Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-07-25

nal for rising with the formidable chime
OF his hammer. He placed MS Dig nanos
on INV shoulders and bent down NJ II
talking 10 q child, while he informed me
that / had certainly improved in health
since ! had come among his OLD iron.
Daily we drank white wine together, sit
tinr ON the bottom of an old cart which
had been turned upside down.
Frequently ! spent the dcy ut tho
smithy, especially In winter, when IL
rHined. wAs interested In the work In
progress. The constant strife between
inc brawny blacksmith and the rough
iron which, CO shaped TO his liking excited
me AZ mucn 90 powerful orama. l
watched tue metal in It's passage from the
furnace to tho anvilj i experienced con.
amt surprise on seeing II bend, spread
and roll Ike soft wax beneath the VIC
to.ious blows Of the workman. Whom
tho pillow was completed ! knelt before
IL; no longer recognized the shape'ess
mass had seen the previous day. lex-
amined the parts, dreaming, so TO sp:ake
that fingers supIemeiy strong had seiaad
upon them and fashioned them thus
without the aid of FIRE. Sometimes
smiled a. ! thought Of . young girl
whom ] had formerly seen Tor whole
days together, Ut the window opposite
| mine. twisting with her hands brass wire
stems, 70 which, with the help OF silken.
thread. she fastened artificial violets.
Not word Of complaint was ever ut
tered by the blacksmith. After having
banged away 81 the iron thEoughout
days Of II hours, saw him laugh his
hearty laugh In the evening. as no
rubbed his arms with IN air Of complete
satisfaction. He was never sad, never
weary II the house had fallen, he could
have sustained It upon bis shoulder. In
the winter he expatiated on the comfort
OF his smithy. In the summer he threw
the door wide opon and allowed she odor
Of the hay to enter. When the latter
season had arrived, sat down beside
him In front Of the door at the close Of
day. We were half way down hiilj we
had view OF the whole stretch Of the
waited fields, which lost Itself at the hori-
Eon amid the light lilac of the twilight,
delighted the blacksmith.
| At times the blacksmith liked his joke
He said that all these lands belonged to
him, that the smithy for 200 years and
more had furnished the entire district
with plows. H o took pride In this fact.
Without his help not q single crop grew.
II the plain was green In May and yellow
In July, It owned that changing sheen to
him. He loved the harvests a. II they
had been his daughters, charmed BY the
glowing sun, shaking his list at the
bursting hail clouds. frequently no
pointed out TO me In the distance some
patch of ground which looked smaller
| than the back of his vest, and told me In
what year he had fashioned Q pillow for
that square OF oats or rye. When work
in the fields was ct its height. he some
times put aside his hammers and went to
the border Of the roadway. +,
There, shading his eyes with his hand:
he gazed over the valley. He watched
the numerous family Of his plows turn
the soil and trace their burrows In front,
valley overlooked with his plows. Az
the horses moved slowly along one
might have thought them regiments on
the march. The plowshares Rlistened In
tho sunlight with silver reflections.
Then, beckoninR, the blacksmith wonld
summon me, calling me to come and SEQ
in what "holy toll" they were engaged.
All the resounding old metal which
ratified beneath my chamber put iron in
my blood, which yves better for me than
doctors drugs. had become used To
hammers on the anvil to tell me how 70
live. In my room, animated thHoughoas
by the roaring Of the bellows, / had re-
covered my senses. Toe, too-toc, too
It was like the joyous balance wheel OF .
clock regulating my hours Of toll. When },
the work pressed, when the blacksmith
struck with q will, whom heard the
red-hot iron crack beneath the blows Of
the mad hammers, had the strength Of
giant In my wrists-I felt 20 II eO1ldi
fiatten out the world with Q stroke OF my
pen. Then, whom the forge was silent,
all was silence In my brain. ! went
down stairs and felt ashamed Of my voca-
tiop on seeing oil that metal conquered
and still smoking.
Anil how superb the blacksmith looked
sometimes during the hot summer after
noonSl He was stripped to the waist,
with salient angles and stretched mus
cles like one Of Michael Angoio's tall
statues, drawn up for q mighty effort.
By looking at him / found the modern
sculptural line which our artists are toll.
somely searching for amid the wrecks OF
ancient Greece. he seemed 90 me like q
gigantic hero Of toll, the indOfatigable
child Of the present day who shapes In
cessantly upon the anvil the instrument
of our analysis, who fashions In ire and
with iron the society Of tomorrow. He
toyed with his hammer.
When desire to laugh came on him
he Rrasped ''La Demois0llO" and struck
q tremendous blow. Then thunder reared
in the Smithy, amid the rudy flashes OF
the fire. At such times ] imagined
heard the sighs Of the toiling multitude.
There, In that smithy, among the
plows, cured myself forever Of my at
tack OF idleness and irreSolution.
EMIIA lola