Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1905-08-24
AT HIGH WATER MARX.


The two center piers Of the great
railroad bridge over the Goomtree
river had been finished, and there was
much rejoicing They had been sunk
in the muddy bed of the stream a dis
tance of sixty feet, and they lowered
almost as high above the surface. 1t
had taken thousands ofsons OF stone
and thousands OF bags Of cement and
hundreds of days work to complete
these piers. They had had the labor
OF a thousand men and fifty elephants.
When they were finished holiday
was gwen to all the workmen, and
the chelt engineer gazed proudly and
said:
They are done at last. Floods
may roll down-earthquakes may top
pie down forests-come what may,
and my piers will stand here when
thousand years have passed away.
ut is SO, sahib-it is so, answered
the voice of thousand natives, and
tney cheered him and his work.
When a thousand native Indian
workman are employed together on
one job there are three or four castles.
There are masons carpenters, elephant
drivers, shovelers, boatmen and what
not. There is enmlty between the
castles, there is jealously between the
different trades, there is chance every
hour in the day for general riot, and
the men must be under strict disci-
pline. The superintendent word
must be law from which there is no
appeal. A culprit is not told to go
hence, because he has bound himself
and the company has bound itself.
He is punished by fine, Imprisonment
or the lash. Because of this custom
this news ran through camp one
morning:
"At the hour of high noon today
the flag Of punishment will be raised
on the staff, and Kim Nassik will be
tied to the post and fogged. Three
times has his overseer warned him,
and three times has he muttered and
cursed below his breath and failed to
amend his conduct. Kim Nassik is
lazy, and he has made Bundara, his
elephant, the same. When both driver
and elephant are lazy, the work flags.
One man and his beast can hinder
hundred others. 1t is right that Kim
Nassik should be well fogged. D."
When the elephant driver, after
several warnings had been sentenced
to punishment, he replied to the su-
perintendent:
Your words are true, sahib, and l
would not have you take them back.
have been lacking in diligence, and
Bundara has agreed with me, but we
have a reason. A few Sundays ago
he got loose and ran away to the
Jungle. We hunted for him for hours.
When we finally came upon him he
was talking witha wild elephant. He
came to me at my bidding, but that
night, when all the camp was asleep,
he whispered in my ear that we were
fretting the river; that the waters
were growing and complaining; that
some evil would surely fall upon US
if we damned them back. For a
million years the GOOmtree has had
free flow to the sea. Could it be
otherwise than that she should be
angry and that some disaster should
befall US ?"
How is it with the trees-with
the grass-with all else that man
uses2" asked the official. "If the riv-
er is a million years old, thousands Of
boats and RATS have foated down cur
rent and che has not complained. Men
must travel, and they must have
bridges on which to cross streams.
We have not damned the current
back. There is plenty of room for it
to flow onward. Bundara is a big,
strong beast, but he is lazy. He has
told you this story that he may have
less work to do. You shall have
twenty lashes at the post before all
men, and Bundara shall also look on
as a warning to tell no more lies"
"As you will, sahib."
At noon the whipping took place,
but the punishment was not severe.
1t was because of the moral effect
that it was inflicted. Kim Nassik's
elephant was there, and he dropped
his head and tears ran from his eyes.
They said he felt pity for his master
and that his conscience troubled him.
To spare the feelings Ofman and beast
II la1f