[William Guild was engineer of the train which on the 19th of April, 1813, plunged into Meadow Brook, on the line of the Stonington and Providence Railroad. It was his custom, as often as he passed his home, to whistle an “All’s well” to his wife. He was found, after the disaster, dead, with his hand on the throttle-valve of his engine.] |
TWO low whistles, quaint and clear: That was the signal the engineer— That was the signal that Guild, ’tis said— Gave to his wife at Providence, As through the sleeping town, and thence, Out in the night, On to the light, Down past the farms, lying white, he sped!
As a husband’s greeting, scant, no doubt,
Brisk young bagmen, tourists fine,
Summer and winter the old refrain
And then, one night, it was heard no more |