THE SURPRISE IN THE FREIGHT CAR —USA—1920
Source: Merry Tales, A collection of Modern Stories, Fairy Tales and Verse.
Two hundred and fifty-six pages.
Over one hundred in color.
Published by McLoughlin Bros., Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts
(added Sunday, May 14, 2006)

[No illustration available.]

"It's coming! See the smoke and hear the rails sing!" Clifford, the station agent's little boy, said to his friend, Jimmy. "There she is at the curve. Get out of the way, Jimmy, the freight from Mill River is coming and she will be on our siding in a minute now!"

It was true, although the loaded cars had been a long time on their way. They were full of white, smooth, sweet-smelling boards from the Pine Country, sawed and planed at Mill River. But the freight cars had stood a month near the mills there, because the river had risen and washed away the railroad bridge.

Roaring spitting cinders and grinding along the rails, the long trail of freight cars came toward the two boys. Then it slowed, was switched to an empty place in the freight yard and Clifford and Jimmy went over to look at the piles of boards.

"Here is our car, the one marked in chalk, Longmeadow!" Clifford shouted, "and here come the men to unload it. Hold on, Mr. Barnes," the boy said to the man in overalls who had come to see to the unloading. "Don't take out all the boards. Father has bought enough of the lumber to fix up my yard for Jimmy and me to play in this summer. We are going to have a see-saw, a sliding board, a new swing frame and a little house for keeping our tools and to tinker in. Here is the bill of lading for our lumber." Clifford handed the important looking paper to the man.

"All right," Mr. Barnes said, "then I'll only unload what boards the town carpenter's bill calls for and in the morning you boys can come over and take out yours. It'll be safe for you here in this part of the yard and the boards are light."

"Good work!" shouted Jimmy.
"I'll be here right after breakfast!" said Clifford.

But it happened to be Jimmy who was down at the siding where the almost empty freight of boards stood the next morning. Jimmy lived in the small cottage just below the station and Clifford had found him in the winter gathering coal along the track for his mother. A fine boy, Jimmy, as Clifford had found out, doing all he could to help his mother. And he was a good playfellow as well. He knew all the different signals for switching and the numbers of the engines, for his father had run an engine once. So Jimmy, who had no playthings, was going to share Clifford's yard and all the jolly good times in it. No wonder that he peeped into the car of boards at daybreak!

But he only peeped in. Then he pinched his leg to see if he were awake. Yes, he was. Then Jimmy ran as fast as he could away from the freight car. He ran right into Clifford who had eaten his breakfast early and hurried down to the tracks. Jimmy's eyes were wide open.

"The Little People came into our freight car last night, Clifford," Jimmy gasped. "I heard them rustling around just now and then I saw their red coats!"

Clifford looked at Jimmy in surprise. "Don't be a baby, Jim," he told him. "I guess you were reading that fairy book of your grandmother's again last night. You come on over to our car with me and we will see if the Little People are there or not."

So Clifford went bravely over to the siding, climbed up into the big, sawdust-strewn car, stayed a second and then jumped out. He ran as fast as he could, bumping into Jimmy who had followed a little way behind.

"What did you see?" Jimmy asked.

"Their red coats!" said Clifford, "and they seem to have a little house all thatched with straw just like the pictures in your book, Jimmy. I saw the straw and the brown clay walls."

Close together, the boys sat down on the station step and thought. This was very strange, enough so to have taken away their courage. At last Jimmy spoke, "Perhaps they lived up there in the woods near the mills and came down with the lumber."

"It says in your grandmother's book," said Clifford, "that the Little People are very fond of cakes. We might creep up to the door of the car, leave a cake there and then see if we could catch one of them. I don't believe in the Little People, but this is very strange."

"I'll get a cooky," Jimmy said, running down the track toward his house.

When he came back, the two boys stole over to the car, laid the cooky just inside the door and then waited at a safe distance. They did not have to wait long. Holding their breath, they saw one of the Little People come out from behind the new boards, peck at the cooky and then chirp cheerfully to his mate. What he really would have liked would have been a worm, but a cooky was welcome after a trip of so many miles in a freight car. How the boys laughed!

"Red vests, not coats!" chuckled Jimmy.

"A nest of mud and straw, not a little thatched cottage!" said Clifford. "Those robins must have built their nest and raised the little ones in the car while it was held up by the flood at Mill River."

"Well," Jimmyy said. "The workshop and the see-saw and the sliding board and the swing have got to wait until those young robins can fly!"

"Yes," Clifford agreed, "we'll guard their train until then!"
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(This web page created 5/14/06)