The Normal Record. January 1900

              THE NORMAL RECORD.
fallen on no less timid a person than a
woman.
The operator went to the drawer, took
out a pair of pistols, one for each hip pocket
—turned up his coat collar, blew out the
light, went out and locked the office door
behind him. Soon he was riding at a rapid
speed toward C.
The nights in the South are clear and
warm. The deep dark indigo blue of the
sky is not lost in the darkening night. The
desert blue of an Egyptian night, which magnifies the stars in its intensity, is successfully portrayed here. The constellations
were well defined and the lesser lights shown
redundantly bright. Faint outlines of the
distant mountains made irregular dark projections along the circular horizon behind
which the stellar lights darted playfully,
finally disappearing to reappear no more.
It was nearly two when the operator
reached C, with the exception of an occasional shot, here and there, all seemed quiet
enough. He reached the station but no light
was visible. He tried the office door but
heard no sound save that of his own making.
He wondered if she was inside, and peered
at the window, then took from his pocket
a knife with which he beat out a message on
the window pane. It was effective, for after
a scuffling noise and a rattle of boxes, a light
was struck inside and a woman with a frightened, colorless face, lamp in hand, started
towards the door. She hesitated only a
moment then turned the key and the operator was soon inside.
She explained that she had come over a
week before, to take Morgan's place, and that
the night's experience had been a little more
than she was accustomed to. She had
become frightened early in the evening by
the nearness of so wild and lawless a company ; and when they directed their onslaught towards the station she had wired to
Onslay, then blew out the light and crawled
in among the pile of boxes in the corner.
It was nearly four when she had finished
relating the night's occurrence. The morning light was refracted from over the distant
hills on the east lightening up the intermediate space with a faint shimmering glow—
changing the fear of the night to gentle,
peaceful day. Occasionally a number of
vaqueros on horseback rode recklessly
across the track shooting and shouting as
they went on towards the distance from
whence they had come, to take up again their
rough uncivilized life on the plains and with
a positive satisfaction that the night had
been well spent, and that a proper introduction of the New Year had been made, and
were already looking forward to the dawning
of a new year.
Day had well begun when the operator
turned homeward. As he rode along he was
thinking of his friend Morgan, and of that
predominating, self-preserving element in
Nature, the appearance of which, under peculiar circumstances, appears so mean and
common, as had been illustrated to-night, and
yet, an index to the inner mind, even though
it might say, " I lose my life to save it."
Q't Poem.
Again the festal board around,
High mirth and laughter now resound.
Each Normal Q't boy again,
Now thru his stomach feeds his brain,
Our Faculty boy indeed looks wise,
He's filled with pie up to his eyes.
And Stamper's unable to calculate
Just how much ice cream he ate.
Henderson's studying a logic riddle,
But he's got an  undistributed  middle.
Van Liew is studying each Q't phiz,
To find what the Q't really is.
What does it really mean to be
A member of the great Q't ?
It means good fellowship among the boys,
It means to share each other's joys,
Each other's burdens  and each other's pain,
To staud by one another, in sunshine and in
rain.
If of rhyme, tonight, I give short ration,
Remember the past week's dissipation.
For it last night became my fate,
From the Normal School to graduate,
And with six other Q'ts of the twice naughty
class
Out from the student body now to pass.
Where'er we go, where'er we be.
We'll have most tender mem'ries of the old Q't.