The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-06-05
NEW SERIES-NO. 1876

NEW SERIES-NO. 1876
irritable pride. As soon rs the charter-master
wa, was out of sight he got up in a rage and
knocked down the prop, and in a few minutes
alter was crushed by fall of rock.
BRAVE MAN.
In shropshire pit, not long ago, an acct
dent occurred which Occasioned very general
| out the usual precautions, were struck down
| oy mass OF earth and stone Their fellow
workmen rushed up to them and in the first
| instance turned to the man who seemed most
to need help: He was lying beneath huge
thasa en- o, aoc6 No" he said go to
| to those other men first, say; am 'doggie'
foreman OF this pit: you must do as tell
you. COL" The two men were liberated and
ultimately recovered. The lacerated sdog-
gle" was with difficulty raised to the bank.
The surgeon prepared to do what he could.
and tied up the femoral artery which was sew
cred, but it was too late Suddenly change
came over the cOuntenance of the wounded
man. " Let me turn on my face, lads" he
SAID. The surgeon paused, and raised his hanI
with meaning which could not be misunder-
stood. The noble spirit had fed.
Here is the record of a sad case Of
The ties of kindred are strong among
to the custom of
MUTUAL HRLP.
The inhabitants of the Black Country have
'rm feelings, and show great kindness for
each other in times of difficulty and distress
In one poOr-lOOking cottage, perhaps may be
found an orphan child, adopted by a kind
neighbor, on whom it had no claim bu. its
helplessness; in another poor woman, whose
sick husband is occupying their only bed, and
N " a md hor
approaching confinement. For the most part
they have had little intercourse with their ST.
periors; but their manners are plain rather
than rude. They have the substance of true
courtesy, il not its external forms. They have
quick sense of kindness. They have not,
like the inhabitants of an ornamental village in
the neighborhood of great mansion, been
pampered into unthankfulness; for alas! it
needs not the example of Wordsworths Old
Huntsman to prove that the experience of un-
kindness is the parent Of gratitude. They are
acutely alive to neglect and injustice
A great many years ago-we are happy to
think the incident would not occur nova
WORKOUT collier applied to neighboring land
owner for employment The man was strong
ly advised to address himself to the iron-mas-
ter, whom he had served SO many years. mo,
sir, shall not 60 to him." he doggedly re-
piled; and on being further pressed, be added,
" No, sir, he will give me nothing but the
boards" 1.-The boards what do you mean
by tllat?" ''Oh! sir, it is a saying we have"
" But what does it mean?" ''Well, sir. if a
man mar is Killed and carried home on shutter,
MIR. - gives the boards to the widow to help
to make the coffin; and that is all he ever
does" The mans tone Of voice and manner
expressed an acutenesS of sensibility of which
1t would be difficult to convey an adequate inn
preston.
The female members of the miners famiIie
take an active part i'll tie work of the mines
PIT-WOMEN.
VI the groups engaged above ground the
most remarkable are composed of the Young
women who are at work on the pit mounds:
they take charge OF the ''skipS," or baskets of
coal and irOnStOne, when they are landed on
the bank. They load the coal in trucks to be
carried OFT to its destination. They separate
the irOnstOne from the shale, which is wheeled
Off to the extremity OF the gradually increasing
mound, and they send Off the ore to be stacked
in large quadrangular heaps where it is left to
undergo for a while, the cleansing influence of
the atmosphere. This is heavy and dirty work,
and the pit girls who are engaged in it, with
their shabby dresses tied grotesquely about
them and their inverted bonnetS stuck on the
top OF their heads, seem not less SOrdid. But
before the phanthropist draws his conclusions
let him see them on Sunday 1--WE wish it were
an equivalent phrase to say at church,, with
clean persons, bright compilations sparkling
eyes, and dressed out in the cheap fnery which
INV a-uiiyo ICFClS dll OlStluCtlOnS Oh costume.
The labor OF the pit-mOund is severe, and is
not regularly undertaken by those who are
mothers; but the WOrkWOmen have an air of
ROBUST health, and the beauty and number OF
the children in the cottages prove that the con-
stitutlon OF the mothers has not been injured
oy over work in early life Huge women"
are they. bloWsed with sun, aud wind, and
rain and labor" But strange to say, there are
to be found among them forms of great refine
ment and delicacy. In spite Of Lord ByrOn's
assertions i'll prose and verse, very pure pa
trlcian blood may circulate through lll-shaped
eXtremtieS; and we remember once to have
seen. accidentally, in the magistrates office of
q mineral district, pair Of hands for which it
would be hard to find, in London drawing
rooms, more than one match.
The amusementS Of the miners are few,
but here is an account Of a
CURIOUS CUSTOM
The pit-girlS are rot less fond of holidays
than their fathers, and much they enjoy two
days OF saturnalia when, by immemOrial Gus
tom, the field of labor is turned into a scene of
generous riot. On Easter Monday the men
roam about the collery in gangs and claim the
privilege of helving, as they call it, every fe-
male whom they meet-that is to say of liftino
her up as high as they can and saluting her in
her descent. On Easter Tuesday the ladies
have their revenge-and in their hands this
strange hOrse-play acquires redOubled energy.
Neither rank nor age are respected; not even
the greatest of men, the manager himself
would be secure from attack land those who
will not enter into the fun must purchase ex-
emptiOn by ransom prOpOrionate to their sta.
ton.
According to the official reports of the
British Inspectors of Mines for 1860 and
1861, the annual aggregate of mining &C.
cidents, which used to be estimated at one
thousand, now averages about eight hum
dred. The causes of death are classified
under five heads, and the mortality assign
able to each is in round numbers as foI.
lows: Accidents in the shaft, one hundred
and fifty; explosions, seventy falls Of the
looI or OF minerals, four hundred; niscel-
ianeous below ground, one hunaaed and