TWO:Men and women in the prime of life sat on their chairs, gazing vacantly at nothing, lacking in the most literal sense of the word the strength to stand or to walk. When at about six o'clock in the evening the click-clack of rifle-fire was heardfor a Belgian patrol seemed to have come near the town,my hostess and her daughter pressed a couple of papers against their breast, full of fear, ready to fly, but unable to walk.Aside from the greater rapidity with which a hammer may operate when working on this principle, there is nothing gained, and much lost; and as this kind of action is imperative in any hammer that has a 'maintained or positive connection' between its reciprocating parts and the valve, it is perhaps fair to infer that one reason why most automatic hammers act with elastic blows is either because of a want of knowledge as to a proper valve arrangement, or the mechanical difficulties in arranging valve gear to produce dead blows.
