The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-05-08
INTERIOR aslAN ENaLr>H ooaLP,r:

Has the reader any idea Of W has a
coal pit viewed kfroiIi he eart3fs sur
face, is like 1t has not a. very impos-
ing appearance. Ii is n round black
hole. about Nv ice line size OF an ordi
nary LOO" table, aud straddling over
IL is a sort of galloWs, "a wire rope as
thick as one s WRIT hanging down
over 4 wheel and lost in the depths
below. By and by the, action is re-
verseu, a clicking aud a wheeZiHg Is
iilaar,i im the adjoihing engine shed,
and dupIcomest the ,'tubps( (a square box
holding twenty-five hundred weighD
filled with coal. Ii came up, SO while
our little party of,six q being the only
novice presenO was waiting to go
fdown. 1 viewed the coarse strong tub
twith appreciation, making sure that as
soon as it was enptied. we should all
get into it; but in this l was disap-
pointed. 1t was not in the tub, but
standing on the grating on which the
| tub had stood. that w G had to descend !;
or the naked grating with nothing to
"shold on" to but II cross-chain over
| head. But the pit was only six htnd-
red feet deep. and the coal smoke that
arose 1roni the enormous mine. fur
mace was not upeudurable by the lime
it had benpmbed ones ,ssnses Il bit.
Six hundred feet down, and Il half
mile this way or that, under low
arched roofs, from which depended
irequent fleec6s lof Iuugns, snowy
white, and looking like; lambs wool,
| and making the black floor and the
| black walis-it by7feeble tallow. dips
stick here and there in dabs of clay
blacker than ever Welallearried tai
low dips stuck in balls OF clay, and in
Indian, tile followed the ..Buttey" and
mis- foreman through the tu.nings and
windings that led to the ''chambers"
from which the coal was being hewn.
Cham bers as wide as an ordinary
street and as high as the top of the
ee.stOried houses; and on every
side, whenever the tiny light of the
red-nOsed dipswas1 shifted, was re-
vealed a human creature, naked to the
waist, and blacker than any sweep,
with savage, cleaning eyes and saw
I age. glittering teeth, and with weap-
on ia his hand that in the uncertain
light looked like a stomahawk, grin
ming at you, or making a dash with
his weapon apparently in the direc-
tion of your yisage, but which alights
harIniessly On the face of the coal
wall. y.g.r.loat1 .4e ass. .jl 1aas
~ Heavers, packers, tubbers. filters,
these are all men, and hard as the
work is, they make good wages, and if
they dislike the labor they are at lib
erty to leave it, But they don't dis
like the labor--and they are jolly
enough-all except, the, boys 1t was
these boys that so perpetual1y haunted
my coal-scuttle when returned from
Staflordslfire.a 1t. is yiliainously cruel
to serve the poor little chaps SO. The
matter stands this way The newer
is the man whose business it is 10
break in at the loot of coal wall
Ii lies on his side or on his stomach,
and he breaks in with his pick right
along for length say of twenty feet.
Naturally In the process of picking he
makes deal of "slack, and the boy
in question is called the ''slackboy."--
Regarded as a boy, as human crea-
ture, he is slack indeed. lie is not
much like a boy. He is more like a
,large-sized monkey. Ali tours is his
perpetual posture, and he wears a
leather girdle about his waist, from
which ali iron chain depends, the 9th
er end of it being attached to an iron
cart. The slack boy has an iron shovel
as well, and the business OF his
Wfetched life is TO crawl out with, his
load, always on his hand and knees,
and with his poor limbs hung about
with few rags of which nakedness
might be ashamed.-LondO7t Society.