1911 Gem of the Mountains, Volume 8 - University of Idaho Yearbook

THE NINETEE~ ELEVEN train that left Larchwood Friday morning and which wa-. sudclenl) brought to a staml-.till, ,,-hen about half way to the next station. The freight train just ahead of them had been wrecked.

They had to back up to Larchwood and wait until the wreck was cleared away. The officials thought that woul<l be about two o'clock in the afternoon. Dut two o'clock came, then three and half past, an<l still they were at Larchwood. ~Irs .. \llis011 fidgeted, walked up and down the platform and tired the officials with questions. \'i-.;ions of a cluttered kitchen, fallen cakes, two redfaced, llmried girls, then of people running about in her parlor, who knows, maybe eating cake and probably dropping it all over the carpets. lf :;he were only there. It was awful to he so ncar and not be able to get there, and the party that very night.

If that train didn't go pretty soon, she wouldn't gel there hdorc the party began. It was a qu:utcr of six and still they were al Larchwood. She had just asked the conductor when he thought they wnulcl k•ave. and he answered wearily that he didn't know. he was sure. Then he asked where she was going. and on learning that it was .\lford, suggested that she dri,•e. It was only fi iteen miles. She had ne,·er thought of this before and she figured that by starting now. <>he would get home by eight o'clock. l'robabl) before the guests arri,-e<L It was a little after -.ix when she left Larchwood in a Ji,·ery rig. They arri\'cd at Doon about half pa-.t seven. Ilere the driver insi.,ted on feeding his team and ~Irs . . \llison's hopes sank. She could not hope to reach home now until after nine.

She was angry but all her vigour and e:tgerne"s had left her. A little after eight they left Doon. £,·erything went well until they were two miles out of town. when the tongue of the buggy dropped and running into the ground snapped ofT. There was nothing else for J'drs.• \llison to do but to walk a half mi le to a farm house and wait while the driver went hack to town for another buggy. \Yhen the dri,·cr finally put her down al her own gate it was eleven o'clock.

There was certainly no mistake about the party. Japanesc lanterns wt•rt• swinging from the trees on the lawn. and hung about the veranda an<l the house lighted up from g:trn.·t to n·llar. There was no one upon the lawn. They had t•,·idcntly all gone inside. Old Carlo met her at the gate with a joyous bark.

She paid little attention to him. ho\\·e,·er. She felt discouraged, htigued. baffled. Slowly she went up the walk between the lanterns and climbed the steps to the veranda and stopped. From where she stood she could see into both the dining room and