THE VISITING COMMITTEE AT BEECH HILL.
"I wish to protest----"
"Take your seat, Shoreham!" interposed the principal very sternly.
The last of the rebels obeyed, and did not appear to be at all angry or
indignant. Possibly he was about to protest in order to save
appearances. Most of the students smiled as they saw the young orator
deprived of his only chance to plead the cause to which he had been a
martyr for the last three days.
Captain Gildrock repeated the terms on which the prizes were to be
given, so that there should be no mistake in regard to them. The
ex-rebels listened, though the subject had little interest in the
competition, for they had ruled themselves out of it. Not the remotest
allusion was made to their misconduct.
"I have invited three gentlemen to spend a few days with me," continued
the principal. "One of them is an architect, another is a civil
engineer, and the third is a salesman in a hardware store in Boston.
They will form the committee to award the prizes for the best plans.
They will arrive this forenoon, and as soon as they come to a decision,
I shall inform you of the result."
The captain then instructed Mr. Darlingby to receive the plans and make
sure that there was no distinguishing mark on any of them except the
character on the envelope containing the name of the competitor. He was
to retain the envelopes and lock them up in the safe. As a further
precaution he was required to paste a piece of paper over the character
on the plans so that even this could not be seen by the committee.
The principal then left the schoolroom, declining even to see the rolls
of drawings. As soon as he had gone, sixteen plans were presented. This
was a greater number than the principal had expected. Mr. Darlingby
carried out the instructions given him, and sent the drawings to the
mansion house. The studies of the classes proceeded as usual during the
forenoon.
The three gentlemen who were expected appeared at dinner, and the
students regarded them with interest. In the afternoon they visited the
shops and inspected the tools and machinery. The first class were now at
work as carpenters, and the second as machinists.
"As soon as we have decided on the plans, all the students will be
carpenters for a time," said Captain Gildrock, who explained his plans
with considerable enthusiasm to the visitors. "I intend that the
students shall do almost all the work of building the new boat-house,
though I shall have laborers enough to do the lifting and digging."
"You have excellent tools and machinery in every department," suggested
Mr. Plint, the architect.
"Good tools do a great deal towards making good workmen," replied the
principal. "Every student has been instructed how to keep his tools in
good order. Of course there is a difference in them so far as skill is
concerned, but everyone can grind a chisel or plane-iron."
"One of the boys invented a piece of apparatus by which any desired
bevel can be given to a tool at the grindstone," interposed Mr. Jepson,
as he exhibited the machine to the visitors.
It was simply an iron plate, taken from a useless invention, and set at
the edge of the stone. It could be adjusted at any angle for a long or
a short bevel. Some of the work done with it was shown, and the guests
said it was as true as could be done by the manufacturers. On a bench
near the grindstone, which was turned by steam, were oil-stones of two
kinds, one rather coarse and the other fine. Lew Shoreham was putting a
chisel in order at one of them.
"That is the inventor of the grinding apparatus," said Mr. Jepson.
Shoreham was a lion for the time, and the visitors were introduced to
him. He was highly commended for his inventive power. When he had
finished whetting the chisel, Mr. Plint examined it, and declared that
it was sharp enough to shave with.
Thus far about all the work done by the students had been in fitting up
the shops, though each one had made a dressing-case for his room. In the
middle and at each end of the carpenters' shop was a case containing
forty-nine small drawers, which had been made by Corny Minkfield, Steve
Baxter and Ned Bellows, who were reckoned the best workmen in the second
class. They were natural mechanics, though they were rather low in
scholarship.
"But do they like to work?" asked Mr. Bridges, the civil engineer.
"They would work here from the time they get out of bed in the morning
till dark if we would let them," replied Mr. Brookbine. "I don't know
that they are particularly fond of the hard work of sawing and planing,
though we do most of it by machinery. But in every job there is a great
deal of variety; and this makes even the hard work easy. The boys are
all the time studying out how to do it, and this affords them a sort of
excitement which amounts to fascination."
"What are those trap-doors at the end of each bench?" asked Mr. Ritchie,
the salesman.
"Those are a device of one of the boys," replied the master carpenter.
"Captain Gildrock rightly insists that the shops shall be kept as neat
as the parlor in the house. Formerly the shavings had to be taken up and
put into barrels, which were conveyed to the engine-room, under the
machine shop."
Mr. Brookbine pulled a small cord under the bench, which opened one of
the trap-doors. Slipping the cord into a slot, a knot held the cover in
place. Each student was provided with a long and a short handled dust
brush, which were hung up at each end of the bench. He was required
frequently to sweep his chips and shavings down the trap.
