Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-06-03
A BIT Of aoth Century Routine.
PROVIDING LIGHT FOR THE CITY ON A
CLOUDY DAY.

At q O'Clock on the afternoon Of .
March day . young man peereo across
New York harbor from tho ridge OF
power. house roof. his hard, weather.
bitten eyes roved ceaselessly across the
corrugated horizon. Small wind'riven
clouds thrust constantly up from the
southwest, and were ~ constantly bur
ried across the city BY the weight OF .
gale that had been blowing since morn
Ing. These he marked casually till
thew merged In the blur Of gray smoke
that was whipping viciously from the
throats of the great stacks around him.
Suddenly black cloud thrust . rag.
ged rim over the tail of Staten Island,
20 miles away. Mounting rapidly, 1t
hurried into the vision Of the weather
bitten eyes that caught it, approach ere
the on. coming shadow had fallen on the
wrinkled surface of the bay. Simulta-
neously the lookout raced to telephone
booth that chung to the roof ridge. His
lips bad hardly left the transmitter be-
fore the smoke increased In volume, and
tier on tier of boilers flung out vast e1ha-
lations of gas and vapor as though clear
ing their gigantic lungs for . coming
battle.
The lookout, again ct his post, noted
the swift advance of midday gloom.
Again and again be reached for the tele-
phone. At his first message another
young man, with long chin and hawk
like face, who received It impassively
had stretched out lean, nervous hand
and pressed two buttons. A hundred
feet below, in the chiaroscuro of the
boiler house, number sprang into light.
The system operator had demanded that
number of boilers for instant use. Two
stokers raced down the concrete aisle
and depressed six levers. 10 three sec.
onds forced draught was doubled. In
IL more the sharp pop Of lifting safety
valves told their story.
But these IL seconds were very pre-
cious to the system operator. In adjoin
ing rooms, on either side, were two
great double curved switchboards
Through these was controlled and dis
tributed the power that vitalized every
invisible artery of the whole system
and like a master intelligence the sys
tenn operator held the switchboards II
the hollow of bis hand. Swifter thar
from brain to muscle sped his imperative
call. Along glittering, marble curves
men stood with eyes glued to dial
whose trembling needles pulsed with th'
myriad demands of millions OF invisible
clients. From beneath them stretched
viewless fllaments carrying the mystic
rious current, which In turn itself gov
erned the titanic engines that produced
it.
The turbines were lords of the engine
room. Half the weight and . quartz
the size of the vertical engines, they pro
Iluced five times the power. Theirs wa
he song of progress high note tina
rold of rim speed Of six miles
minute, and cut sharply into the lowe
pitch of the pluuging verticals. And !
was to the turbines that the switch
board spoke-for the black cloud wa
near Manhattan Island and there wa
peering across the bay and ascamper TO
shelter from Battery Park.
The deep shade stole swiftly north
ward, and Tapped the lower fringe o
the city. Instantly q thousand hand
stretched to q thousand switches, de
manding light. They got it. The mid
day darkness swept on. In five minute
lit engulfed the human hive, from Wal
Street to Madison Square, from the Hud
son to the East River. Millions of met
interrupted their labors only lonl
enough to turn on light. They all go
it. There was the triumph-they all go
it. In the power house the turbines
were successfully waking to life, thei
stupendous disks revolving more ant
more swiftly till at the exact moment o
speed and synchronism, they snored init
the laboring phalanx of mechanism
Behind them painted the verticals-"W'
are coming, Observation-Disclosures 81
fast, perhaps, but with our own recipro
cal certainty" higher crept the trem
bling needles-greater grew the load
sharply rose the faint line registering
the stupendous output-70, 900 emegenc!
horse power In five minutes.
"Do you want any more?" throbbeC
the power-house.
But New York was satisf1ed-satisfieC
with q superb casual indifference tina,
this was what 1t paid for.