Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-12
The Daily Story
At High Water Mark

The two centre piers of the great rail-
road bridge over the Goomtree River had
been finished, and there was much re-
muddy bed of tho stream n distance of 60
feet and they lowered almost as high
above the surface. 1t had taken thou
sands of tons of stone and thousands OF
bags of cement and hundreds of days
work to complete these piers. They had
had the labor of a thousand men and so
elephants, When they were finished holi-
day was given to all the workmen, and
the chief engineer gazed proudly at his
work and said:
"They are done at last Floods may
roll down-earthqualSes may topple down
forests-come what may, and my piers
will stand here when n thousand years
have passed away"
1T is so, Sahib-it Is So" answered the
voice of a thousand natives: and then
they cheered him and his work.
When thousand native Indian workmen
are employed together on one job there
are three or four castles. There are ma
sons, carpenters, elephant drivers, shovel
ers, boatmen and what not There is en-
nifty between tho castles: there Is jeal-
Ousy between the different trades; there
is chance every hour in the day for
general riot and the men must he under
strict discipline. The superintendent
word must be law from which there Is
no appeal. a culprit is not told to go
hence, because he has bound himself and
the company has bound Itself He Is
punished by fine, imprisonment or the
lash. Because of this custom this news
ran through camp one morning:
'At the hour of high noon today the
flag of punishment will be raised on the
staff, and Kim Nassik will be tied to the
1 WNFa So asal .lF
overseer warned him, and three times has
he muttered and cursed below his breath
and failed to amend his conduct. Kim
Nassik is lazy, and he has made Bun
dara, his elephant, the same. When both
driver and elephant are lazy the work
flags. One man and his beast can him
der a hundred others. II is right that
Kim Nassik should be we'll fiogged."
When the elephant driver. after several
warnings, had been sentenced to punish
ment he replied TO the superintendent:
"YOur words are true, Sahib, and i
would not have you take them back, l
have been lacking In diligence, and Bun
dara' has agreed with me, but we have a
reason. A few Sundays ago he got loose
and ran away to the jungle We hunted
for him for hours When we finally came
upon him he was talking with a wild ele-
phant. He came TO me at my bidding,
but that night, when all the camp was
asleep, he whispered In my ear that we
were fretting the river-that the waters
were growing and cOmplaining-that
some evil would surely fall upon us II we
damned them back For a million years
the GoomtTee has had free flow to the
sea. Could It be otherwise than that she
should be angry, and that some disaster
should befall us?"
How is It with the trees-wIth the
grass-with all else that man uses?"
asked the Official. "If the river is a mill
lion years old men have used her for a
million years. Thousands of boats and
RATS have foated down her current and
she has not complained. Men must travel,
and they must have bridges on which to
cross streams We have not damned the
current back. There Is plenty Of room
| for II 10 flow onward, 'Bundara' is big.
| strong beast but he is lazy. He has told
| you this story that he may have less
| work to do You shall have 20 lashes az
| the post before all the men, and Bun
daTa' shall also look on as warning TO
| tell no more lies"
| "As you Will, Sahib"
/ At noon the whipping took place, but
/ the punishment was not severe. IL was
| because of the moral effect that II was
| inflicted. Kim Nassiks elephant was
/ there, and he dropped his head and
| tears ran from his eyes, They said he
/ felt pity for his master and his con-
| science troubled him. To spare the feel
| ings OF man and beast the superintendent
gave them half a day Off the works-half
q day in which 10 repent and decide 70
/ do better In the future.
Al sundown all labor ceased and Il
was reported that Nassik and his beast
serious offenze- The elephant was gov