Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1912-03-07
How h Stack
Was
Strengthened
A Story of a Mechanical
Genius
By SAMUEL G. MONTFoRD

vocation" This is an old adage which
In these times, when life seems too
short to learn a profession before mid
die age, the saying should be, Happy
the boy in whom some especial gift
shows itself that a be later on turn
ed to success" -@sS''4~
Tom Swartout, a farmers son, seem
ed to his 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 it 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 Il fixed position without the
slightest visible motion of its wings.
Under the circumstances life was
intolerable 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 disapprobation 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 hardsilips 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 q whole building. There
| was something in the regular and on-
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 machifery
on the farm moved by hand power,
but nothing driven by heat. While he
was looking the engineer, a 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 sbovelful.
"Ill do that for you," said Tom.
The man looked ut him, then, taking
a ten cent piece from his pocket, said;
II wish yon would"
Tom put in the coal, then asked the
engineer all about the e%ngine-the prin-
ciples on which it worked, what the
piston accomplished, why the fywheel
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 I'M
derstood the explanations. Then Tom
told him that he had left home, had
no means of a livelihood and asked If
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 Tom
that he could stay at a salary of 81 a
week. The boy was beside himself
with joy.
One day a wooden post that was a
part of one Of the machines in the
building and that was intended to
turn on a pivot like a rudder post be-
gan to open in assures as 1t turned.
Every time 1t turned the assures grew
larger, and it was evident the post
would soon be twisted in two. Some
work that had been promised the next
morning was dependent on the ma
chine. and there was no time to put In
a new post. Tom stood beside the fore
man, who was looking at the post not
knowing what to do.
"Get some wedges" said the coal
HEAVIER, land every time the assures
open fill them up"
The foreman turned to the begrimed
boy in establishment. Then the wedges
were brought, driven in and the post
was again rigid.
The incident advanced Tom many
pegs in the opinion Of his employers,
and they tried him In various places
where good work was needed, but he
failed In them all. He had no apti-
tude for work that did not interest
him. 1t was drudgery, and he had not
been made for Jrudgery any more In a
factory than on a farm. There seem
ed nothing that he could do but assist
the engineer, who was a sickly man
and often was obliged to absent him
self from his duties. SO Tom was sent
back to the engine room and made as
sistant engineer. At this work he
seemed to get on better than at any
thing else, for he loved the machine
that could keep the mills supplied with
power all day-and all night, for that
matter-without getting tired. In its
own field, though senseless iron, 1t was
better than a man. The man con-
sumes different kinds of food: coal
alone would feed the engine. The
man must stop for sleep and rest: the
engine need never stop.
Several years passed during which
Tom got nc further up in the ladder
Of success than assistant engineer.
There was a vague idea among his fell
lows and his employers that he was
born for success, but there was a
screw loose somewhere In his bodily
mechanism. One day when he was a
grown man his opportunity came, and
the only person unconscious OF its ar