The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-12-04
tiuually. 1t was art running a race with

I00r 'MOpus STOOD pOweeless before
the coming catastrophe. His knees knock
ed together ana his head swan A great
heap OF red hot bricks and rubbish fell at
his feet. He had barely thought to get out
of the way and save his life. He heard
wild shout Of human voices in the distance,
then an awful roar behind him, and he saw
and felt himself pursued by surges of seeth-
ing fire. Sharp, blistering pains pierced
his flesh at hundred points. The rest
was all horrible uninteligible dream. 1t
was as If he had suddenly sank into the
earth and had been swallowed up forever.
By seven O'Clock comparative quiet was
reigning again on the scene of the disaster.
Ruins lay every everywhere. The engines
had quenched the flames that had caught
the building, and the men, backened with
smoke, stood in silent groups around the
remains of the furnace. 1t had fallen to
pieces and nothing was left but heaps of
steaming rubbish.
"Poor "Inventor," who had been found
with the tapping-rod in his hands, lying on
his face in the sand, frightfully burned, had
been carried to his home.
Little was said, but the few words spsk-
en- uttered with no mild emphasis the nat
ural wrath Of the master and hands against
the man George, whose excuses for himself
only exaggerated his OHbnCe.
"See what he's DONE" said they, a few
days later as they stood in the half burned
foundry. Five thousand dollars gone to
waste in a minute The best job in twenty
years spoiled The rascal to go hunting
for his pipe and leave that suffering idiot
to watch Is that all he can say for him
self? Out with such carelessness Why the
boy didn't even know enough to bawl out
when he must have seen the furnace tum-
bling to pieces"
The master who had more at stake than
the men, of course felt the loss more keen
ly than they. He almost wept with min
gled grief and rage. Suddenly something
peculiar caught his eye among the debris
and he cried in startled voice:
"Hallo! What's this What's this?'
He snatched up fragment of one of the
troughs which had led from the foundry to
the mold. There were traces of the stream
of bronze still running in it. Then the pos
sible meaning Of the iron found in the in
jured boys hand flashed upon him.
bring me shovel, quick ~ he shout
ed.
A spade was put into his hands, and he
began nervously to heave away the hot
mass that lay piled over the bell mold. 1t
was a herculean task, but he worked like
giant, and three or four Of his men took
hold and helped him.
Brickbats, ore, Stag and ashes flew in
every direction. Presently the masters
spade penetrated the sand and he touched
something hard. He stopped down. Then
he leaped up like one half frantic, and ply
ing his spade with redoubled energy, tore
away the remaining sand, disclosing what
looked like great metallic ring.
tMpn " he cried mt lifting his fins he'd
face, ''the bell is cast!"
"Who did this?" asked every excited
voice, as soon as the cheering died away.
"Come with me, two or three Of you"
cried the master. 81 think l know who
did it. It's miracle!'
They buried away to the home of the
halt witted boy. The attendant met them
with her finger on her lips.
'The poor boy is in a brain fever" she
said.
docs hs saw. ANYTHING in his delirium2 p
| whispered the master
sob, yes, he raves all the time about the
big bell mold. hope it will fill hope
it will fill," he says.
The men exchanged glances. 1t was in
deed true. The idiot had cast the great
bell OF ST. Johns. just then the physician
came out. ''Perhaps he may recover his
reason by this shock and sickness" he said.
"Such things have happened
edo you think so? Pray heaven he
mayl" solemnly calculated the master and
his men; and they turned away deeply
moved.
Two months later the great bell hung
from huge derrick in the lathe room o +
the factory, and beneath it stood heavy
truck upon which it was about to be low
cred. A silence fell upon the group of
workmen as the pale face and feeble form
of "1nventor" appeared, borne in a small
reclining chair He had recovered his rea-
son, and was fast getting back his strength
His large gray eyes instantly fastened them
selves on the bell, that excellent master
piece, whose making meant so much to
him. They had told him the whole story
of the casting, and the disaster in the fsun-
dry, but it all sounded like wild romance
to him.
81 remember nothing that happened,
said he shaking his head with smile.
sits all new to me, all new and strange
so strange"
eyes, said the master devoutly. at
was Gods hand
Every eye turned upon the invalid
Some of the men felt almost afraid, it was
SO much like resurrection to have him
there among them, the boy they had known
so long unidentified, now a young man.
keen and intelligent, as if changed into an
other being
81 should like to strike the ball once !
two men lifted him up and placed small
hammer in his hand.
He struck one gentle blow. A deep
sweet, mournful tone, solemn as the sount
of distant waterfalls, rollen from the grea
bell and echoed through the great foundry
Tears filed the eyes of the rough men a
they heard it.
''Ah," said the master, ''there's hal
lellulah in that, and il may well begin here
Long may this bell praise God lie save
it in the ruins of the furnace by one wis
thought in the ruins of human brain. Gu
furnace is rebuilt, and behold, this dea
boy has his reason again The bell and tn
boy shall glorify God together"
, "Amen!" murmured the listeners.
, Then the great bell was lowered, and a
the truck was rolled away with its melo
dious burden, the boy was lifted and car
, ried after it, and both went out into the sun
, ny day together, the rough men standing |
the doorways waving their hands.
. "Little Inventor" afterward well prove
his claim to the title SO lightly given him /
, his unfortunate boyhood. His name is no.
| read ON many a bell whose matehless rich
ness of tone his genius and skill in metal
I alone created. Rufus Sargent