It was easy to open the mines. That kind of work was already well understood in Pennsylvania.
Building a blast furnace was much more of an undertaking7. It was in fact a daring adventure. Older and wiser heads had left it to the foolhardiness of youth.
Hitherto iron had been produced in this country, as elsewhere in the world, by primitive8 methods. Ore was wastefully9 smelted10 in rude charcoal11 furnaces unimproved in design since the Middle Ages. The process was of great antiquity12. It was uniform in India at the time of Alexander’s invasion. Its origin even then was[29] lost in myth. Tubal Cain, “an instructor13 of every artificer in brass14 and iron,” was master of it in the city of his distinguished15 ancestor, Cain, which was in the land of Nod.
Between the old iron master of the Himalayas, 1,500 years before Christ, with his little clay oven resembling an overturned pot, urging the fire with a bellows16 clasped in his arms—(a bellows made from the skin of a goat stripped from the animal without ripping the belly17 part, then tied at the leg holes, fitted with a wooden nozzle at the neck and stopped with an air valve in the tail orifice)—the difference between him and the iron master if the early 19th century was only that the latter had learned to build his forge of rude masonry18 and to make nature blow his fire.
The prize in both cases was a nugget of glowing iron, the most useful non-digestible substance yet discovered by man. It is tenacious19, ductile20, easily tempered, malleable21 at red heat, marriageable at white heat and possesses one miraculous22 quality. It is magnetic. It calls electricity out of the void, snares23 it, delivers it helpless into the hands of man. Without this blackhearted substance, fallen from the sun, natively pure only in form of a meteorite24, lightning could not have been captured and enslaved on earth.
The glowing nugget on the forge hearth25, called the loup or bloom, is in a crystalline condition. It is removed and further refined by hammering, drawing and rolling at red heat. It may be hammered by hand on an anvil26, or beaten under a trip-hammer, or rolled[30] between rollers. The effect of this treatment is to elongate27 the crystals into tough fibres.
A blast furnace differs from a forge not in principle so much as in audacity28, method and degree. The forge pricks29 nature and extracts iron one molten drop at a time. The blast furnace cuts a gash30 in her side and extracts iron in a blazing stream.
There were blast furnaces before those of Gib and Breakspeare, in England, Germany and France, but they were few and still in the stage of wonder. They were very costly31 to build, many failed for unknown reasons, and the conservative old iron masters stuck to the forge. Nowhere had a blast furnace been worked with anthracite or stone coal. All that had so far succeeded used wood, charcoal, bituminous coal and coke. The fuel at New Damascus was anthracite.
So it was in all respects a rash experiment and in one respect unique. The partners were sure of the theory. The thing was scientifically feasible. Yet in practice it might fail for want of handiness with a strange process or because of some malicious32 chemical enemy lurking33 in the elements to be acted upon. And failures in iron experiments are ruinous. Nothing ever can be saved and the capital outlay34 will have been enormous.
The skill to build such a blast furnace as they required was not only dear and hard to find: when found it was pessimistic and disbelieving and disclaimed35 all responsibility for the outcome because it was something that had never been done before. Expert iron workers[31] to man the process were of the same grey mindedness about it.
These iron workers had to be imported from England under guarantees and inveiglements. Nearly all the new iron working methods of that time originated in England and were as jealously guarded as military secrets. The rise of American industry against European competition was greatly hampered36 by lack of industrial knowledge. Europe would not part with it, or share it, since to possess it exclusively gave her manufacturers a world-wide advantage. So it had to be obtained surreptitiously. Much of it was smuggled37 out in the heads of English, Scotch38 and Welsh artisans who could be bribed39 to evade40 the embargo41 upon the emigration of skilled workmen and try their luck in the United States.
While Enoch worked indefatigably42 at New Damascus, tapping the mountains and preparing the mule43 roads by which to drain away their coal and ore and limestone44, Aaron was abroad impressing the skill that should convert those raw materials into iron.
Two years from the time they started, one evening, the first miniature volcano went into action.
That precisely45 is what a blast furnace is. The hollow, cylindrical46 furnace is the mountain cone47, charged from the top with fuel, iron ore and limestone flux48. The mass is fired at the bottom. The gases go off at the top in flame and smoke, an upside-down cataract49 of lost affinities50, giddy, voluptuous51, hungry and free. An odd circumstance has released them from the cold[32] inert52 embrace in which they have lain for ages of years. Cinders53 and gross matter flow away below as lava54. The iron, seeking itself, falls like rain into the hearth at the bottom and runs out on the sand, forming there a molten lake. Around the edges of this lake, taking off from it, is a series of moulded depressions. The lake drains into these depressions. They suck it dry. Ironworkers call the lake the sow. The forms that appear in the depressions, having devoured55 the sow completely, are called the pigs. The product is pig iron,—a lump of rough metal the size of a man’s thigh56.
