A Narrow Escape | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 10, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 47.

A Narrow Escape.

"KEEP a sharp lookout while on the run?" echoed an engineer. "Should say we did. The man that tries to run an engine without keeping his eyes open, gets left sooner or later. I've heard about fellows out West that would start out on a run with a board reaching across from the driver's seat to the fireman's, and a deck of cards; but I never tried that. Just to show you how necessary it is for a man to keep his eyes on the rails ahead of him, let me tell you a little story. I was running along one night in Ohio some years ago. It was a blowy, rainy night, and in times like that, a man is doubly watchful. For hours I never took my eyes from the wet, glistening rails ahead of me, except, of course, when we stopped at stations.

"All at once I saw in front of me—how far ahead I couldn't tell—a glimmering of light. It was just a spark. I barely saw it before it disappeared. Was it a lightning-bug? I hadn't seen any that night. What was it? That I couldn't answer. But my instinct told me to stop the train, and stop I did. It was mighty lucky I looked at it that way; for that glimmer of light was caused in the oddest way you ever saw. You couldn't guess it in a week.

"A farmer was walking along the track, when he discovered a short bridge so badly washed out by the freshet that to run upon it with a train meant a wreck. He tried to start a fire with paper and his clothing, but couldn't do it. He had one match left. He kept that until I got close to him, his plan being to strike the match, hold it in his hat, and wave it across the track, as he had seen the brakemen do when they wanted to signal stop. It was his hope that I would see the blaze before it was blown out. He no sooner struck the match than out went the blaze. It was merely a flash; but I saw it, and the farmer had saved the train. What if I hadn't made it a rule to keep a sharp lookout along the rails every minute while running?"—Sel.