The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-09-25
THE STEAM THRESaRR
The DescrIptOa OF POstoR Girl,
Who Married and WSnL To- Texas,
Gives Her Mother.

| threshing Is doae, and luSd Is lifted
from me. Olly thiak OF a gang of six
teen IsyenOus men fling ILt) our little
| house! You remember | wrote you of
| ar. lie Bar, who was almost ruined by
| the cYc,Ooe-losing honse, crops and
: tools sud leaving his wife with broken
arm2 l. was his machine that came TO
| do our threshiug. /, seems that the
engine was net destroyed, but was out
| of the track of the whiilTind on an
other psrt of his farm 20 the separator
was the only thing loss. and this lie has
replaced. We bsvs h. ard his whistles
on different farms around Us, morning
and evening, for two or three weeks.
They DO very rapid work which is the
I attraction TO most people, although they
are compelled to have u larger gang Of
| hands than with other machines. A
| horae-powe, cannot maintain the even
movement required. the tired horses
| lag behind as they revoive around the
| driver, who promptly sends tia: long,
! irsntler black-snake of q whip with q
crack over their straining shoulders.
They start again with spring, and the
machine rattles away for a minute or
1 two, then gradually the measured beat
\ and thud within the vibrating thresher
becomes fainter as the horses again try
to ease their tired limbs. With steam
power all this is obviated. The engi-
neer sets the gauge as he wishes to
thresh-rapldly or slowly. 1t all de-
ponds on the condition of the gram.
| With strong, even movements the pow
erful engine draws the long band over
the wheels AMI pulleys that start the
machine. and each man leaps or walks
to his place and the work begins.
When dinner was over, and the long
file walked down the hill, drew a
deep breath of relief that one meal was
past and immediately began t. arrange
| for a second one. When all was plan
ned out, the table set, the room darken-
ed and the floor sprinkled with water,
lfor it was overpowering hot, 1O3 de-
grees in the shadel, went through the
garden under the cool shade Of the
peach trees, and stood by the grape
vines, looking at their work. The long.
black belt glistened in the sun as it
swiftly flew back and forth there was
a bewIldering amount of flying sheaves
from the men on the stack and the
poor little Dutch shoemaker, who stood
on the straw stack taking care of the
refuse as it YVES elevated and dropped
at his feet, seemed almost overpowered
by dust and heat. Gradually the ma
chine stopped, and the four men who
go with 1t began to loosen screws and
change sleeves before threshing the oats.
H--came up at this moment, say
ing that Mr.. Grund, coInical little
German, had Gene to him aud said IN
a deep whIsper-"Your wife ish stanin'
under that peach tree yDnde:" ii ,
| thought | wanted him tor something
and came at once, and ran back !mme-
diately, for the black belt was moVrng
with long hiss. l followed more
slowly until stood by The engine. Mr..
LIE Bar is his own engineer. He is q
pleasant man, very different from most
of the people who surround US; tail and
strong, with twiklIng eye thai speaks
for his good nature whenever he smiles.
He greeted me pleasantly, and politely
answered sill my questions, which /
suppose have been put to him by every
one for whom he has tbreshed. When
he laughed or smiled, | was reminded
OF Romney Leigh, "wiih q mouth twice
grayer than his eyes - The m cry crows
feet capered on his temples when /
said something about my apprehension
q. the sight of every uncamy looking
cloud ever since the cycloneday. He
showed huge stick into the glowing,
roaring fire, shut the door, and, leaning
his broad shoulders against the wheel
of the engine, said: snow do you
look at it 500 Il DONE affect me. a
particle. can snoIe through the
worst gale that ever blew if my wife
would let mel But she is just oppo-
site. She works herself into fever at
every cloud. Three times week, on
an average, she opens that cellar door and
lays those children around l.. What
she means to do with them, in case it
comes, can't say; but it appears to be
ber intention to shove them all IN u
"Well, can sympathize with her."
said, laughing. IF your arm had been
broken you might not be 80 free from
fear. How is her arm now?" "Gsin-
ing slowly" he answered In a sympa-
thetlc tone. at is her right arm, and
she will use it some. 1t was broken be-
tween the elbow and shoulder. Three
of the children were at school, or we
might have had more trouble than we
did,"
At this moment lis eye wandered over
the men at work beyond us, and again
glowed with fun. followed his glance
and saw one of the young fellows dane
ing an awkward breakdown on the
stack in an instant's pause of his work.
"Come, Luke, " roared one of the band
cutters, "we'd sooner have them bun
dies than your dancin'. You can save
that for thst'gal of yours" The men near
them laughed, and Lucas fell to work
IN shamefaced silence. 1 often pity
these people when they are assailed by
others with rough jests. They might
recover their retreat by few light
| words IL 1t only occurred to them to do
so, but the majority suffer in awkward
silence, though now and then a few
bold spirits havo courage enough to
say, "Ob, you go long" / stood a
little longer, then turned to go up the
hill, Just as the four horses drew near
with the water cart "drIpping with
| GOODNESS"
had the four men to take care of
that night and the next morning.
I don't know when / have been so
grateful as / was when Mr.. LIE Bar told
me that they would not be here for din
ner. I mentally resolved that H.,
should eat bread and milk, and wan
dered down again to see the machine
from my stand under the peach tree.
There was something faclnating to me
about it. The measured, roaring beat
of the ghresher, the smooth, swiftly
| Guiding belt, and the silent power of
the engine, controlling ami guiding all
as the ceaseless flow OF bundles poured
upon it. A little tremulous motion.
like tue rise and fall of the breath that
gives US life, seemed TO culver through
it as it did its work swiftly, for the
men were in q hurry to leave for the
.'next job" On it went, until one
sharp '.root" told the men to stop feed
inef and it was curious to see the silent,
busy gang, alert and active the insant
before, drop on the ground, or lean
heavily on their forks as they. wiped
their dripping foreheads and began to
talk to each other. The little shoe
maker on the stack leaned forward and
cried, "Gim me that there water
bucket" One of the men elevated IL
! on his pitchfork to the poor old man,
who was choked with dust.
As the threshers hurried their prepa-
ration for departure the hired hands
Il n