Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-07-30
BOB OF THE FURNACE.

toned withal There was nothing Of
the long and lanky about Bob. We in
the office were wont to say that the
King had lost fine lifeguardsman when
Bob became a furnace hand
1t was a treat to watch him at ms
work his sinewy frame made him so
completely master of hiss 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 upon the walls, the
tongues of clear fame that leapt up
from the underground fires, and the
grim form of the half naked giant, as
this 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 splut-
tering erucible was lifted out of its
famelined crave. For one moment the
man would balance it on the iron floor.
Then with a dizziness which none of his
mates could initiate, the long tongs
would be brought to the horizontal. a.ld
square mold with the color and lap of
new milk poured into churn
There came day when a greater fear
of Bob fell upon his mates. No one knew
rightly the ms and outs of the quarrel
There was a clamor of fierce voices by
the furnace door, Bob's raueous tones
high above the rest, followed by the
sickening thud of human head in dead
ly contact with the iron cistern Then
some one shouted for the ambulance,
while Bob himself was escorted from the
works with three stalwart policemen in
close attendance. A merciful coroner'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 its place. Moreover, he went to the
cistern to fling water upon the shoulder,
ing saeking with which the furnace
men protected their legs from the heat)
he looked another way and-shuddered.
1t was about a fortnight after the in
quest that / came into personal touch
with Bob. I had Just locked up the safes
and was about to depart when who
should come into the counting house but
the giant himself
Mr.. Benedict" he said and his voice
was shaky, Il want yer to be so kind
as to do summaS for me-" Then sud-
denly his voice trailed off into indis-
tinctness, his huge frame shook like a
leaf, and before / could ask a question
the man had flung his arms over the
desk and was sobbing with the unfeigned
grief of little child
Il want to ak yer" he said, as he
became calmer, "to take five shillings to
Mrs. Jenkins" (Jenkins was the name of
the man who was killed in the quarreD,
.'and tell 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.
The commission was duly fulfilled and
one day l was able to bring Bob some
consolation. Il hear" the widow had
said to me on my last visit, that Bob
Jones is terribly cut up about the-iob:
but l bear him no ill-wlll, for / know it
were Just a accident" and then she
added, with the characteristic resigna-
tion of her class. whats done nun be
put up wi" l told this to Bob and
though he said nothing his face visibly
cleared. That very evening he burst into
the widows cottage 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
60 for TO do it, | udn't hurt 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 wav
did Bob of the Furnace try to make
amends and Bob, ladies and gentlemen,
had 35 shillings a week.
1t was quite by accident that came
to know anything of Bobs home life. II
was rumored that the cuckoo could be
heard in the Belle eopse. and that there
the bluebells grew thick; so one even
ing toward the end of May bent my
steps in that direction. About mile
beyond the smoke of the town ven.
turesome builder had flung up row of
red brick cottages. In the narrow garden
that fronted one of them / saw the fur
mace man. He had a paint brush in one
hand and was putting a FINISHING coat
of green to window box On his spare
arm nestled an emaciated little child
Her thin arms We're about her daddv's
neck. and the tired head Law back unon
N
live" he explained to me. 'beeos q, =,
little 'un; she were nobbut sickly !, Won
town, but she's pulling round. and Mi he
reight well when t summer comes ,, And
! shall never forget with what pride he
held out the crooked little BODY toward
me, nor the lovelight that transformed
the hard face as he said: Now. isp4 She
a bonnie, bonnie BARN" Somehow one
felt that in the rough furnaee-ma the
world had lost a saint.
With the summer came the news that
Bob of the furnace had lost his Ettie
lass and gone to the bad again. For q
full month he was absent from his wort
and only when word was sent that l;s
place was about to be filed did no re-
turn. With his return came also 70.
turn OF the old temper the snarI raan.
peared, and it came to be said that