RANDOM READINGS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 743, 6 February 1915, Page 6

RANDOM READINGS.

r A TRAIN SEVEN YEARS LATE!

On the authority of an American correspondent, the- "Railway Magazine" records tho story of a train which reached its destination more tliani seven years behind time on a part of tho Gulf and Interstate Railway, now in- k eluded in the Atchison Topoka, and Santa Fo system. Tho train started from Beaumont, Texas, bound for Port Bolivar, at 11.30 a.m. on September Bth, 1900. The distance is scv-enty-ono miles, and tho train was duo in Port Bolivar at l.f>;s p.m.. It maintained itsj schedule for the first thirty- M three miles to High Island. There ifc was surrounded by waters from tho Gulf of Mexico, which had crept moro than thirty-eight miles inland, and flooded tho railway. When tho waters subsided the train was high and dry on tho prairie, tho only rails left being; those on which ifc stood. For miles up and down tho lino not a vestige of track remained. After hours of terror the passengers mado their escape through the mud. 'Tho engine and four cars were abandoned, and remained a landmark. Eventually the affairs of tho Gulf and Inter-stato revived. The road was rebuilt, and at last tho rails from either end were connected with thoso under tho long- overdue train, At firstit was proposed to tow the weather• beaten equipment to its original destination. The machinists looked over iho rusty locomotive, and pronounced her fit to complete her They fired her up, and amid the che >rs of everyone she moved off, creaking- and "rheumatic'' in her .joints, but si'ill serviceable. The news was IclegraphcJ to Port Bolivar, and when the train, more than seven years late, arrived, half a dozen of the original passengers assembled to greet it, and the fact that it had actually reached its destination was telegraphed all over the country. ANECDOTES OK A MAI) KING. In "My Past," by Countess Mario Larisch, there are some cuiiious stories of the mad King- Ludwig of Bavaria :

King- Ludwijv Jl. of Ravaria would allow no servants to wait on him ab dinner, and when ho pressed a spring his round table sank through a liolo in tho floor ; the next course was then set, and the table- asscr.-.led into tho dining-room again. Plenty of champagne- in ieo pails wns placed near tho King, and if tho table did not return quickly em/'&h lie flung- some bottles through the hole, as an emphatic reminder to th'! servants below that ho objected to be kept waiting. Tho King had a wonderful winter g-arden at Munich, which' «.-.i built on tho roof of the Resident. Tho? was also an artificial lake with a painted panoramic background of the Himalaya mountains, and when the King sat in the gardens a "property" moon shed its gaseous light over the snow-capped peaks. Queen Mario's bedroom was immediately under tho winter ryarden, «»nd one night the Queen, wlim was laid up with a heavy cold, was terrified out of her wits when she discovered that the lake was leaking through the ceiling-, and that a .steady downpour was failing- on her bed. Tho unfortunate, lady did not quite know what to do, as she had been strictly enjoined by her doctors to keep in one. temperature; she hastily summoned her attentants, however, and they brought a largo umbrella, under which she took shelter until the leakage was-repaired.

The King used often to command artistes from the theatre to perform in the winter gardens, and I remember the fate which befel Josepliina Schofzky, a large, tall woman, whose one wish in life was to attract Ludwie/'s notice. As all the singers sang- hidden behind screens, Josephina's chances of meeting the King face to i'aco wcro exceedingly small; but what woman is ever at a loss for an expedient? She knew how chivalrously romantic Ludwig could be on occasions, so she decided she would fall into the lake,; and entreat him to rescue her. The eventful evening arrived, Josephine warbled her sweetest for the benefit of tho listening monarch, and when the song was over plunged heavily into the lake. There was a tremendous noise, and the water splashed to the topmost summit of the "Himalayas," but the lady remained chin-deep in the lake, whoso still waters were not so deep as they looked. "Save me, save me, Lohengrin!" cried the agitated singer. The King rang the bell. "Get that woman out of the lake and send her home,"' ho commanded, and tho dripping Josepliina, sadder and wiser, walked out of the water and out of th« Residenz for ever.