Forrest Crissey

“ To "get all worked up over nothing" was to betray an undignified weakness in the code of this capable, reticent woman.
When it came to the rise of ground near the house, progress was more difficult—but the goal was nearer!—and the pushing, straining trio fought the way, inch by inch, and held the ground gained by keeping the blocking tight against the barrel. Then, as the way grew still steeper, the tackle was brought from the field, more spikes driven into the barrel, and the leverage of the pulleys again applied. ”

“ Thomas, laying one hand on her husband's arm and pointing with the other at the boy sitting across the door of the tool-house, a pamphlet spread upon his knees and a stack of similar ones beside him.
"If he c'n just get his knees as high as his head and his nose in one o' them catalogues," continued Mrs. Thomas, "he doesn't know there's a wood-pile on earth—or chores either. Delia says they're all about printing-presses. Sometimes I wonder if it's a sign he's goin' t' be a scholar." ”

“ Then the tackle was rigged to the trunk of the old cottonwood at the edge of the field, the long "draw" of the rope affording a powerful leverage.
"You bring that old horse-blanket from the barn an' some pieces of stout rope," commanded the chief engineer.
"What you going to do with 'em?" inquired the sister.
"Make a kind of sling to fit 'round the far end of the stone, so's it 'll draw the stone even an' easy like. I thought that part of it out in the bed last night. Guess I didn't sleep very much. Men don't when they've got big things on their mind." ”

“ Finally, as the propelling power behind the hogshead came into view, the woman exclaimed:
"Gene Thomas! What in the world—"
"Barrel—hogshead," he tersely responded.
"Don't you know you most scared Dr. Yinney's horse into a runaway?"
"Nope; can't see over this. It's 'n awful job to roll that thing clear from town, ma."
"Sakes alive, child!" she responded.
"Folks along the road 'll think you're crazy."
"I ain't," the boy answered, with the first smile she had seen on his face since the moving of the big stone had been broached. "I've just got an idea. You wait an' see." ”

“ He had waited almost as long as he could remember for his father to "get through" with that watering-trough and discard it for one built at the lumber yard with planks and rods.
Anyhow, spring had come again, and even if he had to wait and work and wait a long time—perhaps until he was almost a man—before he had enough to send away for the printing-press, it was good to have spring here again and feel the strange movings which its return always stirred within him. ”

“ All of a sudden it came to me that if I could only get the big stone into that hogshead I could roll it all right. That seemed better than the pulley business."
"But the pulleys on the hay-fork ain't th' right kind," said Buck. "You want a reg'lar mover's block an' tackle. Ol' man Moseley's got one. Why don't you go over an' borrow it? Might take along a hatful of eggs, just to help. Then there's another thing I guess you hain't thought of. That's how you're goin' to get th' stone into th' barrel." ”

“ The next morning Buck, the hired man, came upon the boy sitting on an upturned pail in the wagon-shed, his fixed eyes staring at the wheel cultivator.
" 'Scuse me!" soberly remarked Buck. "Didn't mean to break in on th' cogitations of a civil engineer. It's a great thing, son, t' be a civil engineer. Takes a mighty smart man t' trot in that class. I seen one up t' Peory onct, an' he had freckles just like your'n. That feller made a river turn tail an' run up-hill! But say, boy, why don't you drill a hole in th' stone, put in a blast of powder, an' blow it up? ”

“ He ain't strained himself or dislocated any limbs from violent use of a buck-saw, has he?"
"But his heart's awfully in this," returned the mother. "An' terrible big disappointments aren't good for boys. Besides, Gene's more sensitive than some."
"I guess he'll bear up under the blow, mother," continued the farmer, and then added: "Who's said he shouldn't have a printin'-press? Fact is, I've given him a possible chance to earn one."
"A chance!" retorted Mrs. Thomas. ”

“ His half-trembling request for the tackle was good-naturedly received by "the moving-man," and the pulleys and ropes loaded into the democrat wagon. Once it was inside his own yard, the hired man stopped his work and volunteered.
"Now, boy, I'll rig it up right here and show how it works and how easy you can pull th' side right off a barn!"
"I see! I see what makes it pull s' strong," the lad exclaimed, as soon as its operation was demonstrated. There was a new light of courage in his eye as he took a spade on one shoulder and a shovel on the other and started for the stone. ”

“ A little later, in a voice somewhat muffled by the larger portion of a biscuit in his mouth, he asked, "Say, Buck, what makes 'em use pulleys like them on the hay-fork gear in the barn?"
"They use 'em so they can lift more—an' easier, of course," answered the hired man. ”

“ Can you pull a lot harder with one?"
"You bet you can! Now what's yer idee, sonny? Somethin' about that big stone?"
"Yes. Once I seen 'em movin' the ell of Widow Graves's old house up on to the street for a mil'nery shop for Miss Carboy, an' they used a lot of ropes and pulleys. It came to me when I looked at the mil'nery shop this afternoon. I thought I might use the pulleys on the hay-fork gear t' move th' stone with. But out back of Hudson's store I got my eye on that big hogshead. ”

“ The trough of the barrel was also padded with straw, and the upper end wedged securely into place with stones.
"It's goin' to be an awful pull t' start th' old stone goin', but I've dug a little dirt away so's t' make it pitch forward a little. We'd better eat dinner an' get in good trim before we try. If we can't budge it alone, maybe ma'll take hold th' tackle with us an' help. ”

“ He's read 'em till they're dog-eared. Dell says it's a regular craze with the boys, an' that they all have t' go through it sooner or later—leastways all that have any natural smartness. Blockheads, she says, don't care about printin'-presses, of course. ”