A FRIEND OF BIRDS
| IT
is told of George H. Corliss, the famous engine builder
of Providence, R. I., that when building a foundry at the
Corliss works, some Blue Birds took the opportunity to
build in some holes in the interior framework into which
horizontal timbers were to go. The birds flew in and out
-- as Blue Birds will -- and went on with their
housekeeping, until in the natural course of things the
workmen would have evicted them to put the apertures to
their intended use of receiving timbers. But Mr. Corliss
interfered and showed how the particular aperture the
birds were occupying could be left undisturbed until they
were done with it, without any serious delay to the
building. So the pair came and went in the midst of the
noise of building and brought up their little family
safely, and after they had flown away, and not until
then, that particular part of the framework was
completed. At another time, Mr. Corliss was working on a contract with the city of Providence to supply a steam pumping apparatus, power house and all, at Sockonosset, and the time was short, and there were forfeitures nominated in the bond for every day beyond a specified date for its completion. |
The
power house was to be upon virgin soil where were rocks
and trees -- little trees growing among rocks. In
blasting and clearing the necessary place for the
foundations of the building, a Robin's nest was
discovered in a little tree within the space where the
upheavals were to be made. When Mr. Corliss knew this he
had the work transferred to the other side of the square
or parellelogram around which the digging and blasting
were to go, saying that it was just as well to do the
other side first. But it proved that when the workmen had got clear around and back to the Robin's tree, the young birds were still not quite ready to fly. This called for a new exercise of an inventor's power of adapting means to a worth end. Looking at the little tree with its nest and little birds high in the branches he bade the men support the tree carefully while it was sawed through the trunk a little above the ground, and then carry it in an upright position to a safe distance and stick it into the ground with proper support. The Robin family continued to thrive after this novel house-moving and all flew away together after a few more days. |