The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-05-22
GRANTS QuaI:stEs.
Visit to the hay View oairriss 1t Caps
Ann-How Granite H. Polished.

Ann-How Granite H. Polished.
The friends had been recommended
o one OF the Cape Ann Company. who
gas kind enough to explain TO them
What was going on. The qnarries he
old them, were at q little distance
rom the village, and the stone was
ent down TO the shore and the cutting
md polishing shops in cars drawn By
team upon the company's railroad,
he only railroad where steam<is used
the Cape quarries. The visitors
night have gone up on the train to see
tuarrying. But being pressed for time.
hey chose rather to watch the different
processes used in working the stone.
rom Its entrance into the shops in
'ough block. till 1t attains the astonish-
ngly fine polish which the workmen
ire able to give it.
The work was done near the waters
,dge in long wooden sheds, some of
hem open on one side, some of them
With doors and windows of cotton
.loth. 1t was cold business, the work
nen said, but there were stoves in
,ome of the shops. and the men were
lot too cold to keep up an industrious
naturally explain to visitors some of
he mysteries OF their trade. They
showed them how to chisel the line,
low to point the stone down, and what
we're the differences between peen-ham-
ners and bush-hammers. They took
he bush-hammers out of their chests
hat the ladies might see the varieties
nth five. six, eight, and ten edges.
which gave the granite the slightly
ined or ridged appearance which they
lad often noticed. The point and
,hisel work interested them, chiefly in
'egafd to its effects upon the workmen.
s.You must be always getting the
stone into. your eyes" cried Bessy.
"Yes, ma am" said the workman.
.omposedly, '.but we don't mind that
Is much a. the splinters of steel. ALI
our points are OF English steel, you see.
md that's very bad when II gets into
he eyes. But then plenty of the men
nave great knack at getting it out;
hey are as good as any eye-doctor.
do you use camels hair pencil?'
asked Anastasia.
"No; we take broom splint some
lines, or penknife, or pin--not the
point. but the head. A pin isn't so
good, though. "
As they talked, Nancy was watching
The white figures in the dusty sunlight,
heir heads bent over their hammers,
making pictures which Francois Millet,
Who knew what workingman's life
was. would have been glad to paint.
my trade isn't an easy one," said
she, but think theirs Is -harder. /
-. Il 1. Of ~. II
mean ! wish my work were a. good
and as direct a theirs. Ii makes my
heart beat and my breath come quick
to be in q place like this. know that
were to paint something here |
should have q better chance for success
in the midst of the steadiness and resO-
luton and cheerful industry about
me-.
You wouldn't said the skeptical
Bessy. you'd have headache.
Indeed ! should not. for | have
.ried it," said her friend. The most
inspiring neighbors ever had while /
was ut work were my classmates in
Paris, the next most inspiring were
some iron-workers in Cambridgeport.
I like to feel that too have part and
lot in the stir and rush of our hard
working republic. We are no nation
of shop keepers, we Americans, but, |
think, nation of workmen, making
all sorts of new things for an old tired
world.
After vain attempt to see the steam
cutter they entered the polishing-shops.
Granite is polished first with sand, then
with emery, then with putty powder
and felt. Some blocks are polished by
a great machine called Jenny Lind,
others by sinister-looking arrange
ments called pendulums, which are
supported from above and '-un back
ward and forward over the granite
sight which terrified our two friends.
The finest work is done by hand. The
pride of the shop at present appeared
to be centered in great crown, which
with cross was to form part of some
monument, and whose ornament would
admit of none but handwork.
The granite took beautiful polish,
and in its finished state it became easy
to see the differences in color and
density which are significant to ex-
perts. All the Rockport granite which
our friends had seen was gray or gray
ish-green. II differs in color from that
of the Quincy quarries. which is gray
too, but, the travellers thought OF a
lighter gray, and il differs from it in
quality as we'll. There are different
qualities of Cape granite too. The
Maine granite, it appeared, is red
Ellen Day Hale, ia Hdrpcr's Magazine
for March.