The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-03-05
= "a Written Tor the ADvooATB.
THE MINER.
Uncle joss Story.
tcoMcLuDaD !

row Tor the wasted m0Wents, ana OF the me-
glect Of opportunities that had been put in
my way to do good 10 others whO were more
heedful than myself thought Of the girl
:swho was to have been so shortly my wife,
with q pang. How longed to live. !
thought Of my father aud mother. brothers
and sisters, and all my, relations; Of the
minister and the text be had pseached from
i" Prepare to meet thy God" The bright
sun as il shone before depended the shaft
was in my eye, and the noise Of the sky-lark
was in my ear. Iprayed, and as | thought
It was to be my last earthly prayer, it was
IN earnest for those l was leaving behind
me, and for the souls in the mine that were
taking a rapid flight into eternity.
1 That was fearful moment. The effort
required to keep the water from my lungs
was becoming painful, and I could scarcely
resist the temptation to initiate my lungs.
But the thought Of the water pipe rushed
back to me Ike lightning; that stream Of
5hir Then the possibility of the pipe being
injured filed me with doubt. Had the
dames subsided, was another important
query?
h When one has given ones self up fol
jdeath, how one clutches ut the slightest
chance for life that presents itself; how
strong is the instinct Of self-preservstion.
/ Jas soon as l thought of the pipe, and Of
1.-THE stream Of air rushing through it, forgot
Imy prayers and my companions; my mind
twas concentrated in the one object Of saving
myself; With the object Of graphing fol
.Ithe end of the pipe, raised myself above
1.-The surface Of tho water. Here everything
4 was dark, bat still it was like an oven il
was 80 hot. To breath | knew would be
instant death, and l felt the gas in spite Of
/ me, forcing its way into my nostrlls and t.
I to my ears and closed mouth, SO powerful is
!. endosmotic action in such cases, that the
! deadly gas surrounding you will exchange
volumes with the gas within you, this it wa
I do even il it must enter your body by the
! pores of the skin. I did not understand
this Law Of gases thea (the Law Of diffusiOn)
or should not have attempted to save my
; sell, for / should chen have thought it moi
! within the range of possibility. God alone
/ saved me. But away with reflections
/ gnppled for the end Of the pipe, and
found the groove in the side Of the trough
where knew it should have been, but there
was no pipe Here was a disappointment
and | felt my very heart sink within me-
! My strength was failing for the gas began
to effect met was getting within mt
somehow. l had made more than one at
tempt to breath, but the CLOTHS kindly
closed up at the bottom of my wind-Pipe anc
cboked the deadly mixture, that 7, 10 my
agony, would have drawn into my lungs
which would have caused instant death.
At last Yes, at last | found the end o
the pipe; my search had been rapid, and
was rewarded with success. The pipe
proved to be uninjured, and the stream o
air was not diminished the pipes end haC
been displaced. | applied my mouth t.
the end of the pipe and drank in the breath
-uf life. shall never forget how | relisheC
that stream of air as it came to me in the
very heart of the foul gases that enveloped
me. The very memory Of it is precious t.
me.
But foul gases, such as heated blacG
damp, choke damp, or after damp-call i
which-get into the system other ways thar
by means of the lungs. | felt this to be the
case as lay at the mouth Of the pipe witt
my body under water, the very water seem
ed to be imbibing the gas. | tore shreds of
my clothes and stuffed up my cars, and, II
spite of my pressing close together my eye
lids, felt my eyes swell and experienced
great pain in my temples
But time wore on, and although fancieC
/ heard voices of at n distance, no succO
seemed to be near at hand the after damn
was still master of the position. My pains
began to leave me and began to feel list
less and cold, and inclined to sleep; and
I thought that it stayed near the trough
and happened to fall asleep or become in
sensible, that would drown; so got Out
Of the trough and laid in such position, with
my mouth near the pipe, that | fek myself
safe from this danger. l fought for a long
( time against the cold and drowsiDess that
was pressing on me, until | ceased to re-
member anything.
4 There came a blank into my existence
and when it passed it was the first Of May
the day that was to have been our wedding
day. Consciousness was coming back to
me memory was playing the phantom as
it were appearing then disappearing il
came near to me, then retreated to an invis-
IDLE distance. Memory, however, came to
me in a permanent form before my eyesight
/ then remembered what had happened. ]
heard whisperings around me and essayed
to speak. Something in my throat prevent
ed my speaking my throat was swollen
my sight came before my speech and | saw
my mother and Anne standing over me.
could not look steadily at them, the light
dazzled me 20, but | saw from their red
swollen eyes they had been watching and
weeping
This manner Of detailing my recovery j.
not interesting; and, as | did recover and
rapidly too, shall content myself by telling
you that, with all the advantages had been
possessed Of at the Water-trough, | had been
at deaths door. Twelve hours had passed
after the explosion before the party reached
me that carried me TO the shaft The shaft
had been damaged 50 much that the ventila-
ton could not again be put in its course till
this time.
AllOthers in the nne-sOme fifty odd
suffocated those who had escaped the
flames had been smothered by the after
damp From the little trap dOor-keeper Of
eight up to the man whose hair was silvered
BY the number Of his years, all paid the last
debt and al sleep under the yew-trees that
stretch their branches over the green sod of
the church yard. l need not say what put
off our wedding-day till six months later.
/ We had then learnt a wise lesson a0d sad
one =
/ My uncle 10 is still alive, and be will tell
you this tale in the same old way; and as