2 3 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



stones, road-bed, were all blackened, but all were smoothly swept. It 

 seemed as if some time before there had been a fire which had black- 

 ened every thing, and that some one had gone round afterward, and, 

 carefully gathering up and conveying away all the d&bris, had scru- 

 pulously swept the whole with brooms, leaving only the soot-stains 

 behind. 



Nothing of the sort had been done. Here was simply the result 

 of the storm that had a little while before swept the spot. "Usually, 

 the force of the explosion is so great that no d&bris can be left behind. 

 It is simply hurled out of existence. There are no broken boards or 

 pieces of shingle, or bits of wood, to be found. They vanish in an in- 

 stant. The ground itself has a singularly smoothed appearance, as if 

 beaten down and rounded off. 



There were few questions to be asked. On these occasions the 

 proprietors and workmen are reticent, and information is not readily 

 accessible. Indeed, inquiries as to the cause of the explosion are gen- 

 erally useless. If it has been through the agency of a careless workman, 

 he is not there to tell the tale. The man nearest, and most acquainted 

 with the fact, is probably the one who in an instant passes out of life, 

 often totally vanishes from human sight, not even a fragment of his 

 body remaining behind. 



That many of these accidents are caused by the carelessness of 

 workmen, there can be no doubt. It is needless to say that the utmost 

 precaution is taken to guard the safety of the men and the works, such 

 as floors flooded with water, shoes in which only copper nails are used, 

 etc. The reader will perhaps smile when we say that smoking is ab- 

 solutely prohibited. Yet, incredible as it may appear, the authority 

 of the proprietors is absolutely necessary to enforce this prohibition. 

 A proprietor of a powder-mill once said to me, that in the face of the 

 ever-present danger, and of the most positive orders, it was impossible 

 to prevent the men, at times, from taking their lighted pipes into the 

 works ; that he had detected the men thrusting their lighted pipes 

 into their jacket-pockets to escape observation, as he had unexpect- 

 edly come upon them ! A triumph of art — to smoke one's pipe in a 

 powder-mill, and " the boss not find it out ! " 



Once in a while, on some special occasion, the pipe of some such 

 cunning fellow goes suddenly out, and he with it. He does not linger 

 to tell how it happened. 



It might be supposed that it would be extremely difficult to find 

 men in sufficient numbers to carry on a business so hazardous, in whicli 

 the workman's life is in such constant danger. But no such difficulty 

 is experienced. There are always more applicants than places for 

 them to fill. As in every business, however unpleasant or unwhole- 

 some, there will always be found men who are more than ready for 

 the work. 



