The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-03-04
\ LOST ART.
How the Milestone Has Been delegated
Out of Use.

a number Of heavy white millstones
were piled up On one of the docks along
the river yesterday They were CON
signed TO some interior town forty or
fifty miles from the city, and were of
the style, make, and finish so long in
use. An old man, with a slouch hat
pulled down so far over his face that
his small. fast-blinking ewes were al
most hid from view, stood little way
back on the wharf and talked to a
young man whom he had halted and
asked for a match. ..Millstones have
pretty nearly gone out of date" said
he, with a half mournful air, ''and with
them has gone the occupation / have
foIloAed for thirty years See here.
and the old man crowded his hat over
on the back part of his head and lifted
his face for the first time into plain
sight. 1t was pitted all over with num-
beriess ugly dimples, depressions and
cuts, and looked as if he might some
day have had fhe smallpox.
DO you know how that was done?"
he asked. The young man did not
know by picking millstones, was
the quickly volunteered information.
NO one who has ever followed 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 liter
ally filled with the little particles of
steel and stone. and my eyes have sea-
sons of paining me terribly. But the
profession has about run its race. In
ten years the dictionary-makers. will
put the stereotyped word obsolete af-
ter the noun 'millstone. Modern in
ventions have relegated the time-honor-
ed milestone into oblivion. New pro-
cesses have been discovered for ex-
tracing the wheat from flour, beside
which the milestone has no show
The young man began to grow inter-
ested. He drew his companion into
the doorway of little switch shanty.
secured permission for the two to sit
down moment before the fire, and
asked him 10 continue
Nowadays" said the old man.
wheat is crushed between rollers and
the flour produced is much superior to
the old make. Then, too, the bran
that was thought to be almost worth
less is now sifte.l by new pro-
cess and a quality of flour is
separated that is worth forty or fifty
cents more per sack than the common
variety. You have heard that the best
part of potato lay just beneath the
skin. Recent scientific experiments
have shown that it is true of all vepe-
tables, especially of wheat. This sug-
gested the construction of a sieve that
would separate the little particles of
the kernel that cling to the shuck
when it has been broken up and ground
to pieces. 1t was successful, and the
flour secured in this way, while small
in quantity, is of superb quality. This
latter process was only made possible
by the new method of grinding wheat
that has been generally adopted by all
the large mills in the country. But in
the meantime my occupation has been
gradually undermined. Once in a
while | have call to go out in the
country and dress a stone, but it is very
seldom. Most of the millstones in use
in this country are of French burr, a
silicious rock, containing many small,
rough cavities, and requiring less prep
aration than aperfectly plain stone. Its
quarried in the geological district
known as the Paris basin A 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 stones Sc
cured is said TO be almost equal to those
produced in France. The lower stone
has generally smooth grinding sur
face. The moving stone is followed
towards the center to allow the mater
ial ground to flow freely between the
grinding surfaces. The face of both
stones have to be cut with straight
grooves in direction inclined radii The
edges of the grooves are thus given a
cutting action somewhat resembling
that of scissor blades, aud tendency
to force the grain outward toward the
circumference is secured. thus acceler-
ating the feeding and avoiding choking.
To do this work perfectly requires an
enormous amount of practice. and an
apprentice must serve for four or five
years on cheap stones before he Is al
lowed to touch the most valuable ones.
Machines were once invented to do the
cutting but they were not a success. 1t
was hard business to learn, and in its
day was very profitable. Modern in
novations, however, have no sympathy
for workingmen, and in ten years it is
doubtful if there will be a milestone in
use in this country" - CteTetdnd
Leader.