After the fire is lighted at the bottom there is nothing to do for several hours but wait. In this interval57 the partners went to supper at Enoch’s house. They ate in silence. Aaron made several ineffectual attempts at conversation. Their thoughts were far apart. One was thinking of details, of faults to be remedied, of errors in the next instance to be avoided; the other dwelt upon the achievement as a dramatic whole. Enoch was anxious to get back.
At a point from which the blast furnace was visible as a complete spectacle Aaron stopped and seized him by the arm.
“Take a look at it, man. There’s plenty of time for that.”
A blast furnace even then was what a blast furnace is,—the most audacious affront58 man has yet put upon nature. He decoys the elemental forces and gives them handy nicknames. Though he cannot tame them, he[33] may control them through knowledge of their weaknesses. He learns their immutable59 habits. From the Omnipotent60 Craftsman61 he steals the true process. In the scale of his own strength he reproduces in a furnace the conditions under which the earth was made, and extracts from the uproar62 a lump of iron.
By the very majesty63 of the effects he conjures64 up he is himself absurdly diminished, to the point of becoming incredible. As you look at him he is neither impressive nor august. Perhaps if one had witnessed the creation the appalling65 effects in the same way would have seemed much more wonderful than the Creator. In His old clothes, anxious, preoccupied66, intent upon results, He probably had been very disappointing to the eye.
From where he stood, detaining Enoch against his mood, Aaron could see the workers moving about the furnace hearth,—tiny, impish figures, grotesquely67 insignificant68, scornfully manipulating the elemental intensities69. The surrounding slopes were lined with people, their faces reflecting a dull, lurid70 glow; and there was an ominous71, swooning vibration72 in the air.
“Admit it, Enoch,” he said, “You get a thrill from that.”
“I want to get back,” said Enoch.
They remained at the furnace the whole of that night and handled the first cold pig iron.
“It’s good,” said Enoch.
It was a fine quality of pig iron. The demand for it was immediate73 and profitable. Furnaces were added[34] one or two at a time until there were eight. Pig iron was for some time the sole product. The mill to draw and roll the iron came later.
In five years the population of New Damascus trebled. The mines, the blast furnaces and later the drawing mill,—the first in this country to pass iron through rollers,—employed thousands of workers. Their wants made business. The town was rebuilt. That made more business. Enoch on his own venture built houses for the iron workers and opened a large company store.
There was a third reason why the partnership, to everyone’s surprise, was successful as a relationship between two antagonistic74 natures.
Aaron had all the popularity still. The social life of New Damascus centered upon him. The Woolwine mansion75 where he lived in bachelor eminence76 was full of entertainment and gaiety. His hospitality was memorable77. Guests came from afar, from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York, to attend his parties.
Enoch continued to live morosely78 in the old iron-stone house below. The contrast was notable, even painful, but if Enoch minded at all there were compensations. Within the partnership and outside of it his power increased. There was never any doubt as to which of them exercised ultimate authority in matters of business. When it came to borrowing capital, as they did to build the mill, it was Enoch’s word that persuaded the lenders. He made a sound they understood,—a crunching79, horizontal sound that was not[35] in Aaron at all. The instinct that preferred Aaron in friendship and the instinct that preferred Enoch in business could exist, and did, in the same people. Enoch was preferred where his vanity was. People feared and trusted him. That kept the scales even.
