The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-07-15
AT HOME STEAD.
A First Days Work Described by a
Worker.

Worker.
When l went to the superintendent and
asked for work he said, what can you
do?"
Anything. l am large, strong, active
and willing. l have been about machinery
all my life and want work badly"
He touched button and a boy ap-
peared. Snow this man down to the con-
vertng mill and ask Fred if he can do
anything for him. Good morning." be
said, and my interview was over.
put on my new overals and jumper
and followed my guide down through the
mills. We made our way through piles of
stock, raw material, rolls, etc., and came
at last to the huge converting mill. The
superintendent was found and the word
delivered. He glanced at me a moment,
then sad, not unkindly: You look good
and strong; jump in and help those fellows
there on those vessels.
l hardly knew what he meant, but
through the smoke and steam | saw some
men beneath one of the vessels, or con-
yerters, working with sledRes and bars to
get the bottom off The mill with its
ponderous and massive cranes. the i'm
mense vessels all covered with black scale
and SCOT, the flying sparks, the roaring
| flames, the lights coming and going, the
air filed with steam and smoke. and.
| finally, the shrll and deafening noise,
awed, confused and even disconnected me
more than | should have liked TO acknOwl-
| edge
i seized sledge lying near and Jumped
in" We at last got out the keys" as
| they call the wedges which hold the con-
verter together. and by the help of
| hydraulic ram took the bottom off. This
left a white-h OF opening eight feet in diam
! eter and about six feet from the ground
under which we must work. IL seemed 0
me as though The skin on my neck and
! hands would burst with the heat. My
clothes even steamed and smoked How
| | wished | had been anywhere under the
| sun good old Sob, rather than under this
| tendishly hot sun hanging SO very near u.s.
When we had the new bottom on we
went up to the platform above the con-
verers and drove the keys home more Sc
curely. and stopped any small hole there
might be with "5al stuff
A Shrleking engine passed by me and
poured into the converter ''heat" of iron
| Then the blast was turned on, and cloud
! of yellew and saffron flame. mixed with
| sparks and small particles of metal. rushed
! out of the mouth of the converter into the
air. One OF the men caught me by the arm
! and pulled me away just in time to save me
| from beng seriously burned, for | was not
| expecting the flame.
BY noon | was so tired | could hardly
stand, but stuck TO it Tor all was worth
! During the afternoon l frequently fell
| down, because my knees were too weak TO
| hold me up My hands were burned and
blistered, and my new overalls were filled
| with holes burned by flying sparks.
| About O'Clock in the afternoon, while
working under the platform. L was star
| tied to see a stream of red fire run over
| the edge Of the platform and strike in the
! midst Of some workmen. AS it touched
tha will
| like that OF a cannon. The molten metal
| flew in every direction. Many workmen
were burned more or less severely; and in
| the case OF one Door fellow-lt makes me
sick still to think of 1.-THE steel came
down directly on the head and back. We
got him out of the steam and smoke and
carefully and tenderly cut his burned
clothing from him. As we placed him on
the stretcner the burned flesh dropped
from his bones.
When / was relieved at o'clock it
seemed as if it would have been utterly
impossible for me to live in that mill an
other hour. dragged myself to my room
and went 10 bed at once. All that night |
tossed and turned nv aching bones. trying
to get into some position less painful than
the last l was tortured by thousand
grotesque fancies, and by the picture OF
the poor fellow who was burned so badly.
AT last L got into an easy browse, but |
felt as il / had not been asleep minute
when my alarm clock announced to me
that it was As and that | must get up 10
my $40 breakfast Oh, the misery of that
rising and going TO the mill! Every bone
and sinew seemed as If made of red-hot
iron, and the joints as if rusted together.
1t was a DARK foggy morning l found
when, having desperately got up enough
will-power to dress, [ tumbed out to my
boarding house. The Pittsburg smoke
| and fog are proverbial. but | really think
that on that particular morning one
might have cut tangible chunks out OF the
| black. wet air. The board walks in
| Homestead are never in repair, and on the
way to the mills stumbled along through
mud and stones, over boards and into
| holes, carving in my hand my dinner
bucket. which contained my midday meal.
On my first Sunday we refined the con-
verter. and it became my duty to stand 10
| in the inverted vessel aud hand up the
! ball stuff and limestone with which to re-
! line il. The vessel had been left to cool
! simply over night, and suppose the tenn
| perature Of the dry air inside of it stood
| 40 degrees. | worked as hard as l could,
but near n Don fain ted, for the first time
| in my life
My experience at Homestead was the
experience of the majority OF workmeD
there.-McClure's Magazine.
Plants often exhibit something very
| much like intelligence. Ii a bucket of