Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1911-01-14
AFTER You,Sir
BY F. TOWNSEND SMITH
Copyright. 1870 by American Press
Association

thoroughfare. smoking. largely for the
purpose Of killing time. was accosted
by gentemanly. we'll dressed man
who dotted his hat before speaking to
me
Il beg pardon. SIR" be said. but
could you spare me little of your
timer
"For what purpose. sir?''
That is not easy to explain on the
street. If you will step inside l will
show you rather than tell you"
Inside whereY
Right here"
He pointed to an open door. and
could see staircase. The building
seemed to be unused.
There are people who seem to have
a power to make other people obey
them, not by force. not always by in
sistence. In this case the man was so
gentlemanly In his request that l did
not like to refuse him. At any rate,
before l realized what l was doing
had gone to the upper floor of an unoc-
cupied building with a person who had
accosted me on the street and asked
me to go with him. for what purpose
he had not explained. This seems to
me now absurd on the face of it. and
at the time | knew that | should do
no such thing. but couldn't help it,
He took me into a room on the sec
ond floor. In its center was what
looked to me to be hot air furnace.
only it was neither round nor square,
but oblong He closed the door be-
hind us. and | heard a click. | didn't
like it. for it sounded as though it
came from a lock that closed auto
matically. | 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 off apparently for an
office where there were chairs. and in
vited me to be seated.
do you see that ovenY' he said.
well that has cost me a great deal
OF labor Perhaps you think it is a
crematory. but 1t is not. 1t is an oven
for baking bread. A hundred loaves
can be baked at once and In three min
utes. That's 1000 loaves an hour, and
by working day and night three reliefs
we have $4,000 loaves a day. Six work
ing days give us 10000 loaves a week.
Fifty-two weeks produce S,736,00O
loaves a year.
$50 much for what my oven will do.
Now for my object. 1t is to feed the
world You see. my single oven is not
large Suppose there are ten Of them
in this building alone. That gives
S7.3600O0 loaves a year, only about
100000 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 fee
bit uncertain about the gentleman's
upper story SO said to him. rising:
you'll have to excuse me, sir. 1t il
not possible for me to remain any
longer"
"But you have not examined my in
vention. Besides. | told you l wanted
you for a purpose"
What purposeT
Come: | will show you"
He led me to the oven. He seemed
so harmless that l followed him. Il
threw open the door. displaying mum
Der of iron shelves: | was somewha
relieved that there was no heat in tn
oven.
my arrangement for heat Is b.
J chemical process. There are many sub
stances that produce heat in combinin
/ chemically. Why should we burn coal
l turn this cock and my substances ru
together. In short time l shall hav
my oven quite hot enough to do m
baking"
81 wouldn't turn 1t on If 1 wer
you" 1 remarked. "since you have n
bread ready for baking"
!. 81 have something else. My desir
is to bake a human being"
This was getting warm, as the chi
dren say when hunting for things
\ games. And. as the strange gentlema
3 looked at me. indicating that | wa
the human being he proposed to bak
n felt not only warm, but a cold pc
81 spiration stood out on me, especial
4 when be drew long sharp knife wit
z which to enforce his demands. | kne
n had to deal with a lunatic and kel
e my head.
Z 81 shall be happy" l said, ito hay
Is you bake me. On which shelf am
take positionY
= "Step in and 1 will show you"
z After you" 1 said deferentiall
81 bowling and raising my hat.
He stepped into the furnace. l clos'
The door with a bang. and the big ire
= latch fell into position. Then Il
room swan. and fell on the floor. B
I did not remain there long. Fearf
that the lunatic might smother. / II
to the door of the room. found 1t lock-
and could not open il. l tried wi