Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-01-10
TN A KlLN.ToP.
 ALBERT w. HOLMAN

n EWING his heavy four-horse wagon D up on the stage beside the open kiln top. Harry Sanders stopped his horses and twined his reins round the whip. stock standing in it's case on the right of the seat Then he pulled on hii leathern grabs" and began to pitch his load of lime-rock, piece by piece, into the granite-lined pit that yawned below him, vomiting forth ceaseless tide oi smoke and heat.
 @ Underneath, in the body of the kiln were 20 or 30 tons of limerock in every stage of burning, from the thoroughly calcined Jumps at the bottom, which needed only shoveling out and cooling of to prepare them for packing in the casks, to the fragments last thrown in at the top, crusted with coal soot, but not yet heated enough to show any signs of crumbling. From this mass, through which the arches sent a steady food of streaming flame. spun out by the forced draft, rose a mingled column of car bonic acid gas and coal smoke, deadly combination for the human lungs.
 If a man ever falls into one of those tops, he's done!" burner had once re- marked; and no one who had seen the smoking pits in full blast would be like Iy to question the truth of the assertion. It was Monday morning, and the rock in the kiln had settled considerable dis tance. The top was something over l2 feet in diameter. From this point the body of the furnace gradually contract ed, until just above the arches 1t meas urea barely eight feet across. Up to within two or three yards of the surface IL was lined with fire-brick, but for the remainder of the distance blocks Of so- called fire granite were employed.
 The workmen below never intention ally put on fresh coal when a cart was being unloaded above; but sometimes they could not avoid doing so, and then the driver was subjected to a very un- pleasant smoking.
 On this morning Sanders was unfoc- tunate. He had not thrown off dozen pieces when he heard the scraping Of shovels, and in few seconds, curling up through every crevice in the rough pit bottom, came the sooty vapor. Thick CT it grew, eddying and whirling round him in choking clouds. But the team must be unloaded, and he could not stop. The faster he worked the sooner he would be through.
 With dropped heads the horses stood patiently, waiting for the signal to start. They were used to the smoke. and, indeed. were so far forward that they did not get nearly so much as their driver. He was completely hidden by it. Aspec- tator a short distance away could not have told whether or not he was still on the top of his load.
 Sanders worked rapidly, tossing the lurlps one after another into the kiln top. The wagon was perhaps quarter unloaded when his left toe caught un- der an especially large piece of rock, and he stumbled forward. Then a fragment under lis other foot gave way, and he pitched over the wheel into the mouth of the kiln. As he fell. he caught un- availingly at the whip-stock, round which the reins were twisted. It yield ed, aud the place where he had stood was vacant. So blackly did the smoke roll over the wagon that man ten feet on could not have seen him fall.
 Almost before the driver had time to realize what had occurred, he found him. self sprawling in loose. helpless heap lpon the rocks he had just thrown in. They were not yet heated through. but their sharp corners cut and bruised him severely.
 Instantly the deadly peril of his situa- tion dawned upon him, and he sprang to his feet. bent upon getting out at once. Warm. black and stifling. the smoke wrapped him about like a shroud. He began to cough and choke. An ordinary man would have succumbed immediate ly !n that fearful atmosphere. but San COTS had become So accustomed to breathing coal smoke that he did not yield readily to the fumes. He was per tectly aware that his life could be meas uy.d by a very few scores of seconds un- less he extricated himself at once from this fiery pit. Two quick steps brought him to the front wall. He pushed his hands up along the hot granite blocks. md found that he could reach we'll over the highest layer. A moments grasp upon some firm projection, the quick thrust of . boot-toe into . crack in the lining, and he would be out of his dilem- ma ir 1iffy'
 Even in the midst of his peril he was irciir cd to congratulate himself that the rock in the kiln was no lower. for had the distance 10 fall been greater he might have broken some bone. :he heat would have been more intense. and the depth would have made it impossible for Jim to get his bands over :he top of the granite.
 He was on the point of lifting his toe 10 thrust it into some erevice in the wall when beneath his feet there came . mmbling. a sinking. The drivers hear; almost stood still with terror. for he knew too wei the meaning of the sound The kiln was settling! Down slumped he rock with a suddenness that almos: threw him ofY his balance. The heated
 mass inside the furnace sank barely two feet. but when the motion ceased the ,ips of Sanders fingers rested on the Joint between the first and second layers sf granite. He could no longer touch the CD of the upper blocks.