West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1906-06-14
u tt It II It Il +

wells feathers or the grouse they show.
cd Brodie how the current carried
them always across the wcll-every
time and always. Brodlc noticed
southeast. Then Brodie made HALEY
dig many holes. grd the Spider welled
into them. aud hc threw In bits OF note
books and tobacco wrappers. but al.
ways they travelled southedSt-nlways
the sanlc-and bigger fool than Bro
die could see that the water was all
there. only underground. But when
did IL riscg asked Brolic. When the
Chinook spoke, said The Sioux And
whyl persisted Brodle Because the
Spider woke, said the Sioux. And
Brod!e Went out OF the camp Of the
Sioux wondering.
And lie planned new bridge which
should stand the Chinook and the Spl-
der and the den himself said Brodic,
medicine or no medicine. And full
seven year II lasted: then the Gre wa
ter spoke for the wicked Scotclrnan.
and he himself went out Into the night.
And after he died. miserable wreck
OF a man. ana of n Nery great man. the
Spider WOKE anu took his pawky bridge
and tied up the main line FOR two
weeks ana set us crazy. for we We're al
ready losing our gTip on the California
fast freight business. But ut that time
HALEY was superintendent of bridges
on the West End.
His father was section foreman.
When HALEY was n kiG--a mere kid
he got into Brolie's olncc doing er-
rands. but whenever he saw n drafts
man at work lie was no COOL for err
rands. at such times hc went all into
mental tnnglc thNt could neither be
thrashed nor Kicked out OF him, though
both We're conscicntiously tried 10y old
man HALEY and Superintendent Bro
die. and BF0iie. since he could do moth
ing else With him. finally kicked him
into learning 10 read-anl 70 cipher,
Brodie called II. Then by and by Hal
ley got an old table and part of cake
OF India Ink himself, and himself be-
came craftsman, and soou. with some
curslng from Brodie and n LUX n
that nowl" from his paralyZed daddy,
became chief craftsman I'm Drodie's Of
fee. HALEY was no college man. Hal
ley was Brodlc man. Single mind on
single mind, concentration absolute.
Mathematics, drawing. bridges, brains
that was HALEY. But no classics eX-
cept Brodie. who himself was classic.
All that Brodle knew HALEY had from
him. and where Brodie was weak Hal
ley was strong. master OF himself
When Brodle shamcl the Image be was
made Ia HALEY hid the shame best he
could-though never touched or made II
his own--and Brodle. who hated even
himself, showed still light IN tho
wreck by molding HALEY TO his work
For one day. said Brodle In his heart,
this boy shall be master Of these
bridges. When am rot lie VIII be here
what / ought TO have been-this Irish
boy-and they will say he was Brodle's
man. And better than any OF these
dough heads they send me out, better
than any or their eastern graduates he
shall be. IL he was made engineer by a
drunkard. And HALEY was better-far,
far better than the graduates, better
than Brodie. and to HALEY came the
time to wrestle the Spider.
Stronger than any man before or
since he was for that work All Bgo-
die knew. all the Indians knew, all
that life's experience. eating, living.
watching, sleeping with the big river
had taught him. that HALEY knew, and
when Brodie's bridge went out HALEY
was ready with his new bridge for the
Spider water which should be better
than Brodie's. just as he was better
than Brodie II was TO be such a
bridge as BrOdle's bridge. with the fire
water left out. And the plans for a
Howe truss. two pier. two abutment.
three span. pneumatic caisson bridge
to span the Big Sandy river were sub
mitted to headquarters.
But the COST The directors jumped
their table WREN they saw the figures.
We were being mIllSed at that time-to
put II bluntly. being sucked. worse
than lemOns-by Wall street clique
that robbed our good road. shaved our
salaries, impoverished our equipment
and cut our maintenance 20 the quick.
They talked economy aud studied pra.
cy. In the matter OF appropriations
for themselves they were freebOoters;
for us, they were thrifty as men Of
Iamelln town. When HALEY demand
cd thousand guilders for his Spider
water bridge they laughed and said.
"Come, take fifty" lie couldn't do
anything else. and he built nfty gull
der bridge TO bar The Spiders crawl.
1t lasted really better than the average
bridge, aud since Haley never could
get n thousand guiidcrs at once no
kept drawing City at q time and throw.
Ing them annually at tic Spider.
But the dream Of his l.fc-ihls we all
knew and the Sioux would hnve said
The Spider knew-was to build flnal
bridge over the Spider water. n bridge
10 throttle lt-for all time.
II was the one subject on which you
rOuld get n rise out Of Haley any time,
lay or nlglt-tho two pier, two nbut-
ment three span, pneumatic caissOn
Spider bridge. lie would talk Spider
bridge 20 a Chlnaman. Ills bridge
foreman FL pectO. n stavIng big one
eyed French Canadian, actually had
but two IDEAS ln life-one was HALEY,
the other t,e Spider bridge. When the
manageuisnt chan9ed again. when the
For telling the truth about Em
balmed Beef fed to our soldiers