"Phil Gawner is the author of this device. He has also projected a
wooden railroad, by which the shavings can be received into cars under
the traps, and conveyed to the furnace-room. The boys are not mechanics
enough yet to build the cars; but probably it will be done one of these
days."
"What sort of a machine is that?" asked Mr. Flint, pointing to a piece
of apparatus that hung upon the wall.
It was a square piece of plank eighteen inches across, in which a
quarter of a circle had been cut out at one corner. In the middle of it
another square piece of plank had been fastened, and on each side of the
quarter circle were two wooden screws.
"That is an invention of Jim Alburgh. I call it an invention, though
others may have used the same thing, for it is original with this
student," replied Mr. Brookbine. "You see the frames containing the
printed regulations of the school. The boys made these frames. They had
a great deal of difficulty in holding the parts securely while they
nailed the corners. Jim devised this apparatus. The two parts, when
mitred, are screwed up in this thing, and held together as firmly as
though they had grown into the position."
Some pieces of plain turning were shown to the visitors, but not much
time had been devoted to the lathes. In this part of the shop were
observed the same tendency to "improve things," and the same skill in
remedying defects, inventing apparatus to secure facility or correctness
in the work. One fellow had devised a plan to prevent a band from
running off the speed-wheels; another had arranged a shelf to hold his
tools while he was at work; and a third had adjusted a marker on his
rest with which he could lay out the distances on his wood.
"The boys seem to be as much interested as though they were engaged in a
game of base ball," said Mr. Bridges.
"They would leave a game of base ball any time to work in the shops,"
replied Captain Gildrock. "Of course Mr. Brookbine and Mr. Jepson have
to adapt the work to the students, and see that there is variety enough
in it to keep their minds active. If they set them to sawing, planing,
filing or boring iron, simply to learn how to do these things, they
would soon get disgusted. They want to 'make something;' and while they
are doing so, they don't mind the strain on the bones and muscles. I
don't know how they will take to framing the new building, for that is
hard labor, and spruce timber is hard to work."
"With good tools in good order they will do very well; and building the
house is a big thing for boys to do," added the master carpenter. "By
the way, we have no framing tools."
"You are not a drummer, Mr. Ritchie, but I dare say you will take an
order when you return," added the principal, laughing.
"Always ready to sell goods," replied the salesman. "I have no samples
of the goods you want," added Mr. Ritchie.
"All our tools and machinery came from Wilkinson's, and I am willing to
buy without seeing a sample," continued Captain Gildrock.
The shipmaster had made the acquaintance of John Ritchie while
purchasing the tools and machinery for the school. He was a model
salesman, and the captain had taken a great fancy to him. He had invited
him to spend his vacation at Beech Hill, and as an excuse for paying his
travelling expenses, he had invited him to serve on the committee to
award the prizes.
"What tools do we need, Mr. Brookbine?" asked the principal. "I thought
you gave me lists of all that would be wanted."
"When I did so I had no idea that the boys would ever have occasion to
frame a building. The first things we want are a steel square and
compasses for each student, for I intend to have the boys lay out the
work as well as do it; that is, after the general plan for framing the
house is arranged. Everyone must learn to use the square and compass."
"Square and compasses," added the captain, laughing. "We use a compass
on board of a vessel."
"You are right, captain; the dividers are properly compasses, and they
ought always to be called so to distinguish them from the marine
instrument, but many carpenters use the word in the singular form. The
square and compasses, with a set of framing chisels and a few more heavy
mallets than we have, will be all the different articles we shall need."
Captain Gildrock gave the order at once, and Mr. Ritchie wrote it down.
After a survey of the schoolroom and the dormitory, the visitors were
taken to the lake. Bates pulled them over to the grove and they
carefully looked over the shores on both sides in preparation for the
examination of the plans. The next morning they engaged in their work
upon the plans submitted. The master carpenter and the master machinist
were added to the committee at the request of the visitors. The
following day was Saturday, and a grand excursion around Lake Champlain
was arranged for the guests.
After breakfast the students put on their steamer uniform, and took
their stations on board of the Sylph. The visitors were greatly amused
as well as delighted when they saw the students in their places on
board. The attentive scholar of the schoolroom, the inventor in the
workshops had become a cook, a waiter, a pilot, or a deck hand. Mr.
Plint insisted that it was all decidedly funny.
They looked with wonder at Oscar Chester at the wheel in the
pilot-house, where he had the helm alone. But he knew what he was about,
though Dory Dornwood, the first pilot, kept a close watch upon the
movements of the steam yacht. The dinner was not only elaborate but
excellent; and the visitors returned to Beech Hill deeply impressed by
what they had seen.
On Monday morning they were ready to report on the plans.