Stories.


I received this (e-mail-) letter on April 6, 2001
and I thought, that it may be interesting for some of us

Karl, thank you for your response. Thank especially for visiting Dorothy's grave. I am very impressed by the size and activity of your St. Paul internet group. My maternal grandfather, Dr. George Kidwell was the mayor of St. Paul many, many years ago. He was a union veteran of the civil war while his three older brothers were veterans of the confederacy. My mother, Grace Kidwell grew up in St. Paul.

I have a great memory of walking the nine miles from Pettigrew to St. Paul with three brothers and my sister down the Frisco tracks when I was seven years old. We all clutched a dime in our sweaty palms for fare to ride the little mixed train back to Pettigrew. At age 82 I may never be back in Arkansas again I will look you up. I occasionally dream the following:
I am standing in the meadow between St. Paul and Dutton when the the little mixed train appears from the mouth of the narrow canyon just east of St. Paul. A cloud of black coal smoke is billowing from the tall stack of the little mogul which is laboring up the grade with a consist of two box cars and the two coaches. There is no sound from stack, rail joints, and flat wheels, and there is no crew in the mogul nor passengers in the coaches. It is a ghost train that rolls silently along the elevated right of way through the meadow and disappears into the woods beyond. The St. Paul branch of the Frisco with its little mixed train ceased to exist more than sixty years ago, but I still have my dream.

Convey my best wishes to your internet group.

Rex Burnett