点击收听单词发音
1 misgivings | |
n.疑虑,担忧,害怕;疑虑,担心,恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 );疑惧 | |
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2 partnership | |
n.合作关系,伙伴关系 | |
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3 allotted | |
分配,拨给,摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
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5 royalty | |
n.皇家,皇族 | |
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6 dominant | |
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因 | |
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7 undertaking | |
n.保证,许诺,事业 | |
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8 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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9 wastefully | |
浪费地,挥霍地,耗费地 | |
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10 smelted | |
v.熔炼,提炼(矿石)( smelt的过去式和过去分词 );合演( costar的过去式和过去分词 );闻到;嗅出 | |
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11 charcoal | |
n.炭,木炭,生物炭 | |
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12 antiquity | |
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹 | |
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13 instructor | |
n.指导者,教员,教练 | |
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14 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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15 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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16 bellows | |
n.风箱;发出吼叫声,咆哮(尤指因痛苦)( bellow的名词复数 );(愤怒地)说出(某事),大叫v.发出吼叫声,咆哮(尤指因痛苦)( bellow的第三人称单数 );(愤怒地)说出(某事),大叫 | |
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17 belly | |
n.肚子,腹部;(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分,膛 | |
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18 masonry | |
n.砖土建筑;砖石 | |
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19 tenacious | |
adj.顽强的,固执的,记忆力强的,粘的 | |
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20 ductile | |
adj.易延展的,柔软的 | |
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21 malleable | |
adj.(金属)可锻的;有延展性的;(性格)可训练的 | |
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22 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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23 snares | |
n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 );圈套;诱人遭受失败(丢脸、损失等)的东西;诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉,诱陷,陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
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24 meteorite | |
n.陨石;流星 | |
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25 hearth | |
n.壁炉炉床,壁炉地面 | |
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26 anvil | |
n.铁钻 | |
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27 elongate | |
v.拉长,伸长,延长 | |
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28 audacity | |
n.大胆,卤莽,无礼 | |
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29 pricks | |
刺痛( prick的名词复数 ); 刺孔; 刺痕; 植物的刺 | |
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30 gash | |
v.深切,划开;n.(深长的)切(伤)口;裂缝 | |
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31 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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32 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
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33 lurking | |
潜在 | |
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34 outlay | |
n.费用,经费,支出;v.花费 | |
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35 disclaimed | |
v.否认( disclaim的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36 hampered | |
妨碍,束缚,限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 smuggled | |
水货 | |
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38 scotch | |
n.伤口,刻痕;苏格兰威士忌酒;v.粉碎,消灭,阻止;adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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39 bribed | |
v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 );向(某人)行贿,贿赂 | |
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40 evade | |
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避 | |
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41 embargo | |
n.禁运(令);vt.对...实行禁运,禁止(通商) | |
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42 indefatigably | |
adv.不厌倦地,不屈不挠地 | |
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43 mule | |
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人 | |
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44 limestone | |
n.石灰石 | |
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45 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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46 cylindrical | |
adj.圆筒形的 | |
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47 cone | |
n.圆锥体,圆锥形东西,球果 | |
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48 flux | |
n.流动;不断的改变 | |
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49 cataract | |
n.大瀑布,奔流,洪水,白内障 | |
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50 affinities | |
n.密切关系( affinity的名词复数 );亲近;(生性)喜爱;类同 | |
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51 voluptuous | |
adj.肉欲的,骄奢淫逸的 | |
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52 inert | |
adj.无活动能力的,惰性的;迟钝的 | |
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53 cinders | |
n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 );炭渣;煤渣路;煤渣跑道 | |
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54 lava | |
n.熔岩,火山岩 | |
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55 devoured | |
吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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56 thigh | |
n.大腿;股骨 | |
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57 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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58 affront | |
n./v.侮辱,触怒 | |
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59 immutable | |
adj.不可改变的,永恒的 | |
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60 omnipotent | |
adj.全能的,万能的 | |
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61 craftsman | |
n.技工,精于一门工艺的匠人 | |
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62 uproar | |
n.骚动,喧嚣,鼎沸 | |
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63 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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64 conjures | |
用魔术变出( conjure的第三人称单数 ); 祈求,恳求; 变戏法; (变魔术般地) 使…出现 | |
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65 appalling | |
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
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66 preoccupied | |
adj.全神贯注的,入神的;被抢先占有的;心事重重的v.占据(某人)思想,使对…全神贯注,使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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67 grotesquely | |
adv. 奇异地,荒诞地 | |
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68 insignificant | |
adj.无关紧要的,可忽略的,无意义的 | |
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69 intensities | |
n.强烈( intensity的名词复数 );(感情的)强烈程度;强度;烈度 | |
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70 lurid | |
adj.可怕的;血红的;苍白的 | |
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71 ominous | |
adj.不祥的,不吉的,预兆的,预示的 | |
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72 vibration | |
n.颤动,振动;摆动 | |
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73 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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74 antagonistic | |
adj.敌对的 | |
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75 mansion | |
n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
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76 eminence | |
n.卓越,显赫;高地,高处;名家 | |
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77 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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78 morosely | |
adv.愁眉苦脸地,忧郁地 | |
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79 crunching | |
v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 );嘎吱作响;(快速大量地)处理信息;数字捣弄 | |
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