The Lucy Furnace was out of one trouble and into another, owing to the
great variety of ores, limestone, and coke which were then supplied
with little or no regard to their component parts. This state of
affairs became intolerable to us. We finally decided to dispense with
the rule-of-thumb-and-intuition manager, and to place a young man in
charge of the furnace. We had a young shipping clerk, Henry M. Curry,
who had distinguished himself, and it was resolved to make him
manager.
Mr. Phipps had the Lucy Furnace under his special charge. His daily
visits to it saved us from failure there. Not that the furnace was not
doing as well as other furnaces in the West as to money-making, but
being so much larger than other furnaces its variations entailed much
more serious results. I am afraid my partner had something to answer
for in his Sunday morning visits to the Lucy Furnace when his good
father and sister left the house for more devotional duties. But even
if he had gone with them his real earnest prayer could not but have
had reference at times to the precarious condition of the Lucy Furnace
then absorbing his thoughts.
The next step taken was to find a chemist as Mr. Curry's assistant and
guide. We found the man in a learned German, Dr. Fricke, and great
secrets did the doctor open up to us.
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