The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-01-09
On TOP OF A CHIMNEY.

to London in order to get better wages,
was called into the office by the fore,
man. What's your present Job. Lind
say = he asked, and told him,
Humph! that can stand over for
day or two, can't it ? Stubbs has fallen
Ill again, and you must take his place"
! didn't care to be shifted before I'd
hnlshed what l was about, but a iot,,-
neyman bricklayer, with wife and
children looking to him for bread, can
not afford to be too particular and SO I
held my tongue.
You must go to Coots Brewery to.
morrow ", morning and finish that chin
hey, me foreman told me- He oa,e
me few more directions besides. and
then went his way while ! went mine,
not very we'll pleased at the prospect
before mo.
=. suppose [ never ought to have fol-
lowed the trade for though Til eained
myself good character ns Il steady
workman L had neter been able to over
come 2 horror Mt being perched at any
great hoiBht. In the country. where
the buildings were low, | manaeed we'll
enough, but in this great ritv there
were roofs on which [ could not stand
without this dread expressing me, nor
look down without feeling as though
something below was tempting me TO
hing myself over and end at once the
miserable sensation which no effort of
mine could shake off.
inns huge chimney the foreman had
ordered me to finish was reckoned one
OF the highest nnu best built shafts in
London We were all proud of the Job
winch had been carried on so far without
n single mishap, but L had earnestly
Deen hoping that | might not he sent to
1t, and it wasn't till the workmen had
got almost to the top that began to
breathe bit more freely, and trust that
1t would be finished without any help of
mine.
Once at home with the Youngsters
merry prattle in my ears, 1 forgot my
uneasy feeling about the morrow's lob.
but the moment [ dozed of to sleep it
came back upon me ina hideous dream.
L thought l was falling down, and lust
rs the crash of my body striking the
earth seemed inevitable, | woke up with
start to find myself bathed in a cold
perspiration, and trembling in every
limb.
No more settled sleepvisited my pillow
that night, and it was a relief when the
booming of the clocks dispelled my
frghtful visions, and warned me that
1t was time to face reality.
The morning was bitterly cold and
bolsterous, scarcely soul was to be
seen III the deserted streets at that early
hour, and the dull thud, thud of my
footsteps sounded mournfully in the
stlllnes reigning around. At last the
great chimney loomed in sight, and.
gazing up at its immense height, shiy-
cred at the thought of being on top of
it, and forced to look down on the sick
ening depth below.
If it had not been for the name of the
thing l should have gone back but the
thought of Bessie and the children
spurred me on so, buttoning my Jacket
tightly around me, [ began to ascend
the staging. In my journey upward I
passed many cosiIy-curtained windows,
and remember thinking, rather envious-
ly, how nice it must De to be rich and
sheltered on such morning from the
biting cold in warm furnished bed
room.
Some fellows wouldn't mind the least
bit If they were perched on the top of
ST. Pauls on the coldest of mornings,
provided you supplied them well with
beer; but L wasn't over-strong limbcd
any more than could pretend to be
strong-minded; SO what to them was
nothing, to me was almost death itself.
The higher L went the more intense
the cold appeared to be, and my fingers
became quite numbed by the hoar frost
that was clinging tothe sides and spokes
of the ladders. After a while / stood on
the few boards forming the stage on the
summit of the shaft, and, giving one
glance downward, my blood turned
colder than it was already as L realized
the immense depth to the yard beneath.
Giving myself a shake to get rid of
the dizzy sensation that came over me,
and unlocking from the pulley the tub
of mortar which my mate, waiting be-
low, had sent up, at once began my
solitary work.
had been hard at it for more than an
hour, and was getting a bit more recoA-
clled to my position, cheering myself as
whistled and worked, with the thought
that each brick l laid was bringing me
nearer to finish, when all at once Il
fiercer and colder blast than before
came shrielling around the chimney.
L was nearly overthrown, and in the
endeavor to recover myself, tilted the
board of mortar from off the edge of
WY SIlulI Oh W my lItll SlduIlilP plilce.
In second, to my intense horror, /
felt the boards and all that were on them
gliding away with me from the chimney,
and, in few moments / should have
been lying, a mangled corpse, below, if
L had not succeeded in finging my arm
over and into the hollow of the shaft,
where, as the scaffold and its load of
bricks crushed downward, I was left
hanging, with certain death awaiting me
the moment L loosened my hold
My first impulse was to throw my
other hand over and draw my body up,
so that | could lie partially across the
top of the shaft. In this I was success
ful, and continued to balance myself,
half in the chimney and half out.
There for somo time / could only
cling with frenzied desperation, praying
earnestly to be saved from the horrible
death threatening but at last 1 sum-
moned courage to peer cautiously over
the outside of the shaft.
Not bitof scaffoldingremained with
in many yards of me---and that but the
poles, with a few boards dangling to
them---and there was nothing to break
my fall should 1 quit my hold.
Shudderingly drew my head over
the shaft, for there the darkness hidmy
4, l. ,,,t