Page 101 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

tier heart feebly flutters, her features grow wan,
A n d then through her son: in a. moment there Jlies
A ford ho-iidU 'hat gives her the streilgdi o f a man— -
She turns to her trembling old mother and cries:
*‘ 1 must save the express— ’twill be here in an hour! ”
Then out through the door disappears in the shower.

She flies down the track through the pitiless rain ;
She reaches the river— the water below
Whirls and seethes through the bmbers. She shudders again
''T h e bridge! T o M oingona G od help me to g o !
Then closely about her she gathers her gown
A n d on the wet; ties with a shiver sinks down,

Then carefully over the timbers she creeps
On her hands and her knees, almost holding her breath.
The loud thunder peals and the -wind wildly sweeps,
A nd St ]-Ir^vles to hurry her down ward to death;
C O T* J
But the thought o f the tnbn to destruction so near
Removes from her soul every feeling of"fear.

With the blood dripping down from each torn, breeding liniu
Slow ly over the timbers her dark way she feels ;
H er fingers grow numb and her b(.:;id seems to swim ;
H er strength is fast failing— she staggers 1 the reels !
' '' J
O
O
She falls--------A l l ! the dauger is over at last,
\Ier feet touch the earth, and the long bridge is passed !

In Jin hi.;taut new hie seems to eome to her form ;
She sorii-^s to her feet and forgets her despair.
On, on 1:l > M oingona ! she faces the storm,
She reaehes the station— the keeper is there.
“ Save the lightning express I N o— hang out the red light'
There’j death oil the bridge at the river to-n ig h t! h’