Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-01-20

q You're good lad, Ben said he. "Shake
hands,
seized his hand and pressedit warmlye
If I'm good fof anything, George, / AN
swered with all my heart, its you who have
made me so. God bless yot for it ~
s Amen" said he, ia a troubled voice. put
| ting his hand to his hat
/ And so we parted.
In general, L went to bed BY day when |
was attending to the firing BY night but this
morning had already slept longer than usual,
| and wanted exercise more than rest So |
| ran home, put bit of bread and meat in my
/ pocket, snatched up my big thorn stick, and
started off for long day in the country
When / came home, it was quite dark and be-
| ginning TO rain, just as ii had begun to rain
| at about the same time that wretched Sunday
| evening; so ] change my wet boots, had an
| early supper and nap in the Gimme cor
| ner and vent down to the works few min
| utes before half-past nine. Arriving at the
| factory gate, l found it ajar, and SO walked III
! and closed it after me- | remember thinking
at the time that il was unlike Georges usual
| caution TO leave il So, but it passed from nv
| mind the next moment. Having slipped in
| the bolt, / went straight over to Georges lit
| tie counting house, where the gas was shining
| cheertully in the window. Here also, some
what to my surprise, found the door open
| and the room empty. | went in. The TIRES
1
| driving rain. The wa9es-book was open on
| the desk, Georges pen stood in the ink, and
| his hat hung on its usual peg in the corner. /
| concluded, of course, that he had gone round
| TO the ovens so, following him, | took down
| his hat and carried it with me, for it was now
| raining very fast.
The clearinghouse lay just opposite, on the
other side of the yard. There were three of
| them, opening one out of the other; and in
each the great furnace filed all the middle
| of the room. These furnaces are, in fact,
| large kilns built Of brick, with an oven closed
| in by an iron door in the centre of each, and
| chimney going up through roof The pot
| terry, enclosed in seggars, stands round inside
on shelves, and has to be turned from time to
| time while the firing is going on To turn
/ these seggars, test the heat, and keep
| the fires up was my work at the period of
| which | now telling YOU, Major.
! Well, | went through the baking houses
| one after another, and found all empty alike
| Then a strange, vague, uneasy feeling came
! over me, and | began to wonder what could
| have become of George 1t was possible that
| lie might be in one of the work shops so |
| ran over to the counting house, lighted Il
| lantern, and made a thorough survey of the
yards. | tried the doors they were all lock
ed as usual peeped into the sheds; they
| were all vacant. | called George George !"
| in every part of the outer premises but the
| wind and rain drove back my voice. and no
other voice replied to it. Forced at last to
| believe that he was really gone, | took his
| hat back 10 the counting house, put away the
wages book, extinguished the gas, and pre-
pared for my solitary watch.
| The night was mild, and the heat in the
/ baking rooms intense. knew, by experience,
| that the ovens had been overheated and that
none OF the porcelain must 90 at least for
| the next two hours so | carried my stool to
/ the door, settled myself in a sheltered corner
| where the air could reach me, but not the
rain, and fell to wondering where George
could have gone, and why he should not have
| waited till time appointed That he had left
| in haste was clear-not because his hat re
| manned behind, for he might have had cap
| with him; but because he had left the book
open, and the gas lighted. Perhaps one of
| the workmen had met with some accident,
| and he had been summoned away so urgently
| that he had no time to think of anything :;
perhaps he would even now come back pres
emily 10 see that all was right before he went
| home TO his lodgings Turning these things
| over in my mind, ! grew drowsy, my thoughts
wandered and l fell asleep
| cannot tell how long my nap lasted
had walked a great distance that day. and
slept heavily; but l awoke all in moment,
with sort of terror upon me, and, looking
| up. saw George Barnard sitting a stool be
1
on his face
Ashamed to be found sleeping, started to
| my feet. At the same instant, he rose, turn
ed away without even looking towards me-
and went out into the next room.
Don't be angry, George" I cried, follow
lowing him. - None of the seggars are in.
| knew the fires were too strong, an -"
The words died on my lips. | had followed
him from the first rooom TO the second, from
the second to the third, and III the third
lost him!
could not believe my eyes Iopened the
end door leading into the yard and looked
out; but he was nowhere in sight. | went
round to the back of TIE baking-houses.
looked behind the furnaces, ran over to the
counting house, called him by his name over
and over; but al was dark, silent, lonely as
| ever.
Then | remembered how l had bolted the
outer gate, and how Impossible it was that he
should have come in without ringing Then
too, began again to doubt the evidence of
my own senses, and to think must have been
| dreaming.
| went back to my oltpost by the door of
the first clearinghouse, and sat down for a
moment to collect my thoughts.
In the first place said l to myself,
there is but one outer gate. That outer
gate | bolted ON the inside, and it is bolted
still In the next place | searched the prem
| lses, and found all the sheds empty, and the
workshop doors padlocked, as usual, on the
outside. proved that George was nowhere
about when l came, and l knew he could not
| have come in since without my knowledge.
Therefore it is dream. II is certainly a
dream, and there's an end of it."
| And with this | trimmed my lqnteru and
proceeded to test the temperature of the fur
naces. We used to do this, should tell YOU.
10y the introduction of little roughly-moulded
Jumps of common fre-clay. If tie heat is
too great they crack if too little they remain
damp ami moist; if just right they become
firm and smooth all over, and pass into the
biscuit stage. Well | took my three little
Jumps OF clay, put one in each oven, waited
until | counted fve hundred, and then went
round again to see the results. The two first
were in capital condition; the third had flown
into a dozen pieces. This proved that the
! segEars might go ut once into ovens One and
Two, but that number Three had been over
heated, and must be allowed to go on cooling
for an hour or two longer
| l therefore stocked One and Two with nine
rows OF seggars, three deep on each shelf
left the rest waiting till number Three was in