New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-19
The Man in the Gun Pit

I and seen the darkness surrounded by end
| less sections of iron, studded with bolts
and nuts, above which was the opening
which led to air and light; and down there
in the half-light | saw the hole leading to
unknown regions Of mystery and gloom IN
which the gas furnace lived; and as
| leaned down close to the foul slurry TO
| look in he told me Of the man overcome
! by the fumes while mending leakage, and
how the others had dragged him out and
laid him in that same slurry, into which he
rapidly began to sink, and how it was left
| for Him to realize that at whatever cost
| this other man must reach the air above.
There beside me was the spiral staircase
I'D which he had staggered, round and
round and round, with that weight on his
shoulder. till air and life were reached.
! And always what / have seen is more
than a place or a man; it is the spirit and
the life of both living in the one as much
as in the other.
WET once again came time OF action
Il and revelation. 1t was the time OF
the gun dipping, and the stiffness of com
pleted preparation had come upon the
place. The shadowy sense Of foreooding
before the coming event added to the mys-
terry and gloom already conveyed by the
half-light glittering through the slit walls.
A man here and there slouched against the
dormant tubes, or sauntered aimlessly-
waiting.
During this time he, too, stood about, or
sauntered until the time should be ripe.
Not a man looked toward the one spot Of
life which formed the centre and con-
seriousness of the group, but each was
aware of it as a part of himself.
The great furnace which had hitherto
been but one of a group of furnaces had
sprung into prominence; bursts of fame
pushed from it in intermittent puffs, and
it seemed surcharged with life which it
could not much longer contain. In their
wanderings the men, though with apparent
unconcern, made it the centre of their orbit.
At last he made his decision, gave
shout, and they all sprang into life and ac-
ton. The crane driver lowered the crab.
until, with slow groanings, it almost dis
appeared into the furnace. The attach
ment depending from it settled itself firm
! " about the collar of the tube within the
/ furnace, and the moment had come.
A group of men vigorously wound a
winch and the doors began slowly to open
| The glare and throbbing heat threw all
else into an even greater shade, and the
great building became still more like
cavern in the dim recesses of which some
secret rite was taking place.
A ND now into the circle of light thrown
~ from those doors he comes, his eyes
shielded by an arm and the whole Of his
body curved with intensity as he examines
the work of his hands. Again shout, and
this time the great tube slowly leaves its
glowing den and swings out alone into the
darkness.
At once it's fiery surface is faxed here
and there with black scale, as the cold air
takes effect on its heat, but the pulsatlng
life of the whole is untouched. 1t hangs
for moment quivering above the oil pit,
and then gradually begins the descent
With the first touch of the oil there is
cloud of steam and kissing, which increases
in volume till the fumes burst into flame,
and the final disappearance of the tube IS
in blaze of light. And now the only trace
of its existence is in the sullen boiling Of
the oil.
This, the contamination in the life Of the
gun pit, reached also summit in the reve-
lation of the man, its genius. In him was
the same intensity of glow, touched but
unextinguished by the incrustations Of the
outer air. No more than the gun itself
would he go down without the last burst
Of fame, nor leave a surface untroubled
by sullen boiling. That atmosphere OF
gloom and steam, mingled with the all-per-
vading smell of oil, held a sense of hidden
things uncovered; behind me, long time
. after had gained, the light and sunshine
Of the outer world, could hear the reso'
rant grooming of the crab.-H. F. R., in
The Athen@unt.