The Dermott news., 1917-08-16
". Engineering is in Meade's blood

lacy. Engineering Is in Meade'S blood. He is the fifth of his family to gradu- ate at Harvard and three of his for bears were engineers, his grandfather noted and his father world-famous. He fairly dolized his father. The affec- ton between them was delightful. The king could do no wrong. Meade was quick k-tempered and not very receptive to criticism, but he would take the se- yerest stricture from the old man with out a murmur."
 Here we have" said the woman, who had listened with strained atten- ton, "an early devotion to a person and an unbounded respect for his at taInments. Go on."
 ''The next point is Meade was in- ordinately proud of his family reputa- l field. Of the two of the line who were not engineers, one was a soldier and i distinguished one, but his career had i little interest for Meade. I have heard him say that there had been steady, i upward movement in his family. that i ] ther He hoped to be n good. useful engineer. but he never dreamed of go- l ing any higher or even approaching 1 the altitude of the other man."
 Tt was sort of fetish with him. then. wasn't it?i asked the woman as i Rodney stopped again.
 You have hit it exactly. His love l for the man, his admiration for the engineer. which sometimes blinded him. and his pride in his fathers career as typifying his family, was un- i bounded"
 You have established a motive for any sacrifice; love, respect, prider'
 That's the way it presents itself to me. Miss Illingworth. I know thor oughly the quixotic, impulsiye. self sacrificing nature of the man. l know that he would have done anything on earth to save his father. even nj the sacrifice of his own career, and since have seen you l can realize how pow erful these motives must have been
 Rodney said this quite simply, as if it were Il matter of course. rather than q compliment. and hluntly as he might have said IL to q friend and comrade. and Helen Illiugworth understood and was grateful.
 "It has been n grief 10 me that weighed so little in comparison" she said simply.
 II shouldn't put 1t that way exact l ,,lf see even if it could be shown that il was the old mans fault entirely the young one would still have to share some of the blame"
 You mean he should have foreseen it and pointed 1t outf"
 II think he did. but if he did fore see 1t and point 1t out, he should not have allowed the older man to overawe him or force him te accept what he be- lieved to be structurally unsound. don't know whether he reasoned 1t out. I don't think he had time to argue the case. the shock was SD swift and sud den. but as soon as did see the situ- ation he discovered that you were lost anyway, except of the charity of your affection. which he could not accept, and that he could save his father. This may all be the widest speculation, but this Is the way 1t presents itself to me"
 And to me" said Helen. but before We go any further, let me say l should rather be his wife than enjoy any other fortune"
 That Is the kind of affection his qualities merit and would evoke in the mind of discerning woman"
 "Thank you. Will you go on, now?
 "of course you know that what We have said Is not evidence. IL is all as- sumption. perhaps presumption"
 Its as true as gospel, said the girl earnestly.
 ITO you and to me. yes. We'll" he continued, "I remember that Meade and were talking just before he went to Burma three years ago about a new book by German named Schmidt ChemnItz. in which certain methods of calculations were proposed for the de sign of lacings. You know 1t was the laeings of one of the compression members of the cantilever that gave way"
 Well Meade and I got into hot dis. cussion over some of Schmidt-Chem- nitz's formulas. maintained that they were wrong. He took the opposite view. He was right. He was so in- terested in the matter that after We separated he wrote me q letter about | it. adding some new arguments to re. enforce hls contention. The other day I made careful search among my pa. pers and by happy chance found the letter. I was half-convinced by his reasoning then, although the matter was dropped. am altogether con- vinced now. His argument is very clear. 1 have examined since then the plan and sketches for that bridge. The calculations did not agree with those of Schmidt -Chemnitz. His methods were not used. Meade could not have