Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1910-08-17
AFTER ou,Sm''
By F. TOWNSEND SMITH
Copyright. 1910. by American Press
Association


who doffed his hat before speaking to
me.
Il beg pardon. SIR" he said. but
could you spare me little Of your
timer
For what purpose. sIr?"
THAT Is not easy to explain on the
street II yen will step inside I will
show you rather than tell you"
Inside where:'
Fright here"
He pointed to an open door. and ]
could see staircase The building
seemed to be unused
There are people who seem to have
L power to make other people obey
them. not by force. not always by in
sistence. In this case the man was so
gentlenanly In HIS request that I did
not Ike TO refuse him. At any rate
before ] realized what was doing I
had gone To the upper floor OF an uuoc-
cupied building with Il person who had
accnsted me on the street and asked
me To &c with him. for what purpose
he had not explained This seems to
me now absurd on the face OF II. and
nj the time knew that | should do
no such Thing. but couldn't help It.
He took me into n room on the sec
ond toor In Its center was what
looked to me 10 be a hot air furnace
only Ii was neither round nor square.
bun oblong He closed the door be-
hind us. and heard a click | didn't
like IL. for 1t sounded as though II
came from lock that closed auto
maticnily. | was about TO turn and
get out of the place. but my pride held
me. and waited TO be Informed fur
Their as TO this strange proceeding
The gentleman led me to a corner Of
the room rallied or apparently for an
office. where there We're chairs. and in
vited me TO be seated.
DO you see that ovenY' he said.
well. that has cost me great deal
or labor. Perhaps you think IL Is n
crematory. but II is not 1t Is an oven
FOR baking bread. A hundred Ioaves
can be baked at once and In three min
utes. That's 1000 loaves an hour, and
by working day and night three reilefs
we have $4,000 lonves n day. SIX work
ins days give us 10000 loaves u week.
Fffty-twO weeks produce S.136.OOO
loaves year.
SO much for what my oven will do
Now for my object. II IL TO feed the
world You see. my single oven Is not
large. Suppose there are ten OF their
In this building alone. That gives
81 .3G0. 900 loaves a year. only about
4.OO0000 miles less than the distance
OF the earth from the sun"
Since / could see no relationship be
tween loaves OF bread and the earth's
distance from the sun | began TO feel
bit uncertain about the gentleman's
upper story So said TO him. rising:
you'll have TO excuse me, sir. II is
not possible for me to remain any
longer"
But you have not examined my in
vention. Besides. l told you wanted
you for purpose"
What purpOse?"
Come: | will show you"
He led me TO the oven. He seemed
so harmless thar | followed him. He
threw open the door. displaying mum
Der OF iron shelves: | was somewhat
relieved that there was no heat In the
oven
MY arrangement for heat Is by
chemical process. There are many sub
stances that produce heat In combining |
chemically. Why should we burn coal: J
turn this cock and my substances run !
together In 4 short time shall have
my oven quite hot enough to do my |
baking"
Il wouldn't turn it on II were
you" | remarked. since you have No
bread ready for baking"
81 have something else. My desire
Is TO bake q human being"
This WAS getting warm. as the chill |
dren say when bunting for things In |
games. And. as the strange gentleman |
looked at me. indicating that | was |
the human being h" proposed 10 bake. |
l felt not only warm. but cold per
SEPARATION stood out On me- especially |
when he drew Il long sharp knife with |
which TO enforce his demands knew
| had 10 deal with n lunatic. and kept /
my head
81 shall be happy" | said. ito have
you bake me. On which shelf am ! to
take position?''
step IN and | Will show you"
After you" ! said deferentially.
bowling and raising my hat.
He stepped into the furnace. closed
the door with bang. and tie big iron
latch fell into position. Then the
roomswam. and fell on the floor. But
l did not remain there long. Fearful
that the lunatic might smother. l ran
to the door of the room. found II locked