When you’re down in the street, it’s hard to realize that there may be a heavy wind blowing across the bare girders of a tall new building. High in the air, men have to keep their balance on narrow places and walk with sure feet. There are families who specialize in work far above the solid ground. Boys learn from their fathers how to walk safely without being afraid--although almost everyone is frightened at first. And, of course, everyone is careful. In New York a group of Mohawk Indians have worked on many high buildings where men like Charlie did the beginning work. [Illustration] [Illustration] Once in a while Charlie helps to wreck an old building before putting up a new one. First, a crew of men go in and take away everything that can be used again or sold for junk. With specially made crowbars, they pry away floors and door frames. They take out furnaces and plumbing fixtures. Then Charlie gets to work with his crane. At the end of a cable he fastens a heavy steel ball, called a skull cracker. Then, [Illustration] swinging the boom, he bashes the skull cracker into the wall of the old building. Over and over, the ball strikes the mortar and bricks. Cracks spread, and big chunks of the wall start tumbling to the ground. In a little while Charlie and his machine have made a heap of rubble out of a house that it took dozens of men to put up. BUILDING A ROAD [Illustration] Once Charlie worked on a road-building job. There he used a crane and a shovel and many other machines besides. This particular road had to cross a big swamp near the ocean. So the first problem was to fill up the swamp with something solid. In order to get enough earth and rock for the fill, men would have had to tear down a whole mountain. Instead they called in suction dredge machinery for the job. The huge pumps sucked sand from the bottom of the sea and poured it through pipes onto the swampy ground. When the water drained away, millions of tons of fine white sand were left. [Illustration] Charlie helped level the sand off with a bulldozer. Then he moved on to a place where a hilly spot had to be leveled. There he drove a carrying scraper, a machine with a scoop between its front wheels and its rear wheels. The sharp scoop scraped up a load of earth, and Charlie drove off to dump it in a low spot. When he got there, a pusher blade at the back of the scoop pushed the earth out. Round and round he went, without having to stop for loading or unloading. Other men used a different machine like the one in the picture. This earth mover carried more in one load than the motor scraper, and it was better for hauling earth longer distances. For very short hauls, Charlie drove a fast little tractor. At least it looked small compared to the giant machines. It pushed a scoop in front of it like a shovel, then lifted a load, turned swiftly and dumped the earth where it was needed a few yards away.