human
What kind of men make bridge-men?
gpt
All kinds, said one of the group who was drinking birch-beer,
human
Some come out of machine-shops, some out of locomotive works, I was a 'shanty-jack.'
gpt
Lots of 'em come from farms, added another.
human
I know one fellow tried it who'd been a tailor. Said he changed for his health.
gpt
There's lots of 'em try it and quit, remarked Jimmie Dunn, who is one of the oldest and also one of the youngest men in the guild. I had seen him nearly killed a few days before by the sudden up-swing of a sixteen-ton strut.
human
I knew a telegraph-pole climber who said he didn't mind any old kind of a tower; he'd go up it all right and work there. Well, he got all he wanted the first morning. Came down white as that paper. Said he wouldn't stay up half an hour longer if they'd give him the whole blamed bridge. Why, it gets _us_ fellows dizzy once in a while.
gpt
I'll bet it does, agreed the shanty-jack man.
human
I saw an old hand once start to ride up a barrel of water one hundred and seventy feet on a bridge over the St. Lawrence. The barrel was swung on a 'single runner,' and you ought to have seen it spin with his weight tipping it lopsided! Ain't any bridge-man going could have kept his head there. 'Twas a fool thing to do, and the only way this fellow got up alive was by dropping plumb into the barrel of water and shutting his eyes.