en read, and news is always news
until you have heard it, no matter how long after the occurrence.

Another good reason for all the inhabitants putting in such a prompt
appearance is that some one might get off, and hearing other people
tell about an arrival is not quite the same thing as seeing it for
one's self.

On this particular occasion, as old No. 182 came sweeping
majestically into the station, everybody was glad that they were
there to see it. There was snow on the engine, snow on the cars, and
snow every place, that snow could possibly stick. While the train
waited the conductor walked around the platform speaking genially to
every one. Even the small boys called "Hello, Dave!" to him. "Dave"
had run on this line since it had been built, three years before, and
everybody knew him. He discussed the tie-up on the line with the
postmaster, apparently taking no notice of the fact that the train
was pulling out. However, as the last coach passed him, he swung
himself up with easy grace, quite as an afterthought, much to the
admiration of the small but appreciative band of spectators.

On the platform were left the mailbag, two Express parcels, and three
milk cans. The people of Newbank stood watching the train as it ran
slowly over the long bridge, shaking all the valley with its thunder,
then they turned and walked over to the store to get their newspapers
and discuss the news.

"Say, I'd hate to live in one of them out-of-the-way places where you
never get to hear what's goin' on," said Joe McCaulay, sententiously.
"It's purty nice, I tell ye, to get a newspaper every week, jest as
reg'lar as the week comes."

This had been a particularly interesting arrival of the train, for
there had been one passenger. He did not wait long enough for anyone
to have a good look at him, but struck right across the drifts toward
the river, as if he knew where he was going. There was only one
person who claimed to have seen his face, and that was a very old
lady who was unable to go to the station on account of rheumatism,
but who always kept a small hole thawed in the frosting of her
bedroom window, and managed in this way to see a good deal of what
was going on outside. When the other members of her household came
home, and told of the young man's coming off the train and hurriedly
setting out across country without letting anyone see him or ask him
where he came from, where he was going, who he was, what did he want,
or