Litchfield enquirer., 1867-11-07

natural course of an observer, land accord lngly We rode about three miles east to Lime Rock, where one of the newest works for reducing the ore is in operation. The furnace itself IS huge pile of masonry, about thirty feet square and forty or fifty feet high. This is called the stack. , Within it's thick walls, at distance of three or four feet, the pit of the furnace is built and the intervening space is filled with sand closely packed. The pit is lined with fire brick, is nine feet in diameter, and slopes towards the bottom, which is called the " bash, }" if understood the word used and the ''notch," through which the metal is drawn of. The hearth at the bottom of the furnace on which the metal rests is of stone. It is sometimes square and some- times circular, is made of number of pie ces, cut to fit each other accurately, and is worn out every few months. The blasts of the furnace are blowed by force pumps sit
 uated at some distance, and there is cu- rious arrangement for keeping the mouths of the hues which run into the heated met al, cool, by causing water to circulate with in them. The furnace is kept in operation night and day, until the hearth or the
 brick wear out, that Is for four or six months. There are sets of hands who re- lieve each other, and some of the opera
 tions require the attention of men of much intelligence and discretion. The furnace IS charged about once every twenty mir utes. Charcoal, and the several kinds of ores, mixed according to the quality of the
 metal desil ed, and lime are measured by
 weight and dumped into the fierce flame The metal is drawn off three times day. It is led from the 'notch'' by a little ca nal to the pig bed, long row of n1oulds in which the liquid metal cools into pigs The quality of the cooled iron is deterlnin- ed by it's color. and is marked and sold &C., cording to the quantity of carbon it con- tains., The average amount of metal work ed by good furnace is about ten tons 8 day.
 POLITICAL CORRUPTION
 Lime Rock is the residence of William
 H. Barnun, who has an interest in many of the mines and furnaces in the vicinity. At this time when so much is being done to discover the dishonesty of his election,
 his character is considerably discussed by
 those i'll his district. In every hotel where
 we stopped, we heard remarks on the in- vestigation. We heard the democratic jus tifcation, " the whole thing was nothing
 but gambling game, and Barnum was the sharpest, and he won, and now the other side are going back on him." And we
 heard weak-kneed republicans utter fearful prognostications of the effect of this expo sure of fraud. It would certainly ruin the
 republican party they said, it was persecu- tion. But there were also many staunch
 men who said, "if the republican party can be killed by detecting corruption, it is time that it died, it will never find more
 honorable death." The singular fact is
 that no charge of falsehood is made against
 the accusation. The wholesale bribery of voters is admitted on all hands; the only
 point of controversy is the wisdom of an
 exposure. No one denies that Barnum
 systematically gave $50 and S100 for single votes. He kept free liquor ill all the doubt
 tul towns, for two days before election, and in such places voters were invited to walk from the polls to the committee-rooms,
 where the price of their suffrage was
 paid to them over counter. If
 this thing is allowed to go unpunished,
 purity cannot be maintained at the ballot box, and ignorant and narrow minded men
 who have happened upon a few lucky in- vestments will debase the virtue of the peo- pie and pervert all the offices of govern ment.
 WILLIAM H. BARNUM.
 A few words about Barnum himself gath cred from among his own people. He is a man whom neither talent nor education
 has made n statesman. He is fitted in no way for the position to which he aspires, save i'll the pecuniary and wire-pulling abil- ity necessary to secure an election. He has never exhibited any patriotic foresight or any broad consideration of subjects of public interest. He is one of the men which no time but our own could produce. He has the practical instinct, and can
 manage money better than most other men. He has seen the wonderful changes money
 has wrought, and he fancies 1t s talisman by which all material and moral relations can be transformed. By his habit of thought he sees in money the key to all
 human happiness and to heaven itself. As a consequence, when for the sake of bet
 ter position among men, fora wide reputa- tion and title, he desired to be national representative, money seemed the efficient means. With the skill of man who has managed large transactions, he laid his
 plans for practical effect The mere poli- tician is no match for man of business in
 the use of dollars. With the weapons he nad long ago proved, MT Dafnum succeed- ed. He made one mistake, however. He knew the arms he fought with, but the ground on which he contended was unsllit- able for his mode of warfare. Not being endowed with high moral sense, he viola ted the moral sense of others, and instead of buying for himself honorable distinc- tion, he has associated himself with the most barefaced bribery and corruption that ever disgraced New England election.
 The democratic papers have called MT. Barnum the "Iron King" and have spo- ken of him as the most prominent man in that region. This is entirely gratuitous.
 He is neither most influential nor most re- spected. I will only mention Gov. Holley and MT. s. s. Robbins, but there are still others, who nave surpassed him in weight and importancein the community, as much as they now do in the untarnished charac- ter of good citizens. WILKINS ANEcDoTE OF DR. BEECHER. Beech CT and his daughter Catharine being or a visit to the old Connecticut homestead, took occasion to go fishing together. After
 whipping the brook awhile, they became separated, and the daughter returned home without any fish. Leaving her fishing