Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-06-26

/ eASSASSS
tracks over a condemned bridge.
At eleven o'clock four heavy locomo-
tives arrived. They were to be used In
testing the bridge, but as the rails were
not laid, nothing could be done. AT
noon the officers of the bridge company
and the president of the road arrived on
special engine. The truth could not be
withheld, and for few moments there
were some pretty sharp words on both
sides. The young man had nothing to
say. He had made mistake.
mistakes are not permitted in modern
work. You may 60. We have no farther
need of your services"
THE SUN COMES TO THE RESCUE.
The next day was Sabbath. For the
young man the night had been one of
sleepless misery and wretchedness. At
four O'Clock he rose and went out in the
sweet, cool air of the morning to look
once more over the impossible river that
forever separated him from his long
wished-for happiness. There stood the
great bridge; monument to his stupen-
dous folly and carelessness. He had
bridged the stream, and yet in moment
all was lost forever.
Only four inches-only four inches
from happiness. He repeated the words
mechanically as he brushed through the
dewy grass and came to the river The
sky was rosy overhead, but the sun had
not yet appeared above the hills. The
day promised to be fair, perhaps warm,
yet he shlvered in the fresh breeze. Even
the water below looked cold and chilly
Every rod and beam of the bridge
was glistening heavy with dew. He
went to the bridge and stood with ona
hand resting on the iron looking over
where he might not cross. Not a crea-
ture was stirring about the Chase farm.
His expected bride slept over Herewith
perchance tears upon her pillow. He had
made a highway to her home, grand
and noble road for the locomotive, high
way for nation, and yet he could not
cross the stream where he had walked
barefoot boy in the golden water among
the amber pebbles
How cold the iron. He looked down
upon the steel rollers on which the bridge
rested they had turned part way over
since the day before. The bridge had
contracted, had shortened under the infu-
ence of the fallen temperature. Yester-
day the day was warm and fair. Now
the world seemed pirched and cold-like
the bridge. 1t seemed also as if his heart
had sunken and grown cold under the
chill of bitter disappointment.
Suddenly there was shout-a loud cry
of joy and triumph. 1t echoed among
he hills and startled the neighbors out Of
their early Sabbath morning rest. Half
second later the young man was tearing
down the village road toward the board
ing house where the workmen lodged,
shouting and gestulating wildly as he
ran In reply to his calls dozen frowzy
heads were thrust out of the windows
"Come down, men! Come down just
as quick as you can. Hurry, hurry Be-
fore the sun rises! Come help me move
the bridge into place"
'sPoor lad, it's preyed on his mind. He
is crazy! Some one ought to take him
home. The bridge won't be moved this
day month";
These were the comments of the men as
they came out half-dressed, to see what
had happened. Some were for taking the
young man home to his parents; but he
only cried out the more vehemently:
sGet your tools-cold- chisels and your
wedges, your files and your hammers We
can move the bridge to-day. Hurry, men,
hurry! before the sun strikes it,
ooh, ay, lad," said old Jimmy Walsh,
more thoughtful than the rest; Eye mean
the sun will move the bridge arter we've
moved the free end"
night was COOL"
HI'm with the lad. It's a good Sab
bath-day's work, and we'd best help
him."
The men did not see how the thing
was to be done, yet with one accord got
their tools and set out for the bridge.
The story of the young mans disappoint-
ment had spread, as such news will,
through the village, and the men were
we'll disposed to help one who seemed so
earnest to help himself.
When they arrived at the bridge the
sun was already up, though the bridge
itself still lay in the cool shadow of the
woods There was yet time.
"Jam up the free end so that it can not
move, and then we'll cast off the other
end. Then, when the sun strikes the
bridge, it will expand, and something will
give way"
In less than half an hour the space be-
tween the free end of the bridge and the
masonry was filled with solid blocks of
iron, driven in hard and fast with wedges.
Now, though the bridge was on rollers,
to allow it to move forward and back
ward as it expanded or contracted in the
changing temperature of day or night, it
was prevented from moving; and when
the fierce heat of the MONDAY sun shOne
on it, the great mass of iron must give,
or move in some other direction, The
opposite end had been firmly fastened
down, and it could not move in that di-
rection 1t must expand as soon as the
sun struck it; and as the temperature
rose, it would spring upward in the CEN
tire, or tear itself to pieces under the tre-
mendous power Of the placid sunbeams.
The moment the free end of the bridge
had been "jammed," or stopped from
moving in that direction, the entire party
crossed the bridge, and began to cut away
the fastenings that secured it to the
masonry.
The noise of the labor startled the Sab
bath air, and both the Chases and Law
sons came out to see what was going on.
Farmer Chase was shocked at the desc
Grafton of the Sabbath, but the young
man only replied: ''The road is all fin
ished but this bridge. 1t must be opened.
The people want it. Besides, l must
show 1 can move the bridge, or my repu-
tation is gone forever, and my business is