THE GIRL AND THE MUSHROOMS

Two girls were returning from the woods with their baskets full of mushrooms.

They had to cross the railroad tracks.

They thought the train was far away, climbed the embankment and began stepping over the rails.

Suddently, they they heard the sound of the locomotive. The elder girl darted back, but the younger one ran on across the rails.

The elder girl shouted to her siser, "Don't turn back!"

But the train was so close and was making so much noise that the younger girl did not hear her. She thought her sister wanted her to run back. She ran back across the rails, tripped, dropped ger basket and began gathering up the mushrooms.

The train was now very close. The engineer pulled the whistle as hard as he could.

The elder girl shouted, "Leave the mushrooms!" But the little girl thought she was telling her to gather up the mushrooms and so kept bending over for them.

The engineer could not stop the train in time. The train whistle shrieked, and the train rolled on over the girl.

The elder girl screamed and sobbed. All the passengers looked out of the car windowsk, while the conductor ran to the far end of the train to see what had happened to the girl.

When the train had passed the spot, everyone saw the little girl lying face-down between the rails. She was lying very still.

Then she raised her head, got up on her knees, gathered up her mushrooms and ran back to her sister.