The Forrest City times., 1905-01-13
IN A KILN-TOP
 Dy ALBERT w. HOLMAN

V up on the stage beside the open kiln ], Harry Sanders stopped his horse Id twined his reins round the whip bck standing in its case on the righ the seat. Then he pulled on hi Athern grabs" and began to pitch hi 4d of lime-rock, piece by piece, int B granite-lined pit that yawned belo' m, vomiting forth a ceaseless tide o Aoke and heat.
 Underneath. in the body of the kiln Ire 20 or 30 tons of limerock in ever. bge of burning. from the thoroughly cined Jumps at the bottom, whic' eded only shoveling out and coolint to prepare them for packing in tho bks, to the fragments last thrown II the top, crusted with coal soot, but . yet heated enough 10 show any signs Icrumbling. From this mass, through bich the arches sent steady flood ol 'eaming flame. spun out by the forced Nit, rose mingled column of car bic acid gas and coal smoke. deadly hbination for the human lungs.
 If a man ever falls into one of those B, he's done," burner had once re rked; and no one who had seen the bking pits in full blast would be like To question the truth of the assertion
 was Monday morning, and the rock he kiln had settled considerable dis lee. The top was something over la ! in diameter. From this point the N of the furnace gradually contract until just above the arches it meas b barely eight feet across Up to hin two or three yards of the surface las lined with fire-brick, but for the ainder of the distance blocks of so- ed fire granite were employed.
 be workmen below never intention put on fresh coal when cart was g unloaded above; but sometimes
 could not avoid doing so. and then driver was subjected to very un- sant smoking.
 n this morning Sanders was unfo.- Ate. He had not thrown off dozen les when he heard the scraping of els. and in a few seconds, curling Through every crevice in the rough Dttom, came the sooty vapor. Thick
 grew, eddying and whirling round
 in choking clouds. But the team
 be unloaded, and he could not stop. faster he worked the sooner he Id be through.
 ith dropped heads the horses stood ently, waiting for the signal to They were used to the smoke. and, ed. were so far forward that they did get nearly SO much as their driver Kas completely hidden by 1t, A spec Ii a short distance away could not
 told whether or not he was still on top of his load.
 Anders worked rapidly, tossing the ps one after another into the kiln
 The wagon was perhaps quarter kaded when his left toe caught un- an especially large piece of rock, and stumbled forward Then fragment er his other foot gave way. and he hed over the wheel into the mouth he kiln. AS he fell, he caught un- llingly at the whip-stock, round h the reins were twisted It yield hnd the place where he had stood was Int. So blackly did the smoke roll
 the wagon that man ten feet off Id not have seen him fall.
 most before the driver had time to ize what had occurred, he found him. sprawling Tn a loose, helpless heap b the rocks he had just thrown in. N were not yet heated through, but r sharp corners cut and bruised him krely.
 stantly the deadly peril of his situa
 dawned upon him, and he sprang to feet, bent upon getting out at once. rm. black and stifiing, the smoke pped him about like shroud. He hn to cough and choke. An ordinary
 wCild have succumbed immediate that fearful atmosphere. but San
 had become so accustomed to kthing coal smoke that he did not readily to the fumes. He was per by aware that his life could be meas
 by very few scores of seconds un- he extricated himself at once from
 fiery pit. Two quick steps brought
 to the front wall. He pushed his Ids up along the hot granite blocks found that he could reach we'll over highest layer. A moments grasr some firm projection, the quick nst of a boot-toe into crack in the hg. and he would be out of his dilem in jiffy!
 ven in the midst of his peril he was lined to congratulate himself that tht K in the kiln was no lower, for had
 distance to fall been greater hf Int have broken some bone, the hea hld have been more intense and tn, th would have made 1t impossible fo,
 to get his hands over the top of th hite.
 Be was on the point of lifting his to- Thrust 1t into some crevice in tn u when beneath his feet there came bbling, a sinking. The drivers hear lost stood still with terror, for h w too we'll the meaning of the sounl
 kiln was settling, Down slumpei rocl, with a SuddanneSc that alp,oS ew him off his balance. The heate