The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1862-11-25
Thoughts in an Iron Mill


saw a sight in an irou-mill, 10 Buffllo,
that was both new and suggestive to me. They
were making iron out Of which to make nails.
| Now, that sort Of iron must be the very best
that can be made; it must be tough, fine in
the grain, reliable, And the way they do it
is to get great many Independent scraps.
scraps Of every possible so,t-bundle them
together, cast them into the G.c, and submit
them to sort OF rough fusion and welding
after which they look like great mass oil the
Stag We pull out of our stoves. Then the mass
is cast into the fire again and heated white.
hot; great wheel is turning within pom
derous rim in a curious way, aud the work
men cast their piece right into the jaws Of this
machinery. ] had never seen this process
before. thought the mass OF iron was really
a peice ofslag and was to be GROUND up in
the machine to mend roads, for which 1t is
used in England But one turn Of the wheel
was enough to show me that the Stag possessed
an internal, unconquerablc stuIdness, which
the mighty wheel could never destroy; and
t5at, indeed, the wheel was designed, by its
very pressure, not to destroy but to develop
between every sound particle more intimate
excellent, soI,d union. And so, as [ watched
it, saw how, with every revolution of the
wheel, the dross spurted out and fell away
and was swept aside Then the iron was
heated again, and put through ponderous roll
ers, and still the dross fell away and was swept
aside, and the iron grew ever Of finer quail
i,y, and a tougher fibre, and a closer grain,
antI, at the last, it cane out just what the
master wanted. the dross all beaten ont and
swept aside, and the iron still qulvering from
its last agonies-pure, shining, perfect iron
ready for all the uses for which i, was made.
And 30. thought, the fires Of God burn, and
the mills of God grind and labor for this ma
ton. Here We are, a mere mass OF scraps
out Of all the world-English, Irish, Scotch,
German. French-everything bound into the
bundle and cast into the fire This great
rnass Of humanity, this mankind Is heated to
white heat; and in the fierce agony of this
war ponderous principles of good and evil re
volye nysteriousy about US. and press us ter
rbly on every side. But with every rsvolu,
ton Of the wheel, with every new agony, some
dross has been beaten out and sweps aside );
some higher form of life has come out or is
coming. The pressure that would surely grind
us into fragments if We were mere Stag is bleB-
cling every particle Of the true metal into a
more intimate, indcs,r oc,ibIe union. With
every new heating the dross spurts out aud is
swept aside; with every Dew pressure the irsn
in Us grows of a more excellent texture. And
it is no mere dream that suggests how by and
by: this merely formative dlspensation to Us
and to the world will pass way. and the tirDe
will come when the nations shall learn war
no more, and We shall learn war no more, be.
cause it will not be needed, and there shall
be one fold aud one Shepherd. Oh it is fear.
fui-thls burden oil war that is upon US bet
never has this world borne upon its breast
such tremendous aud fual argument against
war as this. The Eatons vii! remember this
time, and shEdder at the possibilities of ever
great contcss-so uncertain in its fortunes, SO
certain in its misfortuDes--as they never shud.
bered before. look up IN these dark days
and | surely see riit in the clond Every
Conent saved in the shos of cannon, every
foot o. extension and certainty Of mark III
the rifle ball. every more powerful and impreg
naole gun.boat will hang over US with grow
ing power on the one side while, on the
other, the tears Of widows, and mothers, and
little children, and the strong Cries of men
and the voices Of those that are slain beneath
the altar, and that cry ont continually, How
long, o Lord how long and above all, and
better than all this Gospel of Jesus Christ
which slowly but surely permeates the whole
world and will yet teach every mtn to plead
with him for peace aud good- ill-all this as
sures me that, not in my time, it may be. bu,
In some good time coming, there shall be peace
on all the earth and the substance Of thu:
humanity, purified, djusted, brought into a
most intimate homogeneity by these sore az.
onies, shall come out at tae last strong, shi
nlng, perfect, read y for all noble uses. Mar
a'hon, Metaurus, Hastings, and B,enheim
Saratoga, Waterloo, and Richmond hay,
done, must do the Masters will La this hu
man nature there Is rals unconqucrable stur
dlness which, the mighty wheeI can never de
stroy, and above all the M4ster, the iCfnit
| fbr'c