The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-07-10

BY ANDREW ROY

These bearers were often women and half
grown girls, and in England we're clothed
in the same garb as the men. In the Scot
tish coal mines the coal was carried in
wicker cribs, fitted on the backs Of the
bearers. The cribs were held in place by
leather straps passing round the forehead.
In some mines as many as POI female
bearers we're working at once, and the coal
was carried to the top of the shaft by long
winding stairways. An ordinary load OF
one of these female bearers consisted of
ITO pounds. Robert Bald, the eminent
coal viewer Of Scotland, has estimated the
days work of the female bearers of that
country as equal to carrying . hundred
weight from the level of the sea to the top
Of Ben Lomond. The powers Of endu-
rance Of some of these bearers, and the
loads they carried, would scarcely find Gre
dence in these modern days. A Scottish
song, written by miner on bearer, his
contemporary in the mines, thus alludes to
her prowess
"She could carry on her back what wad
harry a naggy,-
For trained to the coal heugh was Meg Kill
beggie"
This slavish practice Was not confined to
Great Britain, but prevailed in equal ex-
tent in the coal mines of Continental
Europe, and to this day women work in
the mines Of Belgium. In the mines Of
st. Etienne, in France, the female bearers
were compelled to carry certain number
of loads of coal up the winding stairway
of the shaft as a days work Barefooted
and supported by a staff, these poor crea-
lures toiled harder than galley slaves.
This shameful practice Of employing
delicate females in the coal mines of Great
Britain continued until the year 1912,
when an act of the Legislature, based upon
the report Of a commission appointed by
Pertinent to inquire into the nature and
results of female labor in the coal pits,
was passed, which abolished a system re.
plete with poverty and shame and demon.
alization, at the very thought Of which
the sensitive mind revolts with horror
The same law also prohibited the employ.
ment of boys under 10 years of age from
working in the mines. The author Of thin
work, though not yet Al years Of age, re-
members well when he first went to the
coal mines Of Scotland, in his 9th year
many females of all ages, from Is to 81
years Of age, we're at work in the same pit
Until the year 1775, the Golfers of Scot
land were kept in species of actual bon
dage or slavery, being compelled to work
for life for the mine operators, and were
transferable with the mines. Although
/ the act OF manumission " as passed in thai
year, it was not until 1899 that many o.
them wholly obtained their freedom. The
first act contained certain provisions, the
violation Of which subjected the partie.
to continued servitude, and many of the
miners were too ignorant and too careless
to conform to the requirements Of the
| lhcSc SidNt-HlIncTS were the cDI6n
poraries Of Burke and Fox and Pitt, Brit
ish statesmen celebrated for their oppo
sition to human slavery. The runaway
negro slave who had taken refuge in
British port, stood redeemed, regenera
ted and Disseminated by the genius o.
British Institutions" and could bid de
tiance to the tyranny Of his master, bu
no native of Scotland who followed ths
occupation Of coal miner, dared to change
his occupation, or even to leave one mine
and seek another to work.
The slavery of the Scottish golfers doe,
not appear to have come down as frag
ment Of the ancient serfdom-of the feuda
ages, but to have originated in quite mod.
ern acts of the Scottish Parliment. and in
decisions of the Scottish Court of Sessions
The workers of the Salt mines were in
the same condition of serfdom as the Goa
miners. The preamble Of the British Act
of Parliament, which gave these people
their freedom, reads as follows where
as, by the Statute Laws of Scotland, as
explained by the judges of the courts OF
law there, many GOLFERS and coal bearers
and salters are in a state of slavery or
bondage, bound to the GOLFERS or salt
works fer life, transferable with the col
lieries and salt works, ETC., etc Even
the act of 1899 declares "that many col
hers and coal bearers still continue in a
state of bondage 1t may easily be con
ceived that class of men possessing the
high aud fierce spirit Of Scotchmen, would
not wear the chains Of slavery with ease.
They had so little relish for their work
that many of them had to be chained to
the mines during working hours.
In England the miners we're free to
make contracts, and worked for a certain
time for wages, generally securing small
bounty or rehiring themselves to their
employers. In their dress the English
miners Of ancient times were very gaudy;
their clothes, like Joseph's coat of old,
possessing many colOrs. The anonymous
author of the " History of Fossil Fuel"
thus speaks Of this characteristic Of the
English coal miners "Their holiday
Wslstcoats, called by them posey jacket,
were frequently Of very curious patterns,
displaying flowers of various dyes their
stockings were mostly blue purple, pink,
or mixed cOlOrs. A great part of them
used to have their hair very long, which
on work days was either tied in a queue or
rolled up in curls but when donned in
their best attire, it was commonly spread
over their shoulders. Some of them wore
two or three narrow ribbons around their