Part 9 (1/2)
I had h parch detail drawings of every sort of board in them, a job made easier because I used a lot of standard parts That is to say, n could be used over and over
I had a few dozen sticks cut to exactly the sa as I remembered Lambert's yard to be These became our standard of measurement
A lot of the men had difficulty with the concept of standards They were used to cutting each piece to fit as they went along and all thisat plans struck them as a stupid waste of ti pile of finished parts, but that was not as satisfying as watching the buildings going up
I delayed asseood reason Wood set directly on the ground rots and I wanted our buildings to have masonry foundations and basements
We couldn't do masonry construction without mortar and we couldn't make mortar without coal
There was coal in the mine, but the mine was still full of water Parts for the steaularly froh after so, or TLC as the Americans call it, but it all took time
Oh, we could have used charcoal to , too, and the coal would be there soon
Getting my as rarely an easy task I had to talk and persuade and cajole I shouted and screamed and pretended to throw te outof Soloenerally helps
Piotr Kulczynski, ularly between Cieszyn and Three Walls, keeping the books on our operations here as well as on the Pink Dragon Inn and the Krakowski Bros Brass Works He was a very efficient young fellow except when he was looking wistfully at Krystyana, which, it seemed, was most of the time
The poor kid was obviously s to do with him It wasn't any of my business I just don't like to see anybody in that much pain They were both about fifteen, and that can be a very rough time of life
I supposed that a certain amount of opposition to my plans from the workers was inevitable, but I never expected Vladi plans I had s unrolled before us
”I tell you that these indoor garderobes are a bad idea,” Vladi stone castles They e But that's the only ti else The rest of the time, they use an outdoor privy just like everybody else”
”shi+t stinks and you don't want it in your house! In the second place, wood buildings can't stand a siege They're too easy to burn down So there's no sense in putting in a garderobe in the first place”
”I agree with everything you've said, but you've never seen indoor plu It's completely clean and sanitary No sarderobe Besides the flush toilets, there's a washroom and a shower room We'll be able to clean ourselves and our clothes even in the winterti hot-water heater built above the kitchen stove I tell you that a hot shower on a cold winter ”
”What happens to the shi+t?”
”It's flushed down these brass pipes until it leaves the building Then it goes by clay pipes to these septic tanks and finally to this tile field”
”I'll believe it when I see it,” Vladimir said
”Sir Conrad, what troubles me is the expense of all this,” Piotr said ”I have calculated that for what you are spending on cast brass pipes and all these pottery toilets and washbowls and the valves and all, you could hire twenty chaly job, isn't it? Hauling away someone else's chamber pots?”
”There are many ould take it, sir, and be thankful”
”I'll allow that it'll be pretty impressive, if it works,” Vladiimcracks, why share them with the peasants? Put in a suests”
”Soht as well start here I' that basic”
”Your people would be far happier if you took what this cost and divided theto put in the indoor pluhed ”These firewalls take a vast amount of stone and mortar If you used that amount of material on the outside wall, it could be entirely of reatly to your defenses”
”I'm more worried about a fire than a war, at least in the next few years We have over six hundred people here and the next settle burns down entirely next winter, we ht not survive it With the firewalls where they are, it's likely that ouldn't lose h that”
”You are lord here,” Vladiate
It's too big Six knights could ride abreast through that thing Reduce it by half, at least It'll be a lot easier to defend”
”At this point, I' but thieves and wild anie anyway In later years, we'll build other walls, farther out, of bricks or stone But even they'll need big gates Remind me to tell you about railroads”
”Nohat in hell is a railroad?”
The days rolled by We set up a saw pit, an arrange was rolled over a deep pit; then onea saeen the sawdust and thehis back They often traded jobs, but never decided which orse
And it was slow I did some tioing constantly, the snoould be flying before the place was half done
Soave e teetertotter out of a halved log that was fifty yards long
At each end, ropes and pulleys connected it to a long ripsaw, each two of our longest welded together Wooden troughs, running downhill, guided a huge log into each blade
A railing ran around the teeter-totter's edges, and sixtyYou walked uphill until the high end caain until the high end ca, but then very few of these people were intellectuals It cut wood
What's ht the first tih The only problem was that sixty men was half our workforce
But why did they have to be er than a wo A wo as asupper and got a lot of cold stares Finally, I asked why One woot up and talked on and on about her hardshi+ps for the longest ti that I was not going to pay for this extra work
When I shut her up and said that I planned to pay for what I got, she turned right around and gushed so enthusiastically that I had to shut her up again
It was thewhen I'd hired the extra ether with the foremen and orked out a deal
The women would each work a half day, some before noon and soht hours) They would receive half pay and their money would be paid to their husbands Stupid, but that's the way they wanted it And so paid by the pound
Loading the logs into the sawmill was a job for all ourBut this could usually be done in a few ain just after dinner After that the ladies could ithout assistance for half a day
It had been an exhausting day, and I hoped whoever I found inarded as Vladi had apparently decided to shareto do with it and I never kneho I'd be sleeping with that night But I never asked questions because when you're in pig heaven, you don't want to s later, there was a lot of shouting by the trail, so I went down to see