Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Hand in hand, a dark-eyed lad and a fair-haired lassie approached.
Page 4.
REINSTERN
CONTENTS
REINSTERN.
On, and on, and on! For interminablehours had we been rushingheadlong over yellowish-brown plains,punctuated here and there by willow-fringedstreams; past huge water-tanksstanding guard over dreary littlecabins already cowering before theapproach of fierce wintry assaults;past forlorn specimens of unkemptand altogether hopeless humanity, whostraggled away toward invisible habitationsbeyond the horizon, or, swaddledin accumulated filth and raggedshawls, squatted in solemn stolidity2by the roadside for a vanishing glimpseof fleeting civilization.
From profitless window-gazing,to that supposedly restful twist invariablyassumed by the weary woman-traveler;from contemplation of barrenand boundless distance without, toclosed eyes and anxious retrospection,within; from the sterility of facts present,to the incomparably cruel suggestionsof merciless imagination, involvingthe health, happiness, eventhe life of loved ones left behind;—till,gradually, Creation resolved itselfinto a jumble of indefinable soundsand fancies;—a rumbling, jolting,wheezing dizziness:
A crash and lurch brought everywould-be-dozer to his feet, the trainsuddenly ceased moving, and apprehensiveof danger, we promptly responded3to the peremptory call: “Allout here!” to find ourselves on a widespringy platform surrounding a station-buildingquite unlike any previouslyobserved; in an atmosphere laden withthe perfume of—was it pine-woods—newlymown hay—violets—lilies orjasmine?
It seemed rather a mixture ofmany delicious odors. Fe