The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1871-05-04

1
the small meshes Of wir. gauzo
His dangers are many. and, from th,
moment the miner trusts himself or
the deccnding cage. they begin. A
man a day is Killed in Me shafts oy
our coliieries. The roof above him ia
his working place is often treaober-
uus, aud nearly str men are tRied to,
erery million i tons IF coal raised III
his country. by tho fall Of the stra.
ium beneath which he labors. Then
tho coal itself is sometimes continu.
ously, often sudnenly, pouring out its
corburcitcd hydrogen gas, which mix
ing with air, becomes the fire damp ;
and, with the sad casualties arising
from its explosion, we arc unfortu-
nately, but too familiar. 10 one mo
meut scores Of men arc destroyed by
the force OF the explosion aud those
who escape tho fire damp, perish in
the deadly cloud of "after.damp,'
"stythc,' or "choak-damp," as the
carbonic acid formed BY the explosion
is variously named. Nor are these
all the dangers Of the miner. lie
suddenly breaks into old workings, oi
which no records have been kept, and
he perishes by drowning, in the rush
of the liberated waters, surging un-
der the pressure ofthc column Of fluid
which has been gathering, may be, for
ages Tho coal may bc set on fro by
an explosion Of gunpowdor, or from
some accidental cause, aud, famed by
the force Of the ven,llating current
become rapidly so extensive, as to cut
OF all means Of escape. Then we
have the sad record Of tho Hartley
Colliery, 10 which by the breaking of
tho machinery, the shaft was closed,
and 204 men and boys found Q living
tomb. a similar accident occurred
but few weeks since near Rother-
ham, whore the whole body Of coll
lars at work were in n moment sealed
in their colliery for some days; but
happily, hero it was possible to re-
lease them,
The toiler in the metal mines, who
is not liable to suffer from explosion OF
fire damp, is surrounded by numcr
Gus dangers, analogous to those al
ready described. Beyond those, from
the severity of the labors Of the me-
tulliierous miner in air deficient Of OK
ygen aud with ap excess Of carbonic
acid, and from the injurious influence
of climbing on perpendicular ladders
from, it may be, more than 800 faith
oms beneath tho surface, bronchial
diseases are contracted early in life,
and average period Of his existance
is but little above half that enjoyed
by other men.
The very condition OF q miners life
renders him q peculiar man. The
darkness Of the recesses Of q mine
gave birth to the kobal aud the gnomc
types Of all the various superstitions
which, although somewhat modified
still haunt the miner He is ever a
religiou, man. There is no proiane
speaker in underground life,' and
whistling is regarded as an act of To-
witty, and is always checked. Yet the
miners religion is almost always that
of the fstslist. ~ shall not die until il
pleases the Lord" is its expression.
A man who was brought out Of the
I.uudhill Collery for dead, but who
recovered, was coon at work in @
neighboriug colliery known to be Of n
fiery" character. He was asked by
q visitor If he was not under fear, ha-
wing already suffered so severely ?
mo" was the umhesitating reply
"the Lord who saved me then will save
me again"
NJ. Simonin gives description oi
the results of an inupdatiop Of q
Liege colliory ION the 2Sth Of Feb
ruary, a sudden irruption Of tho wa
ter which had been damned up in
the old workings surprised the coll
iers in The mine of Beaujone, some o.
whom had just time enough to make
their escape by means Of the shaft
while Others 10 their basty fight were
drowned the rest remained clos'
prisoners. The overman, Hobert Gof-
Go, could have gone up in the tub, but
would not do so and he evcu kept
his son, q boy sged twelve, near him
Like the captain who ought not to a.
bandon his ship in the moment o.
danger, he meant to remain 10 the
mioe, displaying tho most heroic devo-
lion, and tho noblest resignation. Il
will save ell my men, he said, 'or !
will perish with thom.'y Firm at hi'
post, he encouraged and sustained
overy body, striving 10 revive thu