River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-05-02
THE POETRY OF LABOR.
Picturesque Side to tho Operations o
Ifodmen and RrlckIayers.

A Picturesque Side tn tho Operations of
Bodmen and BrlckIayers.
One realizes the dignity and especial
~ the poetry of labor and catches the
meaning of some things that Walt
Whitman has said by watching the
workers of this town on a bright, cool
March morning. The word blithe seems
to convey the aspect of the scene, it is
SO full of sunshine and motion and
wholesome activity. There is a great
structure rising on a west side num-
bered street, and il is so situated that
the morning sun floods the whole plot
soon to be inclosed by the rising walls.
That sunlit parallelogram presents a
most delightful scene to the sympa-
thetic eye. Only the front wall and
the side party walls have as yet risen
above the foundations. so that the
whole interior is visible from the
rear. What one sees on the ground Is
mainly the preparation for what is
going on where the walls rise. There
are men mixing mortar with long push
and-pull motions of the arms and back.
There are hod carriers Fastening in
unOrdered scurry for bricks and NOR
tar at the center of the Enclosure and
then moving in orderly file toward
the several walls. There are men here
and there plying hammers to make
ready LADDERS and scaffolding against
the time when the walls shall have
risen too high for the approaches al
ready provided.
As the hod carriers laboriously climb
the ladders one notes that they are
clad in blue jumpers. in overalls of one
color or another. in the rude reddish
hats that men of their calling often
wear. Now and then stripe of red
flannel shirt shows at the waist. the
figures are heavy and slow on the up
ward journey. but nimble enough on
the way down. You may recognize a
new hand by his care and awkward
ness His muscles are not yet trained
to mechanical certainty and he moves
with caution. One can almost guess
the age of these shabby figures as they
move up and down the ladders, never
pausing. never Sinking, always bear
ing upon callOused shoulders the full
tale of bricks or the full weight of
mortar. They fill their hods with al
most incredible swiftness. and fairly
fall over one another to reach the
brick pile first. But the steadying eff
feet of the load is shown in the order
ly march of the upward moving hod-
men. One realizes that hard times
have disciplined the men into giving a
full and conscientious days work for
their pay.
Even three hundred feet away one
seems to note the difference OF dress,
movement and manner between the
skilled workmen laying the bricks and
the unskilled hod carriers. The former
are neatly dressed for the most part in
whole white overalls. They move
about their work easily and gracefully
With quick, deft hands. Almost no
sound comes from the walls save the
metallic ring and scrape of the trowel
and the tap of its handle upon the
brick just set in its bed of dark brown
mortar. Now and then an indistin-
guishs BILE word of direction floats
downward from the last course of
brick. The hodmen are equally ST.
lent. 1t is pantomime of busy labor,
almost rhythmic in its movements.
lie Nhott sCtHt u Auit Ol SilcitA grace,
and not wit hout the charm of color SO
often missing from human activities in
America. In eloquent testimony to
the effectiveness of the work rise the
so far finished walls. with clean right
lines, horizontal and vertical, smooth
plane surfaces. and the serried teeth of
the brick arches. with the charm of
curves never to be destroyed, no mat
ter how rough the material of the
structure.-N. Y. Sun.