Middletown transcript., 1900-05-26

CHAPTER =;


In time to see Burns, the foreman, &c
out Of side door and cross the yard
The manager followed him and entered
the machine shop in time to see him
stop at machine at the farthest end
of the shop and speak to the man al
work there. The man was a Norwe-
gian, Herman by name. He was run.
ming what is called a planer, ma.
chine for trimming pieces Of cold metal
just from the foundry or the casting
room. He was at work this morning
on one of the eccentric bars Of a loco.
motive, and it was of such a charac-
ter that he could leave the machine for
several minutes to do the planning.
Burns talked with this man for
awhile and then moved across the floor
to the other workman, small boned,
nervous little fellow, who was in
charge Of a boring machine which
drove steel drill through heavy plates
Of iron fastened into the frame.
Mr.. Hardy came up just as Burns
turned away from this man and touch
ed him on the shoulder. The foreman
started and turned about, surprised to
see the manager.
"We!l, Burns, how goes everything
this morning" asked Robert.
''The men here are grumbling be-
cause they don't have a holiday same
as the men in Scoville's department"
"But we can't shut down the whole
business, can we? asked Mr.. Hardy,
with a momentary touch Of his old
time feeling. "The men are unrea-
sonable."
''I'm afraid there'll be trouble, sir,
can feel it in the air." replied Burns.
Mr.. Hardy made no reply in words,
but looked at him. Within the black
ened area of the great shop about 200
men were at work. The whirl of ma
chinery was constant. The grind of
steel ON iron was blended with the rat
tie Of chains and the rolling Of the
metal carriages in their tracks. The
Genius of Railroading seemed present
in the grim strength and rapidity of
several machines which moved almost
as If instinct with intelligence and
played with the most unyielding sub
stances as if they were soft and pliable
clay. In the midst of all the smashing
Of matter against itself, through the
smoke and din and dust and revolution
Of the place, Mr.. Hardy was more than
usually alive this morning to the human
aspect Of the case. His mind easily
went back to the time when he himself
stood at one Of these planers and did
just such work as that big Norwegian
was doing, only the machines were
vastly better and improved now. Mr..
Hardy was not ashamed of having
come along through the ranks of man.
ual labor. In fact, he always spoke
with pride of the work he used to do in
that very shop, and he considered him
self able to run all by himself any
piece of machinery in the shops, but
he could not help envying these men
this morning. "Why," he said, 'proba-
bly, not one of them but has at least
seven weeks to live and most of them
seven months or years, while l. Why
should these men complain because
they are not released from toll? Isn't
toll sweet when there are strong body
and a loving wife and happy home?
o God" he continued to think, 81
would give all my wealth if l might !
change places with any one of these
men and know that would probably
have more than week to live
Mr. Hardy walked back to the office, |
leaving the foreman in a condition of |
wondering astonishment.
Something wrong in his works, i |
guess" muttered Burns.
Mr.. Hardy sat down to his desk and |
wrote an order releasing all the men
who desired to attend Scovilles fu- |
neral in the afternoon. He did not |
have it in his power to do more, and
yet he felt that this was the least he
could do under the circumstances. The
more he thought of Scoville's death |
the more he felt the cruel injustice of !
it. The injuries were clearly acci- /
dental, but they might have been
avoided with proper care for human
life, and Robert Hardy was just be-
ginning to understand the value of hu-
manity.
He worked bard at the routine of his
office work until noon. He did what I
seemed to him the most necessary part
Of it all with conscientious fidelity
But his mind good part of the time
was with the men in the shops. He
could not escape the conviction that if
q railroad company had the willing
ness to do so it could make the sur
of these men safer and hap
pier without getting poorer work or
even losing any money by it.
When noon sounded, he went home
resolved to do something as far as lay
IN his power to pake the men feel that
they were regarded as something more
.han machines.
George was down stairs when his IA
her came in and looked at him with