Plymouth advertiser. [volume] (Plymouth, Ohio) 1853-1988, 1855-08-04
From Dickens Household Words.
SHARPENING THE SCYTHE.

From Dickens Household Words.
SHARPENING THE SCYTHE.
In the heart Of big table land that over
looks many square leagues Of the rich seem
cry Of Dcvenshire. the best scythe-ston il
found. The whole face of the enormous cliff
in which it is contained is honeycombea
with minute quarries; half way down there
is wagon road, entirely formed of the
sand cast out from them. To walk along
thst soft terrace on July evening, is to
enjoy one of the most delicious scenes in
England. Forests of fir rise overhead
like clouds over cloud: through openings
of these there peeps the purple moorland.
stretching far southwark to the Roman
Camp, and barrows from which spears and
skulls are dug continually. Whatever
may be underground, it is all soft and
bright above with heath and flowers, about
which breeze will linger in the hottest
noon. Down to the sand road breeze
does not come-there we may walk in
calm, and only see that it is quivering
amo ng the topmost trees. From the camp
the atlantic can be seen, but from the sand
road the view is more limited, though
many a bay and headland far beneath show
where the ocean of a pastage rolled. Fos-
sils and shells are almost as plentiful with
in the cliff as the scythe-stone itself, and
wondrous bones of extinct animals arc Of.
ten brought to light
All day long, summer and winter, in
the sombre ir-grovcs may be heard the
stroke of the spade and the click of the
hammer: hundred men are at work like
s bees upon the cliff, each in his own shell
e of the great honey his private pas
Y sage The right to dig in his own burrow
: each of these men has purchased for
a triAing sum, and he tolls in it daily
n Though it is narrow space, in which he
C is not able to stand upright and can hard
= ly turn-though the air in it that hs
o breathes is damp and deadly--though the
h color in his check is commonly the hectic
of consumption, and he has cough that
8, never leaves him night OR day-though he
,r himself will remark that he does not know
is amongst his neighbors one old man, and
IS though all marrying early, few ever see
B. father with his grown up son, yet, for all
e. this, the scvthe-stone cutter works in his
1t accustomed way, and lives his short life
Id merrily, that is to say, he drinks down any
r. sense of care that he might have. These
he poor men are almost without exceptions
Ill sickly drunkards. The women of the COM
to munity are not much healthier. 1t is their
he task to cut and shape the rough-hewn stone
ed into those pieces wherewith :" the mover
he whets his scythc." The thin particles Of
ith dust that escapes during the process are
very pernicious to the lungs: but, Us usual,
IN, it is found impossible to help the ignorant
Or; sufferers by anything in the form Of an
i'm idea from without: number of masks and
me respirators have been more than once pro.
vided for them by the charity Of the neigh
ed boring gentry, but scarcely one woman
all has given them her countenance.
lus The short life of the scythe-stone cutte1
er- is also always liable to be abruptly ended
asst Safety requires that fir poles from til,
he neighboring wood should be driven in on
ol- by one on either side of him, and thire
ere fiat stake should be laid across to max,
4 the walls and roof safe, as the digger push
.ir, es his long burrow forward. Cheap a
ur- these fir poles are, they are too often dis
der pensed with. There is scarcely one of tn
ne, hundred mined entrances of disused cav
ace erns here to be seen, through which som
ter, crushed or suffocated workmen has nc
e's been brought out dead. The case is com
mon. A man cannot pay the trihes ths
YES is necessary to buy the fr-poles for th
Sh- support OF his cell: the consequence II
an, that sooner or later, it must almost inevit
4 ably happen that one stroke the pickax
ned shall produce fall of sand behind him
der and set an impossible barrier upon hir
his and the world without. 1t will then be to
He little purpose that another may be workin
la near him prompt to give the alarl
vas and get assistance: tons upon tons of hsay
Sc sand divide the victim from the rescuer
,art and they must prop and root their way
every step, lest they too perish. Sucha
cidents arc therefore mostly fatal: If 4
ng- man was not at once crushed by fall
fell sand upon him, he has been cut off fro
itor the outer air, and sufocated in his narro
our- warm-hole. White-knights is small Vi
ady lage at the foot Of the cliff. inhabited :
The most entirely by persons following Il
that scythe-stone trade. The few agrlcultur
man laborers there to be met with may be di
ated tinguished at a glance from their brethr,
her of the pits: the bronzed cheeks from q
saw hectic, the muscular frames from the bodi
his which disease has weakened, and whi
the dissipation helps 10 more sure decay.
ould The cottages are not ill-built, and gen.
the ally stand detached in q small garde
she their porches may be seen Of an event
ng in thronged with dirty pretty children. hel
t she father outside his cavern by carrying /
rtain stone away in little baskets. As he .briu
low it out to them. & Il G
ribed Besides the Luta rivulet. which has plc
hop anter nooks, more fowery banks, and {,
thus more musical than any stream IN Dow
per besides tho brook. and parted by ! II