further protection, cast-iron sheet piling was driven behind the site of the abutment close to the District Ry. tunnel and to a depth below the aboutment foundation. When the three caissons were completed and filled with concrete, they were loaded with rails to a base pressure exceeding that which would occur under load, and the load was left in place for seven days, both to test the foundation and to forestall the ill effects of having the initial settlement occur after the erection of the abutment masonry and arches.

A peculiar feature of this abutment is that. being restricted to a narrower width than desirable for stability, its masonry consists in part of cast-iron blocks in place of stone to increase its weight and therefore its stability against overturning. Further, a girder was set under the new skewbacks to distribute the arch thrust over the whole length of the wall uniformly. A cantilever girder had also to be built into this abutment to carry the floor of a short-radius curved approach to the bridge.

A two-truss gantry frame was built, spanning between adjacent piers and running on

tracks laid transverse to the bridge on the tops of the pier extensions. Hangers were fastened to this traveler for picking up the face rib, to enable the traveler to carry it out to its new position.

A working platform for the erection of the new intermediate ribs was obtained by hanging cross girders from the face rib and the adjoining old rib, spanning the entire 40-foot space occupied by the new ribs. These girders were attached to the face rib before it was moved, and had a sliding support under the fixed arches. By a horizontal screw connecting the girders with the fixed work the outward movement of the face rib and traveler could be controlled.

It only remains to add that the operations of shifting the face rib and erecting the intermediate ribs were so arranged in the successive spans (five spans 155 to 185 feet in the clear) as to minimize the unbalanced thrust on the new sections of pier.

The engineers for the Blackfriars bridge work were Sir B. Baker and Mr. Basil Mott.

WAY "

BY H.B.MOYER

WITH ILLUSTRATION BY AUTHOR

"A desk fitted up like a real court-bench."

Did you ever heave a chunk of mud or a drift pin at a harmless lookin' bee (asked Missouri Jack), and then spend the next ten minutes applyin' witchhazel or iron-ore juice to the end of your nasal extremity trying to reduce the bump? Yes? No? Well, anyway that just about describes what happened to the Squadunk river bridge gang when they got busy one dark night and tried to apply some local color-as the poet would sayto a dull two months' existence in the jungles by kiddin' Squire Titmus Tubbs.

Tubbs, you old-time ruff-necks will recall, at one time essayed to earn brackets hisself as a tall and lofty tumbler, and secured an injunction-no, I mean verdict-against a Cincinnati firm for damages because the gang in a spirit of playfulness had one renin' just about quittin' time, hoisted him to the top of a gin-pole and then forgot to help him down again, with the result that he stuck up there all night and was nearly chewed alive by skeeters and other wild denizens of the air-as the natural fakirs, like T. Rusefelt, would put it.

That was about enough for Titmus, and, although he tried it again for awhile, he finally drifted back to where a groove had been cut out for him by designin' naturback to the farm.

Any floater who has ever hit a brake-beam and dodged couplin' pins dragged on the ground at the end of a line in the paws of some ornery-minded brakeman knows that the Squadunk river section is the hind end of the earth as far as doin's is concerned.

When it comes to a quiet little keg of suds under a shade tree or anything like that, you might as well be anchored in some Canadian burg on a Sunday with the Lord's Day Alliance standin' over you with a roll of blue laws a fathom deep. As for girls-well, you fellows'd be welcome to the Squadunk brand, for those that wasn't married was generally what you might call past-aye-or whatever that word is-and some of 'em looked as though they might have seen sixty summers and about eighty winters. And when you've cut booze and girls off the list, what is there left for a gang of healthy, doin's-lovin' gang of iron-poundin' huskies?

It was just about the time when the stagnation was most stagnant-as Root-hard Kipplin'd say that Big Nose MacKenzie, our pusher, came to the rescoo.

"Fellow ruff-necks and the water-boy," says he, "we have scattered ourselves together to deevise weighs and means by which to create some doin's. For a long time we-us ruff-necks and the water-boy have been chaftin' under a un-natural restraint. Now there is also one other person in this here diggin's who is probably just as lonesome for somethin' in the way of excitement as we are, and I move, second and carry a motion that we pay him a informal visit. Motion bein' carried, I also add an amendmenteven if it ain't exactly accordin' to parlimentary rooles-that we journey thither after the heat of the day has been faded by one John Moon." Carried.

Next day Edgemore Skinny, who was a-runnin' the job, was delighted, for, contrary to the law of supply and command, the day passed without one ruff-neck dragging up, as they had been doin' ever since work first began.

Squire Tubbs lived some five miles from where we was campin' and we had plenty of time to devise plans for his entertainment on the way out. All of the boys was enthoosiastic except Bill Blinks. Bill always was squeemish-always lookin' for someone to

M. J. Durr, representing Local No. 1.

ring in a cold deck in a poker game or a set of phonies when the noon-hour crap game was at it's height, or expectin' to see a cop poke his nose out of the edge of the jungles and pinch the bunch fer gamblin'.

