Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-08-11

and 80 much stonA Now say II - I told
you"
And chaiionsr repeated FOR him. So
many barrels Of cement. 80 many barrels Of
sand and 30 much stone. But when he
was again alone, he said half aloud;--
80. that's all there IL to the concrete
business o.
Cnalloner little knew.
The very first day that he watched the
mixing process he discovered that the
mixer had put in too much rock and too
much sand--and too little cement.
Look here" cried Challoner, you've
made mistakel Two more barrels OF
cement go in there-do you understand"
But the mixer merely grinned.
Two more barrels Of cement. told you,"
persisted Challoner. The head superin-
! tendent had given him his instructions. and
Challoner meant to see that they were
properly carried out
Another grin from the mixer was all the
satisfaction that he received. Instantly.
| Challoner leaped up on the platform ana
| stood over the mixer At that, the man
waved his arm his signal brought not the
| head superintendent. but the general fore
| man Of the work. who demanded grufhy:-
| whats the trouble here?''
Challoner explained In few words.
You blamed idiot I" burst out the raging
| foreman. you leave the man alone DO
| you think that he don't know how to mix
| concrete? Leave him alone, I say!'
| But Challoner, now, was not man to
| be so easily turned from his orders: and
| again he insisted:
1.-TWO more barrels OF cement, told
| YOU"
| And he kept on insisting SO strenuousy.
that little knot Of laborers gathered
around them TO await the result Finally
| the foreman that the head super.n-
tendent was coming toward them from far
down the street.
"All right, then" he conceded reluct-
antly. make It two more barrels OF
| cement"
But that same afternoon the foreman
| singled Challoner out and paid him. Then
he lunged out. and striking Challoner on
the shoulder lightly. he exclaimed:--
"There, you internal jackass! You're
discharged %
Discharged" :" The exclamation fell from
his lips before Challoner could check It;
and Notwithstanding his great dlsappoint-
mont he made no further comment but
turned on his heel and left The next day
however. no brought his case before the
head superintendent, who said -
IF Perkins discharged you, l can't hell
, It, l won't Interfere"
| "But what was | discharged forT'
"Oh, come now'' cried the superintend
ent 'you must know that you were dis
charged for stealing cement"
Stunned for n moment. Challoner salt
| not n word Then SLOWLY ne Degan 10 u1
derstand. Craft Yes. that was the solu
; ton of the matter. Cement was wort
: money in any market; and in the concret
business, nobody could tell--until 1t wa
| too late--just how many barrels wen
5 into the mixture with bricks--there wa
! no doubt about bricks. brick was goo
or bad you could tell that by trowe
{ But concrete was bound to be probler
n henceforth TO the end of time.
i, SO II turned out that Challoner was dis
d charged for doing the thing the forema
o was guilty Of doing. At the time he ha
!. little thought of resentment II Is true ths
a, he might have 'peached" on the forema,
, complained to the head superintendent an
: | got them to test the walls with testin
= | hammer But It was too late; besides.
: knew now that the head superintendent Wa
. tarred with the same stick,
: Copyright. by Dodd. Meade Coz
I CONTINUED MONDAY