The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-03-31
CHAPTER IV-Continued.

B
But Meade was out of the house. 1t |
was summer and the sun had set, but |
the long twilight of the high latitude |
still fingered. Before him rose the 81 |
gantic structure of the bridge. For all |
its airiness it looked as substantial as |
the Rock of Gibraltar, and it looked
even more substantial if possible, as
the man, Selling a lantern and, for
getting his weakness, ran down be-
meath the overarching steel to the pier
head, climbed up to the shoe, and
crawled out on the lower chord as rap
Ally as he could.
eade needed but one glance to see
IL defection from the right line In
III Rimportant member. For all his
~ &rs of inexperience he was better
trained engineer than rOugh-and-ready
Abbott. What appeared to the latter
as q slight detection, Meade saw In Its
true relation. There was variation
In the center OF the member of an
inch and a half at least, although un-
noticeable to an unframed eye. 1t had
all come In the last week. They had
extended the suspended span far out
beyond the edge Of the cantilever and,
with the heavy traveller at the end,
the downward pressure on the great
lower chord members had greatly in
creased.
1t was a terribly heavy bridge at
best. 1t had to be to sustain so long
span, the longest In the world. And
the load, continuous and increasing,
had brought about this, to the layman
trifiing, to the engineer mighty, bend. II
it bent that way under that much of
load. what would it do when the whole
great span was completed and 1t had
to carry its transitory loads of traffic
beside?
When two different views meet 1t is
natural that age, experience. reputa-
lion and authority shall carry the day.
ALTHOUGH Bertram Meade, Jr, had
never been persuaded in all particu-
lars of the soundness of his fathers
design, and could not be persuaded,
that vast experience, that great repu-
tation, that undoubted ability with its
long record of brilliant achievement
had at last silenced him. He had &C
cepted through loyalty that which he
could not accept In argument. Once
accepted, he acted accordingly, heart
fly seconding and carrying out the
wishes of the older and, as the world
would say, the abler man.
The thing that sm0te the engineer
hardest was that this weakness was
eyactIy what he had foreseen and
nointed out. It was the possibility OF
+ha inability of this great member to
carry the stress that young Meade had
deduced by using the formula OF
schmidt Chemnitz. 1t was this point
and this point particularly, that he
had dwelt upon with his father ano
which they had argued to finish. Sc
strongly had he been impressed with
tho possible structural weakness Of
th,s member that he had put himsei1
on record In writing to his father. The
cid man had overborne him and now
+ha little curve, one and half to ont
srd fhree-ouarter inches In sixty feet
: established }he accuracy OF mis- un
n ieeded contention. Vainly now N
N<slshed mad not let the old habit O
saAaf nsrand the little touch Of aw'
witfS vdch he regarded his father per
shade him against his reason.
He stopped, feeling suddenly LII, q
verv nervous high-strung man ma.
feel under the sudden and unexpecte'
nhysical shock. He was weak SUI
from the tonsilitis. He leaned agains
+ha diagonal at the end OF C-lVN
clinging to it tightly to keep from Iail
Sac Abbott. who had followed NOR
slowly, stopped by him, somewhat SUI
crssed. somewhat amused, more inut
nant than both. -
.Abbott," said Meade fiercely as %
erecting engineer Joined him on %
njerhead. sff you put another pound
load ON that cantilever Will not
anSwerable for the consequences.
eWhat do you meanY -
ssrhat detection Is nearly two lncne
,aen now and every ounce or pound
added weight you put upon It VIII niah !
# greater. Its limit will De reacns
mighty soon. II it collapses
threw ND his hands--1the whole tnin
will CO. - $50
aasd Abbott, abut it won't" 80
~You're mad" said Meade, takll
UNFORTUNATELY the wrong course WI
the older man.
aWlly. boy, said Abbott, shat Dridl
r;,u stand as long as creation. Los
~ it. THAT buckle doesn't amour.
ANYTHING Il is only in one truss an