afety; while the other carriages of the train
presented nothing but a ghastly spectacle of dead and wounded.

--_The Railway Traveller's Handy Book_.

LIFE UPON THE RAILWAY, BY A CONDUCTOR.

The Western Division of our road runs through a very mountainous part of
Virginia, and the stations are few and far between. About three miles
from one of these stations, the road runs through a deep gorge of the
Blue Ridge, and near the centre is a small valley, and there, hemmed in
by the everlasting hills, stood a small one-and-a-half-story log cabin.
The few acres that surrounded it were well cultivated as a garden, and
upon the fruits thereof lived a widow and her three children, by the name
of Graff. They were, indeed, untutored in the cold charities of an
outside world--I doubt much if they ever saw the sun shine beyond their
own native hills. In the summer time the children brought berries to the
nearest station to sell, and with the money they bought a few of the
necessities of the outside refinement.

The oldest of these children I should judge to be about twelve years, and
the youngest about seven. They were all girls, and looked nice and
clean, and their healthful appearance and natural delicacy gave them a
ready welcome. They appeared as if they had been brought up to fear God
and love their humble home and mother. I had often stopped my train and
let them get off at their home, having found them at the station some
three miles from home, after disposing of their berries.

I had children at home, and I knew their little feet would be tired in
walking three miles, and therefore felt that it would be the same with
these fatherless little ones. They seemed so pleased to ride, and
thanked me with such hearty thanks, after letting them off near home.
They frequently offered me nice, tempting baskets of fruit for my
kindness; yet I never accepted any without paying their full value.

Now, if you remember, the winter of '54 was very cold in that part of the
State, and the snow was nearly three feet deep on the mountains.

On the night of the 26th of December, of that year, it turned around
warm, and the rain fell in torrents. A terrible storm swept the mountain
tops, and almost filled the valleys with water. Upon that night my train
was winding its way, at its usual speed, around the hills and through the
valleys, and as the road-bed was all solid rock, I had no fear of