American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-02-26
Machiac Mercy.


Machi.c Mercy.
WHILE crossing one of the ferries be
| tween this city and Brooklyn the othel
day, we formed one OF II Knot Of, person:
who curiousiy watched an individual wht
had clambered up on the walking bean
of another steamboat that was passing us
and who, clinging to the beam, was
swayed up and down as he coolly
scrubbed at some portion of the brigh
work. The general sentiment of the PEG
pie about us seemed to be one akin TO ad
! miration at the mans daring: but in that
view we profoundly differed from ouI
nei Oh bors, aud Thought to ourselves that
the workman was, to say the least, fool
| Why could he not wait five minutes until
| his boat came to rest In the slip, and then
| clean and polish to his hearts content
while the beam was stationary? In fact,
| there was no reason that we could per
ceive, and hence we were driven to the
above uncomplimentary opinion, as we
always are whenever we witness IA pre-
sumably rational human being peril life
or limb uselessly.
9 Familiarity breeds contempt" is a
trite old proverb, and one which appears
to be especially true in regard to people
accustomed to dealing with machinery.
| 1t is not so in many other cases soldiers
who handle fire arms and explosives all
their lives are proverbially the most care
full persons with their deadly weapons
They seldom blow off their fingers or the
tops OF their own skulls, through pure
negligence, as many an unfortunate
sportsman has done; for the reason, per-
haps. that long experience with gunpow-
der iinpresses them with the merciless
nature of that material when it is ignited.
But machine attendants somehow manage
to get different idea, and almost, it APP
pears, arrive at a notion that a machine is
a sort of sentient being which knows
them, and won't smash or bite off their
limbs as it will those of other people.
What scores of workmen we have seen
with stumps of fingers! Machine and
circular saws especially are peculiarly
partial to such diet. We read of case
recently of a workman who was descant
ing on the advantages of his saw, and
who merely wanted to point out how truly
it ran. He pushed his finger forward
little too far, and whiz off it
went. He felt peculiar sensation,
not a hurt Qor it is well known that
there is no pain attending the looping off
of a member by a very rapidly revolving
blade) and, half instinctively, he poked
out another finger, and that likewise de-
parted. Then he discovered that some
thing was wrong, and subsequently that
he was minus two fingers. Fingers cut
off are trivial accidents to some that occur
through carelessness. Not very long ago
woman in New England mill went to
work with her hair down. She moved
carelessly around among the buzzing
wheels and shafts, and the first thing she
knew her tresses were caught, and no
Pawnee on the plains could have scalped
her more neatly. Her misfortune bene-
for n,
doctors splendid opportunity TO try the
efficacy of transplanting skin. Medical
skill healed the wound, we believe, but
her flowing locks were gone. A work
man was strangled in somewhat similar
way, his loose neckcloth catching and
twisting itself about shaft, which could
not be stopped in time; another, VIC Ie-
member, met more horrible fate by be-
coming entangled with a shaft which
swung him around and around, dashing
him against the beams and floor at every
turn, until, before the motion could be ar
rested, he was literally torn 10 pieces.
We have seen men on steam vessels crawl
down among the machinery, with Il light
in one hand and a tool in the other, and
Try to work, lodging some moving part
at lis every revolution, the rolling of the
ship making their position still more
perilous. A case happened very short
a
the narrow enclosure in which the paddle
shaft crank of a steamer worked. He
knew perfectly well that steam was up
and that the vessel would shortly get
under way; but, for some unaccountable
reason, he chose at the last minute to get
under the crank, perhaps to put the last
touch on some repairing job 1t was his
last touch, for the engineer, whom he did
not notify of his intention, happened to
fhp fortIr to-
turn or two. The crank came over and
smashed the unfortunate being out of all
human semblance.
We might go on and multiply instances
of this Kind indefinitely: doubtless there
are few of our readers who cannot do
likewise. But despite the knowledge of
the prevalence of these casualties, people |
continue to be careless. The engineer
doesn't realize that the engine which he
has rubbed till he can see his face in any
part of it, or whose motion he has con
trolled for the last ten years, will crush
him If he once gets in its clutch. HASN'T |
he pet name for it, and doesn't he pat |
the cylinder affectionately, and view it
all over with kind of fatherly interest? |
Certainly he reasons somehow that the in
sensate iron and steel will spare its mas
Ter. Then there is the machinist. Did |
he not put up those cOuntershafts, and fit |
that betting? What it he does get up on. |
a ladder, and try to slip a belt already on |
the driven pulley over big driver with |
the latter in motion? He laughs when |
the risk of his getting caught between
belt and pulley is pointed out, guesses he |
knows this gear, and "he's done it a |
thousand times,' and the thousand and !
first time may result in ii horrible death.
Locomotive engineers are also frightfully |
reckless. With an engine going forty |
miles an hour, it is much more prudent |
70 slow down or even stop in order to oil
4 squeaky bearing than to climb out on
The side and hang over SO as to reach the
place with the oil can. Better lose IA |
minute or two of time than risk life. The
men who run our locomoti yes have plenty
Of chances to display heroism and daring
IT the right time; and it is for the very
reason that they are 50 rarely found want
ing in those qualities that we hate to see |
hem uselessly peril their lives.
In Il word, work men should learn that
here is no such thing as familiarity with
Study your machines, we
say, know every bolt, every nut, every |
piece of metal in them, know how to re-
pair, to build, to invent improvements, |
know how to exact their utmost capabili- |
lies; but for your own safety, and for the |
sake of those dependent on your labor, do |
not relax one insiant's care, nor per-
suade yourself that you can rely upon |
your doxtcrity or upon any half supposed |
attribute in moving masses of |
metal. -.ScientGfc 1merican.
A PASTOR wits conversing with that |
very gentle and most Indispensable critic, |
The pastors wife, on n Sabbath evening,
Ia -