Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-06-14
THE GENIUS OF THE BRIDGE.


4
the Whistles from 10, 900 brazen threats
hiied the air. while half a million NOR
tails cheered, and twice as many felt an
emofionai fhrsif. deep and honest, which
only such momentous event could
awaken, two souls in the perfect union
OF amnlfy. in an almost deserted house
on Columbia Heights, reached climax
of sensation vouchsafed to few who
Owe and labor in these practical times.
One was Washington A. Roebling. the
constructor OF the bridge, the other his
devoted wife, who during all the dark
hours Of his dreadful. trial was indeed
his helpmate. While Mr.. Hewitt, the
orator OF the day, was prociaiming her
virtues to the populace before the presi-
dent, the governor and the splendid
array Of decorated and uniformed off
GERS, surrounded by the citizen-soldiers
and the citizens themselves of the two
great cities. she was at home with him
whose praise was hers and in whose
achievement was her own success.
When the writer arrived at No. ITO
Columbia Heights she was on the steps,
surrounded by a gay company of ladies
and gentlemen, awaiting the arrival of
the carriages that were to carry the
party to the scene of the inaugural
ceremonies. Than her there seemed
no gayer memberin tho party.
49, She seemed as free from care
And idlehearted as the youngest there
When the rattle of the carriages died
away the house where Washington A.
Roebiing remained alone was more sill
ent than perhaps any other in the two
cities. Through all the halls and in all
the rooms thousand roses exhaled their
perfumed breath. Regal, waxy orchids
| nodded supremacy over the ephemeral
buds that made for them on many q
pillow a brilliant background. The
house was tenantless, except for its in
valid master, who in little room on
the third floor, back, between the in
tervals OF reclining, looked out anxious
ly on the roadway OF the great bridge
he had built. Tired and careworn be-
yond expression he tumbled on his bed,
on which beside him, just discarded,
lay his petted violin. Out in the hall
stood great terrestrial globe swung
on semi-zone OF brass, and on this the
great engineer seemed to rest his eye
after straining it at the bridge. The
long and tedious hour of expectation
between and 2 o'clock had almost
passed when the closing of the great
front door announced that some one
had arrived, and presently the hand
some, buoyant woman, who less than
an hour before had departed, APP
parently in high spirits, mounted the
stairs with an exhausted look and the
gait of spent energy. 1t seemed as if
after all She was to be robbed of the en-.
joyment OF the final splendid moments
of her partners success.
Mr.. Roebling did not seem to notice
the broken stiffness, for his mind was
not at home, but away among the
| crowd, where his wife, he thought,
was assisting at ceremony whose
pomp and circumstance he could only
imagine. Presently, into the almost
audible stiffness, through some casu-
ally opened window, came the buzz of
the great crowd that lined the street
without. The lonely watcher did not
seem to detect it, but held his hands
tight clasped in front of him as he sat
upright on the bedside, his melancholy
on the carpet floor.
Boom! 1t was the first gun from
Castle William and all the window
sashes in the house were shaken. At
the moment the constructor of the
bridge was at the window, to gain
which he had to struggle over twin
bound chairs, amorphous bundles Of
rugs, carpets, mats and heaps of lares
and penates-crowded into the room to
make clear the parlor floor. where later
the reception was to be held.
Then the guns from the port and star
boardisides Of the Tennessee, sounding
now near and now remote, as the re-
ports came from the facing or fronting
sides of the frigate. A great cloud Of
smoke obscured the magnificent piano.
roma that moment before greeted the
eye. New York was ia cloudland, and
distant Governor island, that looked
moment since like an emerald in a
sapphire sea, was lost to view. But
from that window, where the pallid
engineer looked out upon the scene,
there was view which neither din nor
smoke could obscure from his eyes, at
least. At q bay window on the floor
below, looking up to where he stood,
was the engineers wife.
Silence came again, and remained
for three hours. Then slowly the people
who had been at the ceremony came to
the house, and Mr.. Roebling and his
wife took position in the front parlor
on the sofa. Before the people began
TO arrive she had gone into the deserted
room, looked at all the names on the
one hundred and odd floral tributes
and evidently committed to memory
all of them, for during the reception,
at which the president, the governor
and the cabinet, and hundreds whom
she had never seen before, attended,
she spoke word of thanks to each
donor as he or she appeared. In the
first excitement of meeting all these
people Mr.. Roebling stood up, but
after shaking hands with few he was
reluctantly compelled to sit down. The
president, the governor, the mayors, ex-
mayors, generals, Irregular and militia),
admirals, commanders and captains
without number, editors, artists, archi-
tects, engineers, travellers, business men
and troops of fair women came to pay
their respects to this remarkable couple.
During the reception Mr.. Roebling did
not talk, but during the afternoon he
said to the writer, in answer to sug-
gestion that he must be happy, II am
satisfied. n--Pi0neer Press.