The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-05-18

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the earth, and had been swallowed up
forever.
By seven o'clock, comparative quiet
reigned over the scene of the disaster.
Ruins lay everywhere. The engines
had quenched the flames that had
caught the building, and the men,
blackened with smoke, stood in silent
groups about the remains of the fur
mace. 1t had fallen to pieces, and
nothing was left but heaps of steam
ing rubbish.
! Poor "Inventor," who had been
found with the tapping rod in his
hand, lying on his face in the sand,
frightfully burned, had been carried
to his home.
Little was said, but the few words
spoken, uttered with no mild empha-
sis, the natural wrath of the master
and hands against the man George.
whose excuses for himself only ex-
aggerated his offense.
"See what he has done," said they,
few days later, as they stood in the
half burned foundry. Give thous-
and dollars gone to waste in a
minutel The best job in twenty
years spoiled! The rascal, to go hunt
for his pipe, and leave the suffering
idiot to watch! Is that all he can
say for himself? Out upon such
carelessnessl Why, the boy didn't
even know enough to baw! out when
he must have seen the furnace tumb-
ling to pieces"
The master, who had more at stake
than the men, of course felt the loss
more keenly than they. He almost
wept with mingled grief and rage.
Suddenly something peculiar caught
his eye among the debris,and he cried
in startled voice:
Hello! What's this? What's
this?"
He scratched up fragment of one
the troughs which had led from the
furnace to the mold. There were
traces of the stream of bronze still
running into it. Then the possible
meaning of the iron found in the in
jured boys hand flashed upon him.
Bring me shovel, quick!' he
shouted.
A spade was put into his hands,
and he began nervously to heave
away the hot mass that lay piled over
the bell mold. 1t was herculean
task, but be worked like giant, and
three or four of his mer took hold
and helped him.
Brickbats, ore, Stag, and ashes flew
in every direction. Presently the
masters spade penetrated the sand
and touched something hard. He
stopped down. Then he leaped up
like one half frantic and plying his
spade with redoubled energy, tore
away the remaining sand, disclosing
what looked like a metallic ring.
Men," he cried out, lifting his
flushed face, "the bell is castl''
"Who did this?" asked every ex-
cited voice as soon as the cheering
died away.
"Come with me; two or three of
youl" cried the master. "It hink know
who did it. IT'S miracle"
They hurried away to the home of
the half-witted boy. The attendant
met them with her finger on her lips.
"The poor boy is in brain fever"
she said.
docs he say ary thing in his de-
liriums"
"Oh, yes; he raves all the time
about the big mold. 4 hope it will
fill hope it will fill he says"
The men exchanged glances. It
was indeed true. The idiot had cast
the great bell of St. Johns. Just
then the physician came out. "Per-
haps he will recover his reason by
this shock and Sickness" he said.
"Such things have happened"
"Do you think sou Pray heaven
he may!" solemnly circulated the
master and his men; and they turned
away deeply moved.
Two months later the great bell
hung from huge derrick in the
lathe room of the factory, and beneath
it stood heavy truck upon which it
was about to be lowered. A silence
fell upon the group of workmen as
the pale face and feeble form of ''In-
ventor" appeared, borne in on small
reclining chair. He had recovered
his reason, and was fast getting back
his strength. His large gray eyes in
stantly fastened themselves on the
bell, that splendid masterpiece,
whose making meant so much to him.
| They had told him the whole otorv