Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-12-03
a HOST ART.
Lament of an OId yg5Eiyr-ic Inflow
the 'z5iistone h5, been ESessEafe4 Cat
OF Sc.

From the Cleveland Iead.r
number of heavy white Eiliztones were piled
lp on one of the docks along the river yester
iay. They were consigned 10 some interior
:own forty or fifty miles from The city, and were
Of the style make and finish 50 lone in Use.
An old man. with a slOucned hat pulled down
10 far over his face that MS small. fast-biinkiu-
Eyes were almost hid from view stood little
Eay back on the wharf and talked 70 Young
nan whom he had halted ami asked for Z matcn.
'Mi>tOnes have pretty nearly gone ont of
date said he. with half mournIu air. land
with them have gone the OCCUPATION have fol-
lowed for thirty years. See here" AID the old
man crowded his hat over on to the back part
of his head aud lifted his face tor the first tine
into plain sight It was Titted all over with
numberless ugly dimpie~. dapTessiOnS and cuts.
and looked "a ifhe might ne day have had the
smallpox.
DO you know how that was done:" he
asked. The young man did not know. by
picking miiistoneS," was the quickly yolun-
teered Information NO one who has ever fol-
lowed the business Of giving those stones that
keen cut texture that enables them to crush
and grind grain can escape these cuts and scars.
Why. my face is literally filled with the little
particles of steel aud stone and nv eyes have
seasons of paining me terribly But the profess
sion has about run its race. In ten years the
dictionary makers VIII PIT the stere0typed
word obsolete after the noun milestone Mod
ern inventions have TeieG..ted the time-hOnOTed
milestone 10 oblivion. Now processes have been
discovered for extracting the wheat from flour
beside which the milestone has no SHow."
The young man began to grow interested. He
drew his companion into the doorway OF 4 little
switch shantg. secured permission for the two
to sit down a moment before the fire. and asked
him to continue
Nowadays" said the old man. ''wheat ia
crushed between rollers. ami the flour produced
Is much superior to the old make. Then. too
f.raarN
worthless. is now sifted by a new process. and a
quality OF -four Is separated that is worth forty
or fifty cents more per sack than the common
variety. You have heard that the best part OF
q potato lay just beneath the skin. Recent
scientific experiments have shown that il is true
OF all vegetables. especially of the wheat This
suggested the construction of sieve that
would separate the little particles of the kernel
That cling To the shUCk when il has been broken
lp and ground to pieces. IL was successful,
and the flour secured in this way. while small
in quantity. is of superior quality. This latter
process was only made possible by the new
method Of grinding wheat that has been gener-
ally adopted by all the large mills in the cCun-
try. But in the mean time my occupation has
been gradually undermined. Once in while
i have call to 20 somewhere into the country
and dress stone, but it is very seldom.
Most of the millstOnes in use in this country
are OF French burr. silicOus rock. containing
many small. rough cavities, and requiring less
preparation than perfectly plain stone. 1t is
quarred in the geological district known "a
the Paris BASIN quarry has been worked
for many years in the valley OF the Savannah
river. about one hundred miles above the city
of Savannah. and the quality of the stones
secured are said to be almost equal to those
produced IN France. The lower stone has gen
orally smooth grinding surface. The moving
stone Is hOllOve ed toward the center to allow
the material ground to flow freely between the
grinding surfaces. The faces of both stones
have to be cut with straight grooves in dIrec-
tiOn inclined radi- The edges of the grooves
are thus given cutting action somewhat re-
sembling that of scissor blades, and tendency
to force the grain outward toward the circum-
ference is secured, this accelerating the feed
Ing and avoiding choking. To do this work
perfectly requires an enormous amount of
practice, and an apprentice must serve for
our or FIVE years on cheap stones before he is
allowed to touch the most valuable ones.
Machines were once invented to do the cutting.
but they were not a success. 1t was a hard
business to learn, and in It's day was very prof.
table Modern innovations. however. have no
sympathy for wOTkingme1 and in ten gears it
Is doubtful if there Will be milestone in use
In this country"