The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-01-14
The MeddLer
III iAs Gear ~, yss. ssf 10 on.

The remarkable stride that hayr .ssl
made within the past year IN the ia.
quest IL the air make u well within d.
realm u probability that during the tFrst
months nraitlehofo people viii b. slH5hi
.kyWaId IN rapt contemplation 81 a l.sss
ing airship-noi one 81 th0se myil5t
ships which are aid 10 Pass ~ the nj a.
nor YET a common drifting balloon hgI
rial aeroplan-, motor driven aud ,ahH.,
live in the matter al height. .Issl "a
direction 10 human will. The Mrildlrf hl,
| Ia no means reached that age which met
/ II. the adjective venerable and yet b. Hsa
remember wcll the excitement caused b
the hrst appearance m this toxin % I
.aieiy bicycle. And had the wondering
Populate u that occasion been told what
Was a. eume Ia the way of hofsslr>s tt-
/ hicles their ineTedulity would have hsyh
much greater than that which viii .fr,;
the lint sentence Of this paragraph Iva,
only 4 feN y-ar- ago that an AUTOMOBILE
on Main street would draw a bigger crowd
than a dog fight: nowadays /, would h.
difficult To- find a man. woman or child 10
the entire county who has not seen -1nt
kind 81 Z machine. while the average g.l,
lige youns.ter can tell by ear the van
ous types 81 motor and al glance iht
different makes. When ballOOning hF.i
became popular IN this section Of Ntg
England. year or more ago. newspapep
devoted columns 10 description Of even
flight but Il wasn't very long before
paragraph wa all that am ordinary ascen.
sion warranted. While the aeroplane !.
still ia it, experimental stage and the
prospect of Il. becoming factor in com.
mercial travel j. remote, machines OF the
heayier'than'air typ. are already being
manufactured and advertised for sale Ii
j. not unlikely that some OF the more dai.
ing Of our wealthy neighbors who have
summer homes in western Massachusetts
firing Of automobiles and balloons, viii
dabble in aerial navigation the coming
summer. and IL this does happen there !.
no reason to suppose that their itinerane.
will not include that portion Of the atmos
phere which lies above Brattleboro and Il.
suburbs.
Method no doubt underlies the apparen,
madness Of the nlan of the Boston and
Maine railroad for protecting the river
bank in the rear of Main street agaiu.,
the expected high water OF next sprin,
To one like The Meddler. however. who
has watched the progress of the wors
since its start. the time for making til
improvement seems ill-chosen and The
method inexplicable. When the first load.
of gravel were put on the river was %,
frozen and the filling had to be moye3
but once. II was not long. however. he
fore ice formed and as its thickness has IN,
creased so has the labor necessary to ee,
the gravel where il will do the most good
If il is going TO do any. The method in
vogue just at present may be described as
follows: First a trainload of gravel j.
iumped by the side of the track and such
portions OF il as contain any moisture are
allowed to freeze. Then the frozen por-
lions are pulverized and the entire mas
'hoveled halfway down the bank where il
: allowed to freeze again. After second
lulverization holes are cut in the ice at
he foot of the embankment and such of
he gravel as has not frozen third time
$ dumped into these holes. OF course
he gravel that has frozen while the cut.
ing of the holes was in progress has to be
third time and poured into
he holes provided they have not frozen
'ver during the time taken by the third
,ulverization process, and so on ad in,
initum. Thus il may be seen that the
work takes great deal more time than
would have been the case had it been done
asst summer. and The Meddler has found
10 one who knows of any advantage to be
aimed by doing it in the winter. But this
! meddling with something that is the
BOSTON and Maine peoples own particular
BUSINESS.