Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1900-02-07

laugneu. Jes - laughed, too. The
manager was in his Office, seriously
divesting himself of apricot juice and
sugar.
1t seemed cooler in the steamy kit
chen. though the mercury was rising.
Through the open door Dave soon saw
the manager strolling among tho hur-
rying cutters. Some of the girls could
halve the cot and flip out the pit with
one quick twist of knife and thumb.
The motion seemed simple, but you
could not understand it at first sight.
''Have 'em look little sharper
after their sorting, Miss Bumble"
the manager called, after flash of his
quick eyesround tie room.
'tAll right, ir!''said the 'forelady,"
who was clicking a hole with ticket
punch in the tag of fat and wheeling
cutter, who had brought her pile of
pits to get credit for having finished a
box of the cots. A hole in her tag
was worth six cents to her. ''My,
amt it hot!" she pulled, wiping her
face with her apron. 1t was late in
July and the sun beat remorselessly
on the corrugated-iron roof. The fat
woman wondered why the manager
had not set some eucalyptus-trees
around the works, as she stood in the
doorway for a moment and gazed
longingiy at the mountains half hidden
by gray gauze of dust. Looks like
Santa Ana, said the wheezy one.
'Traysl" sang out shrill trio of
sopranos in the cutting room.
Always short of trays! I believe
the boys eat 'em!" growled the man
ager, passing through to the kitchen
and shaking things up all along the
line. The manager spent more time
in the kitchen than in his Office. not
altogether to the qualification of Dave.
The cooking was critical process;
and then from the back door of the
kitchen the manager could keep one
eye on the labelling. Privately, Dave
had e1postulated to Hebe that it didn't
do the help any good to eye 'em all
the time; whereat Hebe winked pri-
vately and luminously at the sealer.
The last batch of the forenoon had
been put into cook, and Dave scanned
the water closely to see if a tell-tale
bubble was escaping from leaky can.
Suddenly the water quivered. Dave
felt little jar, and heard a crash as
if tall stack of loaded trays had top
Piled over in the cutting-room.
True to his trick, the manager
leaped up and stood astride corner
of one of the big tanks, peering across
the half partition, to see what the
mischief -
There came creaking sound. The
building swayed, the partitions heav-
ing and the boards grinding against
each other. There was another jar,
as if frelght-shifter had bumped into
the cannery-then tremendous
splash, and sprays of water hissed
upon the sealer's hot irons.
A second of staring, startling silence
was. followed by chorus of shrieks
that overwhelmed all things. After
the earthquake was over, the girls
had time to be frightened.
''Merciful powers!" yelled the
sealer, ''the boss is parboiledr'
For q quivering moment the whole
cannery seemed horror stricken, then
all rushed for the tank. One woman
fell in faint, and the others swept
by her. Dave stood as if paralyzed,
but with queer look on his face that
was either lunacy OF amused self-pos-
session. There were sounds of a strug-
gle in the tank, but no cry was heard.
With blanched face the sealer
brushed by Dave and reached for the
steam valve.
"No," said Dave, holding him back,
"that's cold tank"