Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1895-07-13

Last summer. hs said 10 meteor
shall try to tell his stor- In his own
Words-l took contract TO build tall
chimney for the tanning company at
Millville. It was to bs eishty.two feet
high, and they wanted the Job hurried
through. The bricks were on the
ground. and We ran the thing up at Q
Great rate.
The foundation and lower part were
plain sailing; but % We got higher I
had trouble with my help. The local
men became frightened, and left one
after another.
At last had TO send back homo here
for Charley French. Charley and got
on pretty fast, and one Saturday after.
noon we were putting on the finishing
touches, over eighty feet above the
ground, when the thing happened I'm
going to tell you about.
You zee. at that height hod.carrying
was out Of the question. 20 We had .
block and tackle rugged, and lifted all
our stun by horsepower. The upper
block was fastened to one Of the up-
right posts Of the staging; the lower
one to post sunk In the ground.
It was not very safe Arrangement
- We could not make the staging very
secure. But We got Q quiet steady
oorse, and cautious chap for driver,
and didn't feel - though there was
much danger.
There were six uprishts In the stas.
ing. OF course each Of them was not
ell one stick. They had to b splicsd
about every twenty feet. This made
three Joints IN each upright and they
were far from being firm.
Down nearer the ground. whore the
orckwork had hardened. and the stag.
ing was well fastened to tho chimney,
was Ill right; but the upper part Of e
was decidedly unsteady. The posts
creaked and vibrated more or lsss every
time tubful Of brick OF motar came
up.
We had made . bet Of q bottle Of
brandy with the manager Of the com.
pany that We would finish the work By
Saturday evening. At dinner time that
day It was 20 certain we were going to
win easily that Charley suggested to
the manager that he had better pay half
the bet In advance. In the shape Of Q
dask Of brandy. He agreed; and we
took the nask up with 10 to finish OF
on.
We had drunk most Of It. and had only
ono more course Of brick to LAY. when
the son Of the manager made his way
up beside us. He was Q wide-awske,
independent.looking youngster, four.
teen or fifteen years Of age. but no had
no right to be there. He would have
been sent down In hurry II the brandy
hadn't made us little too easy-going.
A II was, we both had sense enough
to order him to leave ct once. Instead
Of obeying. he put his hands into his
pockets, eyed Us knowingly for . mo-
ment and remarked:
"Say, aren't you two little high, for
eighty feet above the groundr'
We laughed and let him stay. nc
moved around the staging, not In the
least disturbed by the elevation. Fl
nally. when he got tired looking. he
picked up o Ratchet which had been In
use for driving nails, and began chip
ping at one Of the posts.
In the meantime the last brick wal
laid. We finished the brandy. and gave
three cheers, while the boy stood watch
ing 10 with anything but respectful
eyes. Charley French was leanini
against the chimney with the empty
dask In his hand. looking somewha
tpsy.
'See here. Danny" said he. solemnly
''there's the old horse down yonder, and
we've forgotten all about him. He''
seen 10 right through this Job. and b
hasn't been offered - much - . smell
Of Tie brandy.