The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-12-24

mons. He never drew bluid from the text.
Joost all piece O. fowry language,
without mair soul or religion int than
you'd draw from pump. If he had put
a bit heart int, but seem there was
neither heart nor brain in it, what good
was all the fine words2 They say he has
q good delivery-the Lord deliver us
from such vanity in long words. People
who call in the doctors to help them
whet their appetites may be satisfied wi
that kind O preachin', but people whose
wits are taxed as much as their muscle
to keep body an soul together want more
substantial food than Mr.. Balnes brings
to the market. If we are star we'd in this
world, that's no reason we should be
pinched in the next. But slong comes
Mr.. Barnes wi his fowery sermons, his
cambria linen, an his hair banged, an
tells us that if we are thin tluided here,
we ought to be thankful an satisfied, be-
cruise we are prepared to &C. where we'll
have no bluid at ALL"
A silence fell upon Sandy Rea's audi
,ence. Many smiled, and one or two
laughed outright at his quaint speech.
. 1t was chilly morning; the dense fog
rising from the river obscured the sky.
The lamp in the railway station revealed
men in soiled, worn, ill-6tting, patched
and ragged clothes. Grimy, scanned,
knotted hands clasped dinner pals.
Faces lined with care; unshaved, full
bearded faces; serious, sad, resolute and
apathetic faces.
1t was on a morning like this, when a
pail hung over the busy city, and the at
mosphcre was laden with fog and SCOT
blended into yellowish murkincss, that
Shuttleburg was shocked by an over
shadowing calamity. From the midst
of the dense fog flashes of light shot
forth at times throughout the morning;
tongues of flame assembled from the mill
stacks; eyes of fires winked in the fog
bank, and dull, yellowish glares of light
were projected horizontally as the furnace
doors were opened. A babel of sound
arose; the Changing of iron against iron,
the ringing of mighty anvils pounded by
gigantic hammers, the dull, muff1ed
sound of the iron rolls, and the ceaseless
clang of iron falling on the cooling plates
was borne from the river side up and
over the beetling cliffs.
On that dull October morning, when
the wheels were whirling fast, and the
iron. workers, stripped to their waists
were bathed in perspiration, a sound
smote the heavy air like the crash of
worlds. The iron workers, momentarily
stunned, instantly comprehended the
nature of the disaster. Every man and
boy who had sense and strength sought
safety in fight. In the headlong rush
puddler seized a boy in his flight, and
ran with him to the side of the building.
A portion of the bursted boiler in its de-
scent cut the roof of the mill as though
it were made of paper; the falling tim
bers caught the man and boy, and before
they could be extricated, the man
breathcd his last. The boys right arm
was lacerated from bis shoulder to his
elbow; quivering muscles and bone were
laid bare, horrible sight, more pitiable
than the headless trunk of the engineer
lying near the boy and the dead puddler.
Physicians were there in abundance;
there was no lack of surgical skill, or
sympathy for the victims Of the explo-
sion and the families of the bereaved.
The calamity that desolated score of
homes fell heaviest upon the Dunns. Lit
tie Jcm Dunn, who, when the surgeon
began the work of removing the ciuders
and splinters from his arm looked stead
lily into his gaping wounds, then calmly
at the surgeon and said: "Don't tell my
mother till it's over," lost his father and
eldest brother by the explosion. An
other brother the surgeons thought would
be crippled for life. The end of boiler
wrecked the walls of the house the
Dunns occupied, and the dead and
wounded members Of the family were re-
moved to Sandy Rea's house. Jem's re-
covery was rapid. The toilers in the
mill attributed it to his extraordinary
pluck.
The great tide of sympathy that flowed
out to the victims of the disaster, to the
credit of Shuttleburg let it be said, as
sumed practical shape for time. The
charitably inclined promptly honorcd the
first draft made upon them when the ex-
tent of the calamity was known. But
when all was done that concerted action
could accomplish, the future of the Dunns
was unprovided for. John Dunn, a
CHEEKY, handsome fellow with laughing
blue eyes, and spirit that nothing could
subdue, entered the mill one day, and at
the end of six months reviewed what
seemed horrible dream as lie tried to
sit up unaided in his chair. Among the
wage workers in the adjoining mill, many
quietly aided Sandy Rae, who placed one
of his rooms at the disposal of the
Duuns, until they were better provided
for" But this .tful and unequa! contri-
button simply emphasized the necessity
of action insuring uniform and perma-
ncnt provision. How to provide for the
Ounns was problem that puzzled all in
tercsted in the family. The surgeons al
the end of year shook their heads when
they examined John Dunn, and spoke
vaguely OF the recuperative qualities OF
famed waters in the Old World. Even
the wit of Sandy Rae, considered one oI
the shrewdest and best informed men in
the mill, was not equal to the emergency.
To borrow his own phraseology, his
''pond had run dry, an there were the
fish to look after STILL"
1t was at this junciure that the Rsver