stands
within a few steps of the Corning and Blossburg railway-station. From
the conversation going on around me, I inferred that several of the
guests besides myself were going by the Blossburg train, but I could not
see the point of the landlord's jokes on the subject, which, however,
appeared to be fully understood and heartily appreciated by my
neighbors. He laughed and chuckled, and repeatedly wished us all
patience and perseverance to carry us safely through the trials in store
for us; and when we started in a body for the station, he followed us to
the door and called out that he would be sure to have a nice hot supper
of beefsteak and fried potatoes awaiting us on our return.

The train comprised only the engine and a few coal-cars, one
passenger-car, and two smaller cars for luggage. Altogether, it looked
very shabby and old-fashioned in comparison with the luxurious
appointments of the trains upon the more important lines; but the way
was short and the passengers were few, so that the accommodations were
as good as we had a right to expect.

The travelers consisted of eight or ten sportsmen equipped with rifles
and other accoutrements; two young men, one of them a lawyer, the other
a merchant (as I discovered from their conversation); an elderly
gentleman, evidently of wealth and position, whom the young lawyer
addressed as "Judge;" a middle-aged widow from Chicago; a brisk little
milliner on her way back to some Pennsylvania village with the latest
fashions from New York; and myself, a lively girl just out of school.
There was also a negro huddled up in the farthest corner of the car,
whose business it was to attend to the fire.

At eleven o'clock the train started with a great jerk, and crept slowly
out of the town. The motion was very disagreeable; the seats were hard;
the air was stuffy, and became after a while almost unbearable from the
accumulated breaths and the dry heat of the stove, i