The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-06-30
The Giant That Ents straw Pudding.

The Giant That Eats Straw Pudding.
/ am good-sized boy, about as large.
should think, as Jack was when he "hitched
his Ratchet" in the bean stalk and went UP to
see the Giant. live with my mother in a
little house eight miles from Santa Cruz in
California. Every time we go to town we
go through Sequel, and every time we 90
through Sequel we go by block of wooden
buildings that have been shut up and de-
serted for long time.
Some bad boys broke every pane of glass
in the windows, and that made me think OF
man with his eyes put out; excepting l
mostly thought of ruined castle l did
not like it so still and lonesome there, but
my mother said:
Never mind, 1 have heard that Old
Giant Machine is coming there to
live, and they say he eats straw pudding and
spits brown paper all day long"
"Oh, dear, dearp says /; "Isn't that goodI
/ always wanted to see giant, and now I'll
have chance. Will he let us in, do you
'Yes, indeed; he has ever so many men
working for him, and they sell the paper to
the butchers to wrap around our beefsteak."
The next time we went by the deserted cas-
castle the doors were wide open, and l could
the sound of saws, planes and hammers, and
could see the workmen passing back and
forth, preparing the rooms for Old Giant
Machine. He had ever so many men at
work for him. Some were building flume
from away up the Sequel Creek to carry
water down to the Castle. Some were at
the chair-factory, three miles away, prepar-
ing two great redwood tanks, ten feet across
their tops, to make the Giants pudding
in.
O+bor y,oar ,ro-o bou1;nc. stra,,- fro,o Ill
about the country and making stacks and
stacks, some fifty feet long and some hun
dred feet long. They put roofs over the stacks
to keep the rain off.
The roofs were made of boards, not shin
giles; but the best one was made of shakes
Shakes are something like shingles, only
a good deal longer.
Oh, but l didn't tell you-there were some
more men cutting, hauling and piling up
cords and cords of wood to heat the giants
furnace.
Well, it kept growing more and more like
a real fairy story, for one morning we came
riding along, and as quick as we got in sight
of the castle / saw the smoke coming out of
the smoke stack 1 didn't tell you about the
smoke stack, either-it is as much as twenty
or forty feet high, should think, but can't
measure very well when thing goes up in
the air like that.
We heard rumbling and rafting and a
thud, thud, that just about seemed to shake
the ground, and 1 says to my mother:
"He's comel'
"Yes, the Old Giant has come; shall we
go and see him?" she asked, laughing.
"Hitch my horses and down / gOI Hitch
my horses and down 1 go! l said. 1
couldn't say sup / CO." because it's down
hill to the castle door.
There were plenty Of men hurrying about,
but they let us walk right in without trying
to stop US 1 looked around quick for the
giant.
There is Old Giant Machine" said my
mother. SHE is second cousin to Old Giant
Weaver, who made the cloth for your coat :"
"Well, he's a pretty good Giant" 1 said,
''tbough he don't look just precisely and ex-
actly as l thought he would; but he makes
n dreadful grumbling and grooming, and the
paper flies out of his mouth fast enough for
anything. How much comes out in a day,
i wonder?'
"Five thousand pounds" said one of the
men, ''or about forty feet every minute"
"How much straw do you have to feed it2'
asked.
ait takes in about 5000 pounds day now,
but we shall have to feed it more when it
gets in good working order"
ave would like to see how you prepare
the straw from the beginning" saidImy
mother.
Gall right" said the man, "come tbs
way"
Then he took us to the other end of the
building, up a short fight of stairs, and
there was one of the immense redwood
. trunks half full of straw.
aNow Jack listenp said nv mother.
So listened with all my might, and 1 can
tell you just pretty near every word the
man said.
"This straw is well saturated with mix
ture of lime and water, and here it remains
for eighteen hours, during which time steam
Is forced in, so as to penetrate the whole mass
and aid in the bleaching process"
He talked good deal like the panorama
man up In Santa Cruz.