Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1905-01-20
in A KILN=TOP
ALBERT w. TOLMAN

up on the stage beside the open kiln
top, Harry Sanders stopped his horses
and tWined his reins round the whip
stock standing in its case on the right
of the seat Then he pulled on mis-
leathern grabs. and Logan to pitch his
load of limerick piece by piece, into
the granite-lined pit that yawned below
him. vomiting torth ceaseless tide of
smoke and heat.
Underneath. in the body of the kiln,
were 30 or 80 tons of limerick in every
stage of burning. from the thoroughly
calcined Jumps at the bottom, which
needed only shoveiing out and cooling
off to prepare them for packing IN the
casks, to the fragments last thrown IN
at the top, crusted with coal SCOT, but
not yet heated enough to show any signs
of crumbling. From this mass, through
which the arches sent a steady flood 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 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
ly to question the truth of the assertion.
1t was Monday morning, and the rock
in the kiln had settled considerable dis
lance. The top was something over IL
feet in diameter. From this point the
body of the furnace gradually contract
ed until Just above the arches 1t meas
ured barely eight feet across UP to
within two or three yards of the surface
It was lined with friedrich, 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 very I'M
pleasant smoking.
On this morning Sanders was unioT-
tunate. He had not thrown off dozen
nieces when he heard the sCraping OF
shovels. and in a few seconds, curling
up through every crevice in the rough
pit bottom, came the sooty vapor. Thick
err 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 10
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, spec
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
humps one after another into the Kiln
top. The wagon was perhaps quarter
unloaded when his left toe caught I'M
der an especially large piece OF rock and
he stumbled forward Then fragment
under his other foot gave way. and ne
pitched over the wheel into the mouth
of the kiln. AS he fell, he caught I'M
availingly at the whip-stock, rounn
which the reins were twisted. 1t yield
ed and the place where he had stood was
vacant. So blacNy did the smoke roll
over the wagon that man ten feet OH
could not have seen him fall.
Almost before the driver had time to
realize what had occurred, he found HIM
self spraying in a loose, helpless hear
upon the rocks he had just thrown in
They were not yet heated through, but
their sharp corners cut and bruised hin
severely.
Instantly the deadly peril of his situa
ton dawned upon him, and he sprang tc
his feet, bent upon getting out at once
Warm. black and sitting, the smoke
wrapped him about like shroud. HI
began to cough and choke. An ordinary
man would have succumbed immediate
ly in that fearful atmosphere but San
ders had become so accustomed t
breathing coal smoke that he did no
yield readily to the fumes. He was per
fectly aware that his life could be meas
ured by a very few scores of seconds un
less he extricated himself at once from
this fiery pit Two quick steps brough
him to the front wall. He pushed hi
hands up along the hot granite blocks
and found that he could reach we'll owe
the highest layer. A moments gras
upon some firm projection, the quicl
thrust of a boot-toe into a crack in til
lining. and he would be out of his dilem
ma in jiffy!
Even in the midst of his peril he wa
inclined to congratulate himself that tn
rock in the kiln was no lower. for ha
the distance to fall been greater h
might have broken some bone, the hea
would have been more intense. and tn
depth would have made it impossible 70
him to get his hands over the top of tn
e granite.
\ He was on the point of lifting his to
20 thrust ii into some crevice in tn
wall when beneath his feet there came
i rumbling, a sinking. The drivers heal
}. almost stood still with terror, for
u knew too well the meaning of the SCUM