Missing Fingers
Taking down a wood is a comparatively simple business. A few axes and cross-cut saws are the tools, and a tractor soon hauls the timber out; but when the ground has to be cleared the removal of stumps can be a tremendous job—work for mechanical monsters and explosives. I met an old man who had spent a great part of his life at such work, and we got into conversation when he saw that I had noticed his hands. Several fingers were missing. A device for blowing out stumps had been responsible, he said, and went on, " I had a look when she didn't go off. I looked again an' thought I'd give her another minute. I went back again and she blew, but I suppose I was lucky. It's not much for a lifetime, is it ? Have you ever seen the chaps on a sawbench ? You can tell the ones that've been at it a long time. They get bits off their hands. When it's explosives your'e lucky to get a little lesson like mine. It was bound to happen one day, and, the way 1 look at it, it might have been my head."
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