Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-11
ON THE DOME IN A STORM
THRILLING EXPERIENCE OF
PAINTERS AT THE CAPITOL.
Even Now They Tell With Shudder
of Their Feelings During the
Recent Electrical Display.

1t is worth while glancing up Capitol Hill
way just now at the big dome on the roof
of the legislative gas works, for thirty
five human flies are just winding up the
job of spreading waterproof paint over its
fancy-work surface. 1t has taken nine tons
of paint and nearly two months steady
labor to do the trick, and they're glad
every one of them-that It's nearly quitting
time. Eor the job doesn't look easy and
isn't as easy it looks.
Just think of painting-with two and three
coats in places-about eight city blocks d.
That's what this dome-covering PROPOSE
ton about amounts to, for the immense
iron structure that looms SO large above the
big pile of the Capitol has somewhere
around 100000 square feet of surface
This is the first time in five or SIX years
that the dome has been touched up ana
David Lynn. foreman of the superntead-
ents office at the Capitol, who runs Things
around the gas house while Supt Eiilott
Woods is making sure that for about the
first time in history big piece of govern
ment work gets done on time, decided that
it would be done to the queen taste. so
the human flies were first sent aloft without
their paint buckets and told to look Tor rust
and all it's Notwithstanding relatives. Ihey
carried out instructions and every time they
noticed even a thin spot in the old paint
they scraped clear down to the bright IRON
bound the suspicious spot in oil-soaked
linen and later slapped on new elastic
paint over that. 1t doesn't pay to take
chances when there are nine million pounds
of iron roof of a building that is crowded
to the doors half a dozen months in the
year with patriots chosen of the people
On the Dome in a Storm.
1t is for more reasons than one that the
human flies are happy that their work on
the dome is nearly at an end. One of the
reasons-perhaps the greatest one-has TO
do with thunderstorms. Now, those human
flies are sensible men, with more than the
average share of courage. Some OF them
have no nerves at all about ordinary things,
and there isn't one who wouldn't enjoy sit
ting on his covered front porch during a
thunderstorm and watching the lightning
knock bricks out of his neighbours CHM
ney But they are different people when
working on the dome, and every time
thunderstorm comes along and catches
them up there they scatter for terra hrma
shelter and safety like bunch of Plymouth
Rock egg factories from in 'front.' OF a pur-
ring, honking automobile.
During that uS-performance mum
derstorm last Monday week the human flles
got the worst fright of their whole dome
painting experience. In the first place, the
storm came up in a little minute and caught
the brush wielders entirely unawares. And
then. when they made break for their
slender little ladders swinging dizzily from
hooks at the very tipmost top OF the struc-
ture, the wind came out of the west and
blew SO violently that even the most devil
may-care of the bunch decided to take his
chances up in the air rather than attempt
to climb down.
But it was a narrowing experience. if
those painters are to be believed-and they
looked very serious when talking it over
with Star reporter. From what they
said, the dome Of the Capitol must be
or al q
lightning that fools about up on the hill.
flash would come straight at the dome
and then, instead of biting the Goddess OF
Freedom on the topknot and shocking Its
way through her bronze frame from the
platinum tips on her headdress to the cop
per connection on her toes would spread
out and envelop the great iron structure
in a regular Fourth of July haze of fire.
The human flies weren't exactly shocked,
but they felt tingly all over-every one of
them-and their hair stood up and cracked
under their battered, pafnt-daubed hats
Then another package of lightning would
come along, and perhaps this one would
break up into million little forks OF cleo
trio flame and go dancing around the IRON
gutter in which the men had taken shelter.
Pickering over the copper edge, almost-as
one of the human flies said-as if biting
at their toes. Not man was hurt even a
little bit, but most of them were scared
out of d weeks growth, for this sort of a
performance kept up for solid hour.
Platinum Tips FraZZled.
When the human flies slipped down their
swaying ladders after the storm was over
not feeling much like any more work that
day, you can wager-they sat around and
chinned about their experience, and finally
one of them told the story to Elliott Woods,
the wizard of the Capitol. And after Mr..
Woods had pondered some, and scien-
tifc friends of his had pondered some more,
one of the human flies climbed up on the
shoulders of the Goddess of Freedom to
examine the platinum tips of the lightning
arresters. And a glance at those tips eX-
planned things. They were ripped, and
torn, and frayed and fraZzled, but not
melted or burned even little bit.
There's a fine scientific way of telling
what this means but it involves the Of
considerable brainproof language. Re
duced to first principles. however, it means
that the dome of the Capitol soaks up stray
electricity like a poplar tree or a storage
battery, and that instead of lightning strik-
ing the platinum and travelling down into
the dome, it soaks into the dome and
travels out of the tips back up into the
sky.
After the last thunderstorm that played
around the Capitol it noted that the
platinum tips on the feathers in Miss Free
doms headdress sizzed for twenty-three
minutes. If there's anybody who reads
this and then doesn't believe, let him just
ask scientist if it isn't true. The scien-
it.
Strange Discoveries.
Freaky lightning wasn't the only thing
the human flies found up around the dome.
In the big gutter just below the top bulge
they discovered four mems derbies, a ladys
toque, nine ordinary straw lids, one me-
dunn Panama, Is cents in pennies, a nurs-
ing bottle, two ham sandwiches in poor re-
pair and nest containing thirty-elght
English sparrow eggs. This latter discov-
cry is considered the most important, as it
bears out the theory of some bird fanciers
that a community of sparrows, when set
tied in a thoroughly safe and secure place.
place all their eggs in one nest and en-
ploy larger bird of another species at SO
many worms an hour to do the ma itching.
In view of the advanced state of affairs
in these modern days 1t is not considered
particularly remarkable that the sparrows
at the Capitol should believe in centraliza-
tiOn.