The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-08-07
(By Strickland W. Gillian

| had a magnificent and uninterrupted
view Of the town standpipe and he
photograph gallery mex door, we lis
tened earnestly 10 the breathless 81
lence that prevailed over about 5000
square miles Of territory the vici1i-
Y. 1t was so still that you could hear
the springs creak as the Niobrara Ri
er, a mile away, turned ~uneasily il its
bed.
Then out Of the holy hush that was
becoming un~bearable, spoke up MY
friend, The Liar, and the rest OF US
were too exhausted and depressed to
interrupt.
The way the weather's hottin' up ut
the present w%ritin'," he began as he
pulled a straw out of the hotel whisk-
broom and started to. use il fo- q
%toothpick, reminds me of my ice-pre-
servin scheme that didn't do me n
good except in a indirect way.
Il was workin' at Omaha then, for
old man Cudahy. | had charge of tn
lcin department for the big packer
That was before Pat Grove and Upton
Sinclair had come into publicity and
made trouble for Cudahy and other
packers. | had 4 brother VINO worked
in a big chemical institution in Chic
ago, and he was great on experimental
When | got my vacations, instea1 of
hikin' for tn hills an wastin' my time
restln, | went an stayed with Charley
in Chi, an tinkered around tn little
laboratory he had rugged up in Ills
room. | learned considerable on my
own hook, an got so dippy about the
work that | wouldn't do nothin' else If
| could get at that bunch O dope, an
Charley had to club me off to Omaha
when my time was up.
But in that last vacation | spen:
with Charley l had got in my fatal
work on the discovery I'd been dream
in about. I had been dublin around
with linseed oil, shellac, an some
other ingregiences that's secret. be-
cause can't remember 'em, and tryin'
always to see what combinations |
could make of EN-. At last l found
a mixture that was plump, teetotaiiy
waterproof. Test it and test it as |
would it was bount to make good.
When l went away I was so took up
with that idea that l went to the de-
pot and got on the Lake Shore train
for Elkhart instead of the Rock Island
train for Omaha. and had to be trans
ferred at Englewood.
Il had a lot Of the stuff with me in
packages, and when l got back at work
l KEEP on experimental. l wasn't ever
one to go off half cooked. I am like
one of these revolvers you see adver-
tised-'hammer the hammer &c.-nad
to be sure I was right before I would
take the rest of Crockett's advice. The
stuff stood the test of two months with
QUE ever leakin' a solitary drop of the
water kept constant applied to it.
"Then l was ready to spring l.. I
got q chance to speak to old man Gu
daily in his private office, and told him
what l proposed to do, in about the
pursuing languages:
GIVE got a scheme here, Mister
Cudahy, that will save you thousands
and thousands of dollars every year
in sawdust and ice. l have invented Il
plumb watertight varnish that will
make the cakes of ice impervious to
wet and will keep them from evaporat-
AAS hAo A4SAl4I4 III Il SllCtl u
my varnish, q cake Of ice will last
twice as long with half the sawdust
packin'. I'll furnish the varnish at cost
to you the first year., provided YOU
agree to pay me the second year what
O save in ice. | consider that a
fair proposition, Mister Cudahy, and
don't see how you can see it in am
other light.
Now the old man had a good deal
Of confidence in me. l hadn't never told
him no lies, an they's nothin' like a
record O truthfulness to establish a
mans credit.
We'll, t make a short story shorter,
he agreed, an | got busy with my az
engagements for the next winters ice-
packin' time, | manufactured enough
Of tn varnish to cover tn entire ou1-
put or input, which ever you'll call it.
an stored t where it would be keD'
safe from thieves. / aimed to put it
as near as | could guess to where tn
Missoury would be the next winter.
That's n disadvantage of workin'
with tn Missoury River. A Teller new
er knows where L look fer it. He can
go to sleep at night among the rag
weeds on its muddy bank, an wake I'D
in the morning several miles away
from IT, right out in tn open perrary.
If they's a rain or a specially heavy
doc tn OF stream will just everlastingly
shift her moorin's an be in another bed
afore o could ship yer oars an follow
with a row boat.
Well, when tn ice crop come. SIZE
was a corker- In a single night ice
four feet thick froze in tn swiftest
current. Tn cold come on sudden, TOO.
why. a teller from the packin' nonsa
had a team up 10 their bellies in In
stream = waterin' 'em an RI ire
ketched III horses noses fore they
could pull loose 10 breathe an he'll 'er,
till h Feoerrary thaw. Honest.
Il got my cutters busy sawin' tn ice
into big cubes handy for pacin' an
befoe each cube was packed it was
give a good, thick coat of my wate.-