The White Rose of MemphisFalkner, William C. (Clark)
General
The White Rose of Memphis
Falkner, William C. (Clark)
Memphis (Tenn.) -- Fiction
“Within one mile of the station there was a sharp curve in the track
where it swung round the base of a tall ridge, then lay out on the top
of a very high embankment, thence across a bridge, with a straight run
from there to the station. The train was coming round the curve with
unusual speed, as it was running down grade. Harry sat on the pilot with
his eyes fixed in front, and just as the train came round the last spur
of the ridge, he saw a little girl sitting on the gravel in the center
of the track, with her apron filled with wild flowers, which she was
busily weaving into festoons. The train was within one hundred yards of
her before she was discovered. She was on the part of the track that lay
on the top of the high embankment, the sides of which were very steep,
and it was full thirty feet to the ground from where the little girl
sat. The engineer immediately blew the signal for down brakes, then
reversed his engine (a very dangerous operation to perform while running
rapidly down grade); all the brakes were put on, and the brakeman seemed
to strain every nerve to hold them as much down as possible. The
engineer kept his whistle shrieking and screaming in order to warn the
child of her danger. She rose and started to run toward the bridge, then
hesitated a moment, and made a move as if she were going to jump over
the embankment. An Irish woman who was the child’s nurse had imprudently
left her on the track while she was gathering the flowers some distance
from it. When the nurse discovered the danger to which the little girl
was exposed she hallooed to the child, telling her to leap down the side
of the embankment. She made a movement as if she were going to do it,
then evidently became frightened at the great distance to the ground.
Meantime the train was rapidly approaching the spot where the child
was, notwithstanding the fact that all the brakes were down and the
engine reversed. The momentum was so great, and the grade being
downward, the train continued to move forward. The noise made by the
whistle, added to the thundering sounds made by the approaching train,
only served to increase the child’s confusion. The second time she
started to run across the bridge, and again she ran back a few paces;
then became so paralyzed with fright that she stopped, unable to move.
The train was within a few feet of the little girl, and it now became
certain that the engine could not be stopped before it reached the
bridge, although it was running quite slowly, not faster than a man
could run; but what did that signify? Wouldn’t the child be crushed to
death unless the engine could be stopped before she was reached? It was
plain to be seen that the little girl had lost her self-possession, and
she stood gazing at the approaching train in despair. She had very long
hair, which floated loose down her back, while the flowers lay scattered
on the ground where she stood. The picture she presented then was
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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