The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1901-1982, 1908-05-14
Copyright, by Joseph b. Bowles.)

to send me on in advance. l came
down on my nose and face in the mud
and gravel, somewhat scratched and
soiled, but unhurt.
Fortunately, no one was there to see
my mishap. If there had been l
should never have heard the last of it.
| worked the "scraper" with bare
hands after that, and when 1t went
over by reason of too heavy going l did
not go with it, l am happy to say.
soon got the knack of handling the
machine with ease and grace, and it
was not nearly so hard nor SO monot-
onous as swinging pick. 1t Is won
derful how much work a gang of men
can do in a few hours by sticking
closely to their task. The hillside,
which had looked SO dangerous and
stubborn that morning, commenced to
assume the proportions and aspect of
merely a steep incline, but perfectly
safe for travel.
There was one Spring hole" in this
hill, and this we had to dig deep into,
tile and then rock over with heavy
boulders. The strength of spring Is
something enormous, and good
spring in the middle of a highway is
something that will cause more trou-
BILE than any one other thing. In that
country, with sheer descent Of hun
dredS of feet along the roads, the
springs sometimes wore away sections
of the road from year to year, compel
Ling a retreat further and further into
the fields, until great bays and inlets
would be eaten into the meadows to-
wards the sources Of the gushing wa
tiers.
The bridges in the country are gen.
orally very good or very bad. Some
Of them are neat iron structures, well
furnished with stone abutments, cal
culated to stand for so years or so.
Others, the great majority, are make
shift concerns of heavy enough tim
bers, but crudely put together and
shored up with brush and dirt that
the spring freshets carries of, leaving
the supports to sag and drop as the
traffic goes over them and the rains
! undermine them.
We took hold of this bridge at the
foot of the hill and pried out the tim
bers to the north, and set in, much
deeper than the original supports,
straight and massive oak timbers, and
braced them with powders so that
they could not wear or shake loose.
Then we filed in and back of them
with more rock, and nailed them with
heavy planks so that the entire square
of support made one framework solid
ly set in the earth Then we rein
forced this framework to the top with
additional timbers spiked to the
square, and then laid on the road
planks, spiked securely to the joists
or heavy upright timbers laid length
wise on the bridge frame. Everything
was literally fastened with spikes of
huge size, driven down with sledge-
hammers, and every point where
weight would possibly cause the struc-
ture to sag was shoreds up with rock,
so that the rains or high water could
have no effect in causing the bridge
to give" in any direction. Then we
nailed up stout side poles, braced at
each end, to keep skittish horses from
tumbling down 40 feet to the bottom
of the ravine, and reckoned we had
done a good, clean job Of bridge
building.
At noon we halted In our work, fed
the teams and comforted ourselves
with substantial meal of victuals,"
as the boss" put 1t. The boss" by
the way, ate more than anyone else,
and did about man and half's work.
After dinner several more men drifted
up to where We were working and
some of the morning shift" went
home, those who had come with
teams being replaced by others with
more teams. In this way the dove
colored mules passed from my sight.
l got acquainted with great many
men by reason of the changing about
of the workers, and they were most Of
them curious to see a man from the
city handle an ak or pick, drive
team or carry and help set up timbers.
But as my garb was about the same
as the "scarecrows" wore, and entire
ly guiltless Of collar, cuffs, tie or any
thing which might distinguish me
from a tramp, the novelty wore of
very soon. Indeed, I was so tanned,
and looked so mcuh like a section
hand" that when l was introduced to
the newcomers they must have been
unable to detect any urban signifi-
canoe in my attire or looks.
Being stuck up" in the city makes
man hated; in the country, laughed
at and despised. II you will work in
the country you can dress as elegantly
as you please on Sunday, or on occa-
sions of social Importance; in fact the
better you dress then the more you
will be appreciated. But don't dress
when you go out to work, just cover
yourself and no more. l had a set
Of hats that l wore which were unique
in their tatters. For coats l wore
usually my hunting coats if it was
cold For shirts, except on state oc.
casions, l wore the old-fashioned
hickory" shirts, preferably blue,