Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-11-12

on the head, inflicting a serious injury
| From this he partially recovered, and only
partially, for his reason was impaired
But his natural love for machinery and
mechanical experiments remained, and as
he regained his bodily strength he spent
most of his time making small wheels and
shafts and putting together odd contriv-
ances which he would exhibit with i'm
mense pride and satisfaction.
| This peculiar trait in the young fellow
| gained for him the humorous title of the
INVENTOR All the men felt a great
kindness for him, even though their man
ner toward him was occasionally harsh
and impatient.
Such was the person left to help watch
the great blast for the casting of the king
| bell of the chime of st. Johns. Faith
fully he kept his place before the furnace
while the man George sat down at a little
distance and began to eat his supper.
Doubtless the latter intended to keep a
general oversight but he certainly made
the Inventors eyes do the most of the
| looking. Whether he felt kind of reck-
| less trust in the instinct of his half-witted
companion or indolently concluded that
nothing wrong could happen, he was sadly
to blame for charging himself so little
with the important duty before him.
Not word was said by either watcher,
and only the deep roar of the furnace was
! heard through the vast foundry.
George finished his supper and saun-
| tered into one of the tool-shops to find his
pipe. Inventor" sat alone before the
great blast. The one rational faculty of
his feeble mind enabled HIM to compre-
bend what it meant, and even something
of the magnitude of the enterprise that
was ripening inside those burning walls.
He knew that the furnace was full of val
liable metal, and that close beside him,
| buried out of sight in the deep sand, was
| the huge mold, so soon to be filled with
the precious cast He knew and could
see that all the channels for the flow of
the fiery liquid were ready, and that
| near the mouth Of the furnace stood the
| long iron rod that was to be used when
| the moment came to let on the molten
| stream.
All this his limited thoughts took in by
habit. Dimly conscious that something
| was soon to be done, he sat with his eyes
| on the furnace absorbed and intent.
| Suddenly ething startled him. There
was slight noise, and burning crack
appeared near the top of the furnace.
| Then another crack, and scorching
brick fell out and rolled to the ground at
| his feet.
The lad opened his mouth to shrek,
| butso terrified was he that the sound stuck
| in his throat as if he had been in fit of
nightmare.
a thin, red stream followed the fallen
brick, and trickled down the furnace-side
like running lava. Then came another
alarming noise, and thin gap half way
down the masonry let out more of the hiss
| ing metal
Where was George? Was the unfaithful
fellow still hunting for his pipe? The
| furnace was bursting with only a poor,
| half-idiot lad to guard it.
What could he do? He did what per-
haps lad in his right mind would not
have dared to do. Rushing to the mouth
of the furnace, he seized the long iron rod
that stood near and tapped the vent. One
desperate thrust with sharp point up the
terrible funnel-a few quick, prying
strokes. Stand back now. The combining
clay fell away, and the yellow-white flood
spurted out with resistless force. 1t leaped
into the clay-lined troughs, and Kissed its
way, flaming, down to the mouth of the
bell mold.
The " fool'' had done deed worthy of
general on field of battle.
Was it too late? Every moment new
assures opened in the doomed furnace.
Some of the upper stones toppled over.
Still the metal poured out into the
mold. But the waste was great from those
gaping flaws. The pressure was relieved
| by the open vent, but the leaks multiplied
| continually 1t was art running a race
with ruin.
Poor " Mopus" stood powerless before
| the coming catastrophe. His knees
knocked together and 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 seething fire. Sharp, blistering
pains pierced his flesh at a hundred points.
| The rest was all horrible, unintelligible
dream. It was as if he had suddenly sank
into the earth and had been swallowed up
| forever.
By seven o'clock comparative quiet
reigned again on the scene of disaster.
Ruins lay everywhere. The engines had
quenched the flames that had caught the
building, and the men, blackened with
smoke, stood in silent groups around the
remains of the furnace. 1t had fallen tC
pieces and nothing was left but heaps OF
steaming rubbish.
| Poor g 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
spoken uttered with no mild emphasis the
natural wrath of the master and hands
against the man George, whose excuses
for himself only exaggerated his offense.
"See what he's DONE" said they, few
DAYS later, as they stood in the half burned
foundry. GIVE thousand dollars gone tc
waste in a minute! The best job in twenty
wears 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 upon such carelessness! Why
/ the boy didn't even know enough to baw
out when he must have seen the furnace
tumbling to pieces"
The master, who had more at stake than
the men, of course felt the loss more
keenly than they He almost wept with
mingled grief and rage. Suddenly some
thing peculiar caught his eye among the
debris. and he cried in startled voice:
"Halloo! What's this? What's this ?"
He snatched up a fragment of one OF
the troughs which had led from the mold
There were traces of the stream of bronze
still running in it. Then the possible
meaning of tt iron found in the injured
bows hand flashed upon him.
| aBring me a shovel, quickw he
shouted. SPA
| A spade was put into his hands, and be
began nervously to heave away the no
mass that lay piled over the bell mold
| 1t was a herculean task, but he worked
like a giant, and three or four of his mer
took hold opd ba1npd him