Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-10-08


Bob of the Furnace stood six feet
two in his stockings, and was well pro-
portioned withal. There was nothing
Of the long and lanky about Bob. We
in the office were Won't to say that the
King had lost Il fine li~feguardsman
when Bob became a furnace hand.
1t vas a treat to watch him at his
work, his sinewy frame made him so
completely master of his business, and
often at teeming time when the metal
was run into the molds did | find my
self within the melting furnace The
whole scene comes up before me as |
write, the long shed full Of Pickering
light and shade, the grotesQue shadows
of the men flung upo the walls, the
tongues Of clear flame that leapt up
from the underground fires, and the
grim form Of the half-naked giant, as
CHS rough figure haloed in rudy
Light he stood with legs astride over
one of the uncovered holes. A straight
down thrust of the long tongs and the
spluttering crucible was lifted out Of
it's fame-lined grave. For one moment
the man would balance it on the iron
floor. Then with a deftness which none
of his mates could initiate, the long
tongs would be brought to the hori-
zontal. and the molten steel would fall
into the square mold with the color
and lap of new milk poured into a
churn.
There came a day when a greater
fear of Bob fell upon his mates. No
n knew rightly the ms Il outs Of
the quarrel. There was a clamor Of
fierce voices by the furnace door, Bob's
raucous tones high above the rest, fol-
lowed by the sickening thud of a hui
mar head in deadly contact with tie
iron cistern. Then some one shouted
for the ambulance, while Boz himself
was escorted from the works with
three stalwart policemen in close at
tendance. A merciful c%oroner's jury
brought in a verdict of accidental
DEATH" but Bob was never the same
man afterwards. The snarl passed out
of his voice, and a rough attempt at
kindness took it's place. Moreover, he
went to the cistern to fling water upon
the smouldering sacking with which
the furnacemen protected their legs
from the heat he looked another way
and-shuddered.
It was about a fortnight after the
Inquest that 1 came into personal
touch with Bob. l had just locked up
the safes and was about to depart
when who should come into the count
ing house but the giant himself.
"Mr. Benedict" he said, and his
voice was shaky, II want yer to be so
kind as 20 do summat for me-" Then
suddenly his voice trailed off into in
distinctness, his huge frame shook like
a leaf and before I could ask a 1ues-
ton the man had flung his arms over
the desk and was sobbing with the un-
feigned grief of a little child.
II want to ak yer" he said, as he
became calmer, "to take five shillings
to Mrs. Jenkins" (Jenkins was the
pame of the nan who was killed In
the quarrel), "and telI her it'll p'raps
come every week till her lads ovid
enew to keep t. house going. She
mustn't know as it comes fro me, or
like enew she WANT hev it." He put
the money in my hands and was gone.
Inc COlullllSSlOu "dS uuiy III
and one day I was able to bring Bob
some consolation. ~ hear" the widow
had said to me on my last visit, that
Bob Jones is terribly cut up about the
job; but l bear him 40 i'll will, for
I know It were just a accident and
then she added, with the character
1stic resignation of her class: whats
done nun be put up wi" | told this
to Bob, and though he said nothing,
his face visibly cleared. That very
evening he burst into the widows cot
tage with the same abruptness with
which he had come into the Office.
Mrs. Jenkins he stammered, I've
come to ak yer pardon; | didn't go for
to do 1t, I udn't hurt a worrum; it's
my temper as gets t better o me-.
A golden sovereign was found on the
table when he was gone. In this way
did Bob of the Furnace try to make
amends, and Bob, ladies and gentle=
men, had 80 shillings a week.
It was quite by accident that I came
60 know anything of Bob's home life.
It was rumored that the cuckoo could
be heard in the Belle copse, and that
there the bluebells grew thick; so one
evening toward the end of MaX~l bent
my steps in that direction. About a
mile beyond the smoke Of the town
q venturesome builder had flung up a
row of red-brick cottages. III the mar
row garden that fronte4 them
I saw the furnace ma. He had a
paint brush in one hand and was put.
ting a finishing coat of green to a
window box. On his spare arm nestled
"a emaciated little child. Her thin
arms were about her daddy's neck,
md the tired head lay back upon his