The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-07
A Tragedy of the W. rkshops.

Every noon there is a crowd Of children
waiting outside of the gates of the IRON
works with the luncheon for their older
relatives. They stand there In rows quiz
city and patiently waiting for the whis-
tie to blow. 1t is a part of the days
work for them. AS 1 open the door and
come down the steps, there is always
at first a movement Of relief, that their
watch is ended, and then a look of disap-
polntment as they see who II is. 1t Is
so marked that find it q little disheart-
ening to be always the wrong one. Look
ing down on them, 1t is often on my
tongue to say, tThey also serve who
stand and wait" but they are so ride
ulously small.
Twice day comes a little girl who
does not have to wait Every one seems
ready to let her pass. 1 suppose she Is
about four years old. Most Of these chill
dren look older than they are; but she
has a sweet baby face that cannot con-
ceal more than that number of years.
She comes in with bare hands and
wretched shoes and a little red shawl
over her head, fastened under her chin
with a great brass safety-pin such as
are used for horse blankets. l have learn
ed when to expect her, for she is as reg
ular as the town clock. She plays vital
part in the domestic economy of her
household in fetching her grandfather's
lunch. He is growing old, and 1t Is re-
ally most important that he get his
warm things, for it will not do for the
piece-work of this bread-winner to fall
off. / supospe that Is one of the reasons
why she is allowed in the works; but ey-
cry one knows her and no one questions
her right to go where the old man Is.
Sometimes the gate-keeper sees her
through; but oftener the men pass her on
from one to another, so that nothing
may happen to her, and it is a pretty
sight, for they are as rough a gang as
the police will allow to congregate.
Now, this child likes to come there.
And if ever a child had cause for natu-
raj terror of such a place it is this one.
as will be seen. But there is certainly
not the least indication of fear on her
part. OF course, her grandfather, her
father, and some of her aunts have work
ed there, which makes 1t seem natural
to her. If she could formulate her ideas
on the subject, she would say that there
is nothing horrible there except the acct
dents. And every one may meet an ac-
cident. 1t was horrible, the winter the
works shut down; but now that they are
running again 1t is a very nice place to
come to. with lots of curious things, in
teresting things. and pretty things for
a little girl who has no toys.
When the lunch has come the old man
shuts down his machine and the two sit
down on the bed plate, while he pitches
into the food and she watches the red
hot bars go sliding by. It is very sim
pie meal some hot coffee and bread,
which is white when he begins, but which
looks like wedding cake when he has
handled it,
You are her grandfather" I said to
him
Eyes, and ali do be ahbowwut all the
feather shes govt noo."
And afterwards, in this dialect that
came from somewhere in England, he
told me about it. 1t seems the little girl
had been the unfortunate and most limo
cent cause of her fathers death. He
had been a shear man. land a good shear
man, too" the old man said.-Behold the
honor of the good workman; whatever
may have been this mans account for
good or bad, the greatest praise his faith
er can give him is that he was good
shear man.-It was his business to run
one of those machines that bite steel bars
so easily that you feel feeble and help
less WHEN you nave seen II uOue Anu
It was the little girls business to bring
him his dinner, as she now does for the
more remote parent One day he had
been having some trouble starting and
stopping his machine, and had crawled
beneath it to fix the shipper. There Is a
large-toothed gear wheel which revolves,
very slowly, at a distance of about two
or three inches from the floor, and his
feet were against this when she came IN.
She did not see him and stopped at her
accustomed distance from the shears.
Instinctively, or from early training,
these children know how to behave
around machinery. They never NEEDLE
with it, although they hold it in no fear.
At last, hearing him at work, she went
nearer, and, as she did so. stumbled over
something and fell against the machine;
her tiny weight, it SO happened, was
enough to trip the shipper which had
been so obstinate for her father. And
after that 1t must have been sickening.
They were unable to stop the machine
at once, and he was slowly broken, bone
by bone, a. torture so exquisite that moth
ing but q machine could carry 1t through.
Once he cried Baby Baby! Go away"
and the dying words of no man have
been nobler. But she was not able to,
and she stayed and heard It all, and saw
it all, down to the last scream and the
last reformation. The only comforting
feature is that she is mercifully small
She will forget, partially; wholly. per
haps.-E. H. B., in New York Evening
Post.