The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-11-09
PICTURES OF FLAMES.
Scenes in a Great Rolling-Mill.

I'm the summit OF DldSt luIntnce
one hundred feet high the spectator
feels, and can scarcely endure, the
sweltering air rising from the gridiron-
ed sand below, into whose narrow gull
lies the red-hot metal runs like streams
of blood from the Oriice at the foot of
the iron tower. The first wonder Of the
visitor always is that men can be found
capableo Of sustaining the feyered andhery
temperature which Oycrhangs the white
hot plate, the DOGGY full of molten steel
or the molds into which the pig-iron
crawls crimson from the furnace Hab-
it which does much, would, it might be
thought, stops short of converting a
man into salamander Nevertheless,
men employed in steel and iron works
and in rolling mills do not suffer from
the heat 10 the extent Of person new
TO the broiling and flaming scene might
imagine Apparently, habit may train
a man to toll within hand s-brcadth
Of the hre-iiend, though one touch Of
his soaring finger will lay him low. The
result is seen, perhaps, more cOnspicu-
ously in rolling-mills than in other
works of like kind In such places
huge blocks Of white-hot metal, terribly
beautiful with crawling green vapor-
like flames, are hauled about Is sailors
drag a chain cable The ShapeeSs
Jumps are thrust into the Jaws OF a roll
ing-machine, and after passing two and
fro many times finally comes out As
ships plate, of steel rails But the men
who are directing the course and con-
trolling the motion Of the steam-crushed
red-hot metal are close TO it all the
time; they oyerhang it, they jump across
it, and the crimson splendOr shining
upon their wet faces and half-naked
figures make them crimson, too, and
they resemble shapes Of fire as they la
Dor. Use has tOughened their skin, and
they fear nothing from the adjacency Of
incandescent metal. Yet this should
imply long apprenticeship. Physical
sensibility may be found amazingly
elastic by the visitor TO such works as
Bolckow, Vaughan u Co.; by one who
perspirng at the distance Of hundred
feet from a DOGGY charged with some
tons of rcd-hot metal, view with aston
ishment the Indifference Of the men who
dodge about within pace Of the blind
ing and palpitating load. But habit
stops short at this. There is no discOv-
cred magic in custom to enable even
puddler to lift his foot unframed from a
crimson tide Of molten ore. One may
see in these iron-works many a grimy
figure ~muthercd in shower, Of sparks
and taking no heed of the dazzling rain,
though the sting Of each fiery particle is
poignant enough to the unaccustOmed;
but death or di,ablement Inevitably at
tend contact with the burning liquid
itself; and, considering the millions OF
tons Of molten stuff which are year after
wear poured out Of the rctortS, it il real
" surprising that disaster should be 50
intrcquent.
Perhaps the element of fear which 10
a stranger excited apprehension enters
into these scene, OF tire and power deep
en-, their effect upon the Imagination,
Few if any towns are richer in wonder
FIJI, wcmav almost say sublime, pictures
OF flaming and Humorous industries
than Midlcsborough To have seen
Bolckew' work, alone j, To have viewed
as impressive a spectacle Of human la
Dor, reaching to the height Of gigantic
toll, Is this country ha, to offer. But,
here, A. at the Anderton foundry, the
NORTHEASTERN steel, the Britannia, and
other work, and mills the sense of
danger breaks in, and gives TO admir-
alton and wonder a character which no
specie, of human industry-not even
that of the pitman buried hundred, of
wards deep in the black bowels OF the
land-will be found to WELD There is
the thrilling effect Of shadow and light
Of midnight gloom in places suddenly
flashed up into noontide etfulgenCe by
the opening of furnace, by the eX-
traction of a mass Of ,tar-White metal,
or the pondcrous swing of a retort whose
heart has the dazzle of a tropical sun
rise There are the crowds of men
toiling in darkness and in brilliance-
dusky outlines fitting here and there or
standing out scarlet in sudden blaze;
| there is the round laced with metal
WAYS, crodwed with little locomotives
which rush to and fro like sentient
things, dragging wagons whose glowing
cargo filings a glory like that of sunset
upon the roof and wall. The hum OF
whirring machinery strikes through the
smoke-charged air; the pulsing notes,
echoing metallically out OF cylinders,
are like the painting of the leviathan
heard at sea; and over all is the splen-
dor and the wonder of hundred colors
ever alternating green of exquisite
softness melting into blue, a glaring
yellow shining out into a crystal white
ness, then a wild and brilliant scarlet
making blood-red all that falls within
the sphere of its ensanguined rays, till
| kind of darkness comes down, an in
terval of soft dusk lasting like sort OF
breathing-time, but scattered in flash
by sudden torrent of white-hot Stag.
1t is the presence of the tire-tiend that
creates the element of fear we have
mentioned. London telegraph.