Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-07-19
Saint MARI 5 8eatoq.
A BOY NAMED FORD

mil ia Colorado making out his
quarterly report Then he added as
an aiterthought And boy named
Ford.
And boy ',amed Ford
Ii the sutact Of that postscript
could have seen himself 20 portrayed
be would possibly have t+lt hurt At
being held thus nightly, but not sur
prIssd For although Der, Ford. only
-, vas a. big and strong as most
young fellows Of %. -! his strength,
all his agility and willingness had
never made him popular with the -u-
per.ntondent. who vas an excellent
IN IA al heart. but hard. headed and
rough il his way He thought the
boy wa APT 70 turn ont "triiiiu, be-
cause he Sas Iuiet, thoughtful and
read whenever lie got chance, and,
ia his opinion, all literature outside
of the Bible and dictionary was fabu.
lous. FAIRY stories he exclaimed
a hundred times You'll put your
eyes out and never mount &c nothin'
perein over books that way. Go out
aud De a man =
On the day the report was prepared
Beet was driving a mule team up the
mountain side, and had to look alive
to keep on the rsrrow trail, for there
wac haze Of snow IN the air, the
last OF backward spring The mill
with Its cluster Of tributary houses
all built Of rough. unpalnted pine and
lying IN harrow valley, gradually
dropped out Of sight as he assembled,
and even the tlre!ess foot toot OF
the engine iwlndled into d vague and
half-inaudible echo, now dying alto
gethcr and now carried to him on a
gust o! wind.
The trail over which he drove the
mules with much stumbling and shout
ing, and clanklng Of their chain har.
nesP, zig.1agged up the mountain,
through a dense forest of spicy pine
trees, to a choppe, = camp, a good two
miles away, where there was consid-
cradle clearing and q shanty for the
men. Connection between this camp
and the mill was established By Gu
Ious passageway, called in the lum-
Der regions "log-shoot." II was
nothing more than V-shaped trough
large enough TO hold tree trunk and
stretching from tie Tearing to the
valley III very nearly bee line.
Constant friction had worn the inner
surface rs smooth as glass. As logs
Were cut they were hauled to this
vast incline 10y the teams with trace
chains and tumbied IN and with a roar
and rush they were gone Men who
had timed II claimed that the logs
made the Journey III less than two
minutes, and at any rate such was
thoiI apeed that when they darted IN
to sthe big yard below they plowed
into the earth like cannon balls and
We're 80 hot one could not bear to
touch them tyr a long time afterwaId.
i Wac hk, giant : toboSsan slide
Tn, .oE-shoot followed the general
direction Of the 1igzsg and the huge
tErigh; continually passed Ber; A. he
tosied along. !; WAS a ching t. send
al!cmor INTO unframed nerves First
a FAINT hU1@ing noise, growing instant
y louder anti. It burst .nto Wild
'oar and then sinking as Suddenly
into uothnsuess again, AID when he
tumr.t Was at - hoarsest pitch, a
gray lash along the troush-that
was al. Il Was impossible t. see tie
los, make oGt is share or even Is
color The eye could Al best te but
aware that something hai gone bv at
il tremendous rate Of speed Bert
Was too used to the spectacle 70 give
II more than a passing notice and he
was anxious T. get TO the clearing with
the fresh team before noon. The Jig
gag OF the trail made the distance
twice as long and the soft snow ball
I'd 70 upon his heels that he had TO
stop every few moments to clean it
oil, but he came IN sight Of the shantv
Just a. the FAINT reverberation Of the
steam whistle sounded from the in.
visible depths below.
"On time, Bert, shouted the fore.
man Of the choppers good naturally.
Twelve o'clock, boys knock off
erybody for dinner"
The dropping sound of axes ceased
and a dozen men came struggling
through the pines. They were stout
bearded fellows Injured to the hard.
ships OF the life and disposed to make
light OF them, and they shook the
chips from their clothes with many q
careless Joke. The cooking cabin lay
about an eighth OF a mile beyond,