"Puttin' Old Tit's Sunday-go-to-meetin' Democrat vehickle upon the cupalo of his barn may sound all right in the United States langwidge," said he, "but what about the conseequences" he says. "Supposin' that you find afterward that Tubb's is a county magistrate or suthin' like that? Eh? Then what?" Whereupon Big Nose came to the rescoo and offered Bill the opchun of making a noise like a clam or being suddintly and unchristianlike baptized in a convenient waterin' hole. Bill played clam.

"Squire's a title that is taken on in this country just like lords and dookes is in the old country and don't mean nothin'," says Big Nose. "In fact, I'm thinkin' seriously," he added, "of addin' some such a non de ploome to my own name." And nobody snickered out loud, because Big Nose had a most aggravatin' habit of lettin' go his fist and then arguin' things out afterward.

At ten o'clock, when we reached the scene of our desteenation, Mr. Moon was playin' hide and seek with a available cloud. Outside the crikets and other animuls which was bleatin' there wasn't a sound movin' around

the place. Even the Hens and Mr. Hens had went to sleep, and the calves were at rest. Inside of half an hour we had accomplished our lofty purpose, with the aid of some line which we found in the barn, and some odd blocks which Big Nose had the presents of mind to bring along, and actooly. if I do say it myself, that there ancient lookin' old Democrat looked positively beautiful stuck up there seventy or eighty feet on that cupalo all shimmerin' in the moonlight-as Laura Lean Jibbey would say. But for some reason or another we wasn't quite satisfied There seemed to be somethin' lackin', and it was Big Nose who deescovered what it was. Silently he led the way around the barn to the calf department. "That there little calf," says he kinder silent like, pointin' with his finger, "is no doubt just apinin' away his little life because he ain't never seen none of the world. Therefore, it is our bounden dooty as public-spirited ruff-necks to give him a little free excursion.

"I'm goin'!" said Bill Blinks suddintly. "You fellows can serve nine hundred and ninety-nine years for cattle steelin' if you want to, but me for-"

Did you say that you was lookin' for a bat on the beak?" queried Big Nose, and Bill decided that he'd just as soon stay with the bunch as not. Big Nose got the calf by the

M. J. Meegan, representing Local No. 6.

heels, I took his front geerin', the rest of him was divided up among the other fellows and we started off down the road. About then I remembered a calf we had passed about a mile down the road, and I almost voiced my admiration for Big Nose right out loud. Titmus Tubb's calf was black and white, the other beast was a mixture of red -somethin' the color of Red Liquor Bill Fleming's nose-and white with some yellow and helliotrope or somethin' like that combined.

Everything went well until we was putting the strange calf in Tubb's calf's stall. Tubb's calf's mother woke up about that time and took a peek at the visitor. One peep was enough. "Bah! Bah-ah-ah!!" she bawled at the top of her lungs, because she was righteously indignant. Bill Blinks I think it was that started the runnin', anyway we beat it. Out of that barn like the landlady was after us for her board bill, around the corner and up through Tit Tubb's lane we fairly tore. Swarberg, St. Heeves or none of those marathon dope artists had anything on us, and we was just reachin' the end of the lane and congratulatin' ourselves that we had made a getaway when daylight suddently struck amidships. Leastwise we all thought it was daylight. Afterward we realized that it was nothing but a powerful seachlight which our

unwillin' host had displayed from his bedroom window for our special benefit. Blinkin' and out of wind, and deelayed by the croakin' of Bill Blinks, who was "just positive that we was all going to draw a sentence of twelve months a year for the rest of our naturals, we lauded back to camp.

Blinks was for gettin' out that night and writin' for our money, but Big Nose generously offered to "hand him one" if he didn't quit croakin', and that sort of put a damper on further argument', so we deecided to stick and take a chance. "It tain't at all likely that we was recognized," argued Big Nose, "and even if we was they couldn't do nothin'." Big Nose wasn't going to lose his gang if he could help it.

Two days passed and nothin' happened, and everybody but Bill Blinks was happy everytime he thought of those shuffled up calves and that high and lofty Democrat. "Highest up a Democrat ever got since the time of Grove Cleveland," offered Big Nose at the supper table next night, but nobody hit him. although in some places he'd got thirty days for anythink like that.

Nobody ventured near enough to the Tubbs place to find out anything, but we had concluded that the Squire had taken the thing with good grace and would let it drop.

The next night was pay-night and as we lined up to the window of the shack, we noticed two hayseeds standing near the door. Bill Blinks drew his envelope first and we saw that the time keeper also handed him a