The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1917-03-24

hold up the earth with that strut. lou
didn't find out anything, did youf
Not a thing except some hair-line
cracks in the paint around the rivets.
You'll often find those where there's
a heavy load 10 take up. This BRUCE
will stand long after you and | ana
every man on it has quit work tor
good"
Now WilchingS was man of expert
encr and ability. and if Abbott had
needed any confirmation Of his opinion
this careless expression would nave
served. He did send him across the
river To examine the half-cOmpleteu
/ cantilever on the other bank, upon
which work had been suspended, await
| ing shipments If steel. WilchingS later
/ reported that II was all right. which
was what he expected. of course, ana
/ this also added To AbbOtt'S confidence.
! The day was IN unusually hard one.
\ great quantity of structural steel
that had been delayed and which had
/ threatened to hold up the work, arrived
/ that day and the chief Of construction
+ was buster than he had ever been. lie
was driving the men with furious
energy. Even under the best conditions
il would be well-nigh impossible 10
complete the bridge on time. Abbott
had pride in carrying out the contract
and the financial question was a con
siderable one Had il not been for
that. perhaps. he would have paid more
attention to Meade's appeal. So he
hurried on the work at top speed.
Late in the afternoon, without say
ing anything To WilchingS, who had re
Sumcd his regular work, or to anybody
in fact. Abbott went down To look a
the member again. He climbed dOwI
a hundred feet or more To make an
other examination at the expense %
much valuable time. for he had no
passed So busy day as that one sine
the bridge began. Everything was tx
actlv as il had been. Those hair-lin
cracks had troubled him a little deSpit
. Wilching's remark. He studied them
, second time. They We're just as the
had been. so far as he could tell, II
, larger, no more numerous. The lacing
: rang exactly the same under his ham
mer.
= He climbed back to the floor of tn
= bridge and spent the next half hour ii
= Specting the progress of the work. Tn
, suspended span had already bee
> pushed out far beyond the end of IN
{ cantilever. The work on the otht
\ side of tine river had been stopped. A
: soon as they got the suspended spa
/ halfway over they would transfer II
= workmen and finish the opposite cant
n lever. Abbott calculated that perhaI
: in another week they could get 1t OF
if he drove the men. He looked at h
q watch, grudgingly observing that
was almost five o'clock. The men we
:. nothing to Abbott. The bridge W;
f everything. That is not to say he W;
Y heartleSS, but the bridge and its ere
f ton were supreme in his mind.
n The material was arriving and ever
thing was going on with such swil
s and vigor that he would fain have Ike
s them mt work an hour or two long,
o The men themselves did not feel TN
IS way. Some of the employees of q
e higher grades had got the obsession
= the bridge. but to most of them it W
10 the thing they worked at. by viii
" they got their daily bread-nothi
e more.
IL Those who worked by the day we
n already laying aside their tools, a
ID preparing for their departure. HI