The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-03-17

eff you've never seen him in the lab,
| you ought not to miss it."
How did he lose his sight ?" Caldwell
asked eagerly of the young fellow, who,
| with hand on kirke's chair, was &C.
companying them down the sloping aisle.
Tom rejoiced within himself that it was
all happening so naturally. If a stranger
told the story it would not look to Cald-
we'll so much as if Tom had meant to
| read moral to him.
'Got hurt in lab explosion" the boy
| said. Freshman making carbon mon
| oxid-sulphuric and oxalic acids in the
generator, you know. Chump left out
the safety bottle-had the burner too
high-opened a window. Wentworth
came in and saw him with his head over
the retort-hame blowing one side in the
wind-January wind. He jumped to dis
connect, gave the fellow shove one side
just quick enough to save him, and got
that awful explosion in his own face. Al
kali, you see, drawn back into the acids
by the generator cooling too quick in the
zero wind. No safety bottle between"
Caldwell nodded, his face full of intense
interest. They were at the laboratory
door. The student went on in a whisper.
81 saw it all. l don't like to remember
how he sufered-with the pluck of bull
dog all the time. Eyes blown full of
glass as we'll as acid-face horribly burned.
Never saw ray OF light again. Fresh
man wanted to die-to his credit. Went.
worth made chum of him. Wen have
to hurry. He never loses a minutes time
himself, or lets any one else lose 1t for
him. This way
The next half-hour passed for Caldwell
in haze of delight. He was less con-
scious of his pleasure-although that
was very great-in the somewhat re-
markable experiments which were made
under Professor Wentworth's direction,
than in the recognition of the great and
noble spirit of the man himself.
Alert in every sense but one; eager as
boy to prove what he had asserted, init
to its individual members, with whomhe
showed perfect familiarity, calling upon
one and another to note various steps Of
the work in confirmation or retutation of
their personal notions concerning it-he
was the genius of the place, dominat.
ing personality, which it was an inspira-
ton to each mind within its influence to
know.
"Glad you enjoyed it," said tie young
man who had brought them in. Were
so proud of him here we never lose a
chance to have Others appreciate him.
He never let's up on himself. Takes his
cold tubs and his dumbbells just the
same, and tramps miles with one or an
other of US every day. We count it
treat to go, you know"
Tom Thorpe kept Caldwell until the
class had nearly gone, and the professor
was left with his assistants, making
ready to go to the next duty. Then he
wheeled his friend up to the blind man
and made blunt introduction which
came from his heart:
Professor Wentworth, this is nv
friend, Kirke Caldwell, an electrical engi-
neer, who was in my class. He can't give
you his right hand, because he tried to
save the life of one of his men last Febru-
airy, and lost hand and foot and-some
o ther things. l want"
The strong left hand of Maurice Went
worth had found kirke's long before
Tom had struggled thus far. His face
had lightened instantly at Toms descrip-
ton with peculiar tenderness of sympa-
thy which as long as he lived Kirke never
forgot.
"a handicap" he said, his fine lips
smiling. "Ah, then we shall see what
you are really made of. Electrical engi-
ncering-and your brains are left you
Let the other men put on the rubber
gloves; it's you who can solve their prob
lens for them"
All the way home Caldwell sat staring
out of the car window with eyes which
took no note of the April landscape. just
budding into beauty. Tom Thorpe sat
and read newspaper upside down, and
hardly dared so much as glance at him.
In the pale face grew and grew the thing
Tom had longed to see there-courage.-
Youths Companion.