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The Harris-Ingram Experiment

Chapter 8 COLONEL HARRIS RETURNS TO HARRISVILLE

Word Count: 2835    |    Released on: 30/11/2017

nded life were nearing a climax when the telegram from his manager Wilson changed all his plans, and

nd he longed for some yawning earthquake to engulf him. He stood transfixed to the dock; the perspiration of

struck a hidden rock, and then he rallied as if from a stu

a moment I seemed unmanned. It is a terrible ord

ocks in Liverpool when my family bade me adieu, and I came alone t

leave New York at 6 o'clock this evening for Harrisville. Mr. Searles, we will try to use the afternoon for your pleasure. Driver, please take us to the Wi

e from ship to warehouse, and from warehouse to ship and cars. However, the ride impressed Searles with the immensity of the trade of the metropolis. West Stree

Metropolitan Elevated Railway. A railway in the air with steam-eng

hurried about under ground, in

uation Day. Near by at an earlier date Hendrick Christianson, agent of a Dutch fur trading company, built four small houses and a redoubt, the fo

we. He told Gertrude that he had read that, in July, 1776, the people came in vast crowds to Battery Park to celebrate the Declaration of I

icans doubtless lacked appreciation of art, but we

ways puzzled me to understand why you should h

use we Americans w

that fight was a

ll and Bunker Hill. The obelisk of Quincy granite was erected at Charlestown, I think, to commemorate the stout resistance which the

ebel who succeeds, and a rebel is a patriot who fails. He observed also the witty

ich Italian Renaissance architecture. Beneath the projecting galley-prows in the main hall, the fierc

ch commands an unrivalled bird's-eye view of lower New York, the bay, Brooklyn, Long Island, and the mountain

7 by the English government. There were also other magnificent endowments. Trinity Parish, or Corporation, is the richest single church organization in the United States, enjoying revenues of over five hundred t

ptly at six o'clock the conductor of the fast Western Express shouted, "All aboard," and Colonel

l of the Empire State. This tide-water ride on the American Rhine is unsurpassed. The Express is whirled through tunnels, over bridges, past the magnificent summer houses of the magnates of the metropolis that adorn the h

with the facile pen of Washington Irving, and from the car caught sight of "Sunny Side" covered w

red, and the treachery of Benedict Arnold exposed, otherwise, we m

, hung Major Andre, the spy. You made Washington presid

lands, a source of never failing delight to tourists. West Point, the site of the famous Unite

yal splendor behi

tskills print t

iry tops the fai

nding that th

h is earth, or

s every summer, escaping from the heat and worry of life, visit those wind-swept 'hills of the sky

dson. The Highlands lie to the south, the Berkshire Hills and Green Mountains to the east, and the Adirondacks to the north. The latter is a paradise for disciples of Ni

whom she had met for a moment in the Grand Central Station before the train started. Calling Colonel Harris aside, she said, "Fathe

r. Searles, that you concur in my daughter's pl

suredly,

," and soon dinner was announced. The steward, thoughtlessly, had forgott

e air with an indescribable something that exhilarates. Their presence is like the sunshine that warms and perfumes a conservatory; you inhale the odors of roses, pinks, and climbing jessamines. Su

ut Mr. Searles in the happiest frame of mind, so that he half forgot his mission to America. The Colonel a

her, Mr. Eastlake, a widower, among the Thousand Islands and down the St. Lawrence River. She so charmed the millionaire that after graduation at Smith College she accepted and married him. She was now journeying t

agreed that Mr. Searles should accompany Mrs. Eastlake and Gertru

llman, continued alone on his journey to Harrisville. Returning home he hoped,

the forge as he was to-day proud of his great wealth and growing power in the manufacturing world. Then he was poor, but he was consciou

cold dinner, reheating his coffee over the forge coals, he often thought of the dormant fires within him, and he wondered if they would ever be fanned to a white heat. For years

king for. In early life I was apprenticed in England to a famous iron-master, and when the Bessemer patents for converting iron into steel were issued, it was my good fortune to be a foreman where the first experiments were made by Henry Bessemer himself, and so

rst know more about these patents and their workings." Before a week had passed, he had learned much from Ingram concerning the practical working of t

gram that they would share equally any and all profits realized. Ingram had contributed reliable knowledge, Har

usually it is very conservative. It was especially cautious of investment in Harris's scheme

eady money was obtained to make a successful experiment, which so convinced a few rich men that more money was immediately advanced,

terprise, while Ingram's knowledge and inventive talents proved that as

e steel rail was largely theoretical. The Bessemer steel rail had had only a few months of actual service, long enough, however, to demonstrate that at the joints it would not batter and splinter like th

to the success of the company. To manage a business with greatest advantage quite as much ready cash is needed as is invested in

ons that he was obliged to sell to Harris most of his interest in the steel plant. Harris's interests increased, till practically he was the owner of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Works, and much property besides. He was quoted as a millionaire, while

the initial and practical knowledge of successfully manufacturing steel rails was

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