The Train Boy

Brief Extract: The four o'clock afternoon train from Milwaukee, bound for Chicago, had just passed Truesdell, when the train boy passed through the cars with a pile of magazines under his arm. He handed them to the right and left for passengers to ... Read more

Brief Extract: The four o'clock afternoon train from Milwaukee, bound for Chicago, had just passed Truesdell, when the train boy passed through the cars with a pile of magazines under his arm. He handed them to the right and left for passengers to examine, and after an interval passed back again, to receive pay for any that might be selected, and gather up the rest. "Here's the latest magazines!" he cried, in a pleasant voice. "Harpers, Scribner's, Lippincott's!" As he is to be our hero, I will pause a moment to sketch Paul Palmer. He was a boy of sixteen, of medium height for a boy of that age, with dark brown hair, bright, sparkling eyes, not without a suggestion of mirthfulness, and round cheeks, with a healthful color. It would be hard to find a more attractive-looking boy than Paul. The first passenger he came to on his return round was an old lady, bordering upon seventy, who was quite unaccustomed to traveling, and knew very little of railways and their customs. When the magazine had been put in her hands she received it with glad complacency, supposing it to be a gift from the railroad corporation. She hunted up her spectacles, and was looking at the pictures with considerable interest when Paul touched her on the arm. "Want my ticket a'ready?" she asked, thinking it to be the conductor. "No, ma'am," answered Paul, smiling. "Please give me the magazine." Less