Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-01-13

in these times, when life seems too
short to learn profession before mid
die age, the saying should be. Happy
the boy in whom some especial gift
shows itself that can be later on turn
ed to success"
Tom Swartout, a farmers son, seem
ed to bis father to be worthless be-
cause, as the older man said, he was
too lazy to eat And there was rea-
son for the imputation. Tom detested
farm work. The hoe handle would
never stick to his hands, or If 1t did
he would constantly be stopping In his
work to look up In the sky at some
bird soaring above and wonder how
it kept a fixed position without the
slightest visible motion Of its wings.
Under the circumstances life was
tntolerable to Tom and his parents.
No one can blame fathers and mothers
whose children seem to be useless for
showing their disappointment. Tom
knew that he was a disappointment,
and one night after an expression of
his fathers disapprobat1on he resolved
to leave home and go somewhere else.
In the morning, long before dawn and
before any one was stirring on the
farm, he got out Of bed, dressed him
self and started down the road he
knew not whittier.
Then followed hardships that might
have been expected A week after his
departure he stopped at an open door
Of a factory to look in at an engine
that was moving machinery distribut-
ed through whole building. There
was something In the regular and con-
tinued stroke Of the piston, the steady
revolution Of the fywheel, that fas-
cinated the boy. He wondered what
kept it going. He had seen machinery
on the farm moved by hand power,
but nothing driven by heat. While he
was looking the engineer, pale man,
who was evidently suffering from some
disease. began to shovel coal into the
furnace. The work was evidently hard
on him, and he stopped to rest between
every shoyelful
"I'n do that for you" said Tom.
The man looked at him, then, taking
ten cent piece from his pocket, said:
81 wish you would"
Tom put in the coal, then asked the
engineer all about the engine-the prin-
ciples on which it worked, what the
piston accomplished, why the flywheel
was there, how uniform motion was
achieved and a lot Of other questions.
The man answered his questions and
was surprised at how quickly he un-
derstood the explanations. Then Tom
told him that he had left home, had
no means Of livelihood and asked II
he might not shovel coal and do odd
jobs about the engine room.
The engineer went into the office
and when he came back told Ton
that he could stay at salary Of 81
week. The boy was beside himself
with Joy.
One day a wooden post that was {
part Of one of the machines in thu
building and that was intended tt
turn on a pivot like a rudder post be
gan to open in assures as it turned
Every time 1t turned the assures grew
larger. and 1t was evident the pos
would soon be twisted in two. Some
work that had been promised the mex
morning was dependent on the ma
chine, and there was no time to put IL
new post. Tom stood beside the fore
man. who was looking at the post no
knowing what to do.
"Get some wedges" said the Goa
HEAVIER, land every time the fissure
open fill them up"
The foreman turned to the begrimet
boy in establishment Then the wedge
were brought, driven in aud the pos
was again rigid.
The incident advanced Tom man!
pegs in the opinion Of his employers
and they tried him in various place
where good work was needed, but h.
failed In them all. He had no apti
tude for work that did not interes
him. 1t was drudgery, and he had no
been made for drudgery any more in
factory than on a farm. There seem
ed nothing that he could do but assis
the engineer, who was a sickly MAJ
and often was obliged to absent him
self from his duties So Tom was sen
back to the engine room and made as
sistant engineer. At this work b
seemed to get on better than at any
thing else, for he loved the machin
{ that could keep the mills supplied wit
power all day-and all night, for tina
matter-without getting tired. In it
own field, though senseless iron, 1t wa
! better than a man. The man cor
sumes different kinds Of food: Coz
alone would feed the engine. Tn
man must stop for sleep and rest; tn
s engine need never stop.
Several years passed during whic
Tom got no further up in the ladde
q of success than assistant enginee
d There was a vague idea among his fe
lows and his employers that he wa
born for success, but there was
J. screw loose somewhere in his bodil
: mechanism. One day when he was
grown man his opportunity came. an
the only person unconscious of its a
a rival was Tom himself.
He made the discovery that tt
smokestack, huge brick, hollow, roun
= tower set on q square base and
J. hundred feet high, had lost its origin
perpendicular position, veer1ng at