Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-08-11
The Red Mouse
A Story Of Love. Jealousy and Politics
BY WILLIAM HAMILTON OSBORNE

about the crowds that gathered around
them, for the process was new one.
People don't believe In It, don't think
1t will stand" he said, watching her closely.
On her face came the interested look that
he SO desired aud she asked:
viii 1t, Laurie?"
Like n rock he assured her
But Challoner was ignorant of the danger
then, for he had not rcckoned with the
human element IN the character Of construc-
ton All he knew was that he worked from |
morning until night at the cheapest OF all |
cheap, unskilled labor
After little while Miriam put out a |
thin hand and let II rest In his, saying
How much do they give you. dear?'
Not without a suggestion of pride in his |
voice the man answered: |
"A dollar and a half day"
A dollar and half day Surely
mere pittance; and yet the woman's face
| was radiant with joy
It was not long before Challoner found
| that his arms and back and shoulders were
! perceptibly cnlarginE. At first 1t was merely
| at his physical strength that he reJoiced
| but this, In turn soon made way Tor
| greater joy: he realized that his soul was
surging back into his body; he had driven
| II out, but IL would not stay away.
| From time to time Chaloner noted that
the tamping was developing him too much
| on one side with the long broom handle,
| the weight down at the end, his DOWNWARD
| stroke had been right-handcd one 80
| now he tried using force from the lett sioe
! And with that Challoner made n discovery!
After many experiments 1t had been
gradually borne In upon him that light but
incessant and vigorous tamping in one
spot was more effective than the heaVy
batLering strokes employed by the ltal ans.
The stuff was smooth and slippery when IL
first came in, and. consequently, all that
was necessary was something to induce the
stones to slip gently into solidity'
"If the tampers were only light enough
he argued to himself "a fellow could al
| most use two OF them. one in each hand
And so he tried It with the two tampers
that were on the work; but they proved
to be too heavy. Then, one night he made
a pair Of lighter ones and exper mented
with them. 1t was too much OF STRAIN
he could not handle them satisfactorily.
: Somehow the work needed the concentrated
effort of two arms.
I All one night he sat UP trying to figure 1t
out "And yet" he assured himself re-
8 peatedly, I'm on the right track" And SO
4 il proved For at four o'clock In the morn
Ing the idea came.
e 'Ive got ii :" he exclaimed, jumping to
his feet "a pump handel"
, A week later Challoner rigged up a
simple contrlvance depending upon strong
Ieverage-one that would do the work OF
a man much more easily.
I 'It will do the work of TWO" he told
9 himself
s But when Challoner had taken It to the
works, the authorities refused him per-
= | mission to use II.
! This here is a real Job. We haven't time
q to monkey with things like that! :" they told
I him with sneer.
| But Chaloner was not to be turned aside
so easily; and stu he persisted:
at will do the work of two"
Now 1t must not be supposed that Chal-
loner was of a particularly Inventive ma
r | ture not a bit of II. Simply he was a
o man of average intelligence working at a
d dollar and n half a day His intelligence,
4 however, was superior to that Of the men
= about him. Moreover his brain was inde-
8 pendently busy while his hands worked.
d So now he rugged himself up a small
q trial mold. bought some sand and cement
| and rock and demonstrated the supei PITY
u Of his pump-handle contrvance with its
e strong leverage it's regularity and its strong
T. steady beat beat beat, with two light
:, tampers upon adjacent spots. When they
a knocked off the mold these same anthnri-
a Tics found that Chaloner was right this
,, bit of concrete wall was as solid as IL II
. had been cut out Of smooth azo!c rock. Sc
- they called out:
e "All right, Challoner--try 1t on!"
/! Chalonor tried it on the big wall. II
worked like charm.
II At the pay window at the end Of the week
Challoner said:
IS 81 want two dollars and a half-two dol
ie lars and a half day now"
J. What for?" came from the voice inside
Challoner replied firmly:
10 because I've done the work OF more thar
two men" The next day he was paid at the
:, rate of two dollars n day.
III Now he was allowed TO have one of thu
g.. 4, ,t, ,t.I.,a
The week after that they laid off two men
Chaloner now was doing the work of threi
men In fact from that time he and hi
+. machine were made the pacemakers for thu
p" entire line of workmen.
The boss was jubilant,
:, Gee! | guess we'll get this job done oil
ie time after all !" he was heard to say. .'
thought for a while the old man was in To-
N a few fines sure"
IN Nobody else tried Challoner's device: no
le body else knew how to use It, In way
ID that was n satisfaction to him. 1t was
J. toy, something he had created to tighten hi
8. labors On the other hand, he found that Il
a his eagerness he labored three times as har,
n. as before besides he was even better at III
H. work than the Italians who knew IL. had be
or come accustomed to It and who were bette
Id fitted for It, And yet there was nothn
lg wonderful In this contrivance OF his. Blu
n Challoner was convinced that If, some time
re he could induce the boss to put II into con
Mt slant operation It would save that gentle
K man a great deal Of money. Nor did II eve
re enter Challoner's head to have It patented
to ItsAprinciple was that Of the lever and o
ID course, even II he had tried, he could no
d. have obtained a patent In no way wa
ke there a dollar In II.
lis "But" he told himself, "if ever go int
IN this concrete business shall Insist upon II
ly use AS a business" he went on, what ca
II be more profitable than concreteH 1t pre-
duces a wall as solid as a rock and as In
ne ',e destructible as brick. Bricklayers receiv
lib Ave and six dollars a day--and brick cost
~ money, But this sand, cement, stone an
no unskiiled labor Challoner coul
~ see millions in I'll
~ Meanwhile. he was useful at two and
half dollars day. As we have seen. the
~ had made him q pacemaker; now they de-
y. =. termined to put his brain to work for then
~, 70 II became his duty to direct the mixing gan
\. =. | nj his end Of the new store.
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