Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1877-01-20
BOYS IN COAL MINES,
The Life worked Out Of Children IN the
Mines Of Pennsylvania.

writes as follows: Several miles from
this place, near tho little mining town of
st, Clair, is the Hickory colliery, one OF
the Oldest mines in tho old Schuylkill
region. The entrance to the mine il
from tho top of the precipitous hill,
which, covered with tho black refuse of
scores of years, bears the semblance of
mountain of coal dust. From the
doors and open windows of the colliery
buildings great cloud of black dust Is
ever streaming, settling on everything
about till not an object IN the neighbor-
hood but is black us the black diamond
itself. The interior of the buildings is
cloud of hazy blackness; and the black,
silent men, MS they appear and disappear
in the dust, seem like so many evil genii
floating in the dark storm clouds.
The buildings at ono time were evil
IDENTIFY well kept, with some attention to
the comfort of the men who worked in
them, but now they are going to rack and
ruin. The rickety wooden stairs, lend
ing over depths TINT make the head swim
to look into them, aro 80 shaky and I'M
safe that it is only with the greatest care
that one who is unaccustomed can make
his way over them. The doorways are
open and bare, and there is nothing to
prevent the cold wind from whistling
through the old rookery.
With these somber surroundings it is
no wonder that the men are silent and
lowering. In these works 800 men and
boys are employed; and when I went
through the buildings and through the
mine l saw them all. Among all these
300, although I was with them for
hours, l did not hear laugh or even see
smile. Each ono had his routine to
go through, and he went through it just
as steam engine or clock. And when
quitting time came each one went bnck
to his home in the regular groove, just
us the steam goes out of the boiler when
its work is done, and then dropped off
into sleep, his only pleasure. l have
seen far more cheerful bodies of men in
prisons. 1t may be their black md
drealy surroundings; it may be their
knowledge of constant and terrible dan
ger; it may be the strain of great physi-
cal labor-I know not what it is, but
something there is about these mines
that wears the life and soul out of the
men, leaving only the weary, blackened
Shell
In a little room in this big, black she'd
It room not twenty feet square where a
broken stove, red-hot, tries vainIy to
warm the cold air that comes in through
the open window, forty boys are picking
their lives away. The floor of the room
is On inclined plane, and stream of
coal pours constantly in from some I'M
seen place above, crosses the room, and
pours out again into some unseen place
below. Rough board seats stretch across
the room, five OF six rows of them, very
low and very dirty, and on these the boys
sit, and separate the slate from the coal
as it runs down the inclined plane 1t
is a painful sight to see the men going
so silently and gloomily about their
work, but it is II thousand times worse to
see these boys. They work here, in this
little black hole, all day and every day,
trying to keep cool in summer, trying to
keep warm in winter, picking away
among the black Goals, bending over till
their little spines are curved, never say
ing word all the livelong day.
| stood and watched these boys for a
long time, without being seen by them,
for their backs are turned toward the
entrance door, and the coal makes such
a racket that they cannot hear anything
foot from their ears. They were
muflled up in old coats and old shawlsand
old scarfs, and ragged mttens to keep
their hands from freezing, and as they
sat and picked and picked, gathering lit
tie heaps of blackened slate by their
sides, they looked more like so many
black dwarfs than like party of fresh
young boys. The air was cold enough
and the work was lively enough to paint
any boys cheeks in rosy colors; but if
there was a red cheek in the room it was
we'll hidden under the coating of black
dust that covered everything. These
little fellows go to work in this cold.
dreary room at seven o'clock in the
and work till it is too dark to
see any longer. For this they get from
ST. to 50 a week. One result of their
work is the clean, free coal, that burns
away to ashes in the CRATE; another re-
suit L found in little miners graveyard,
beside pretty little church, where more
than every other stone bears the name of
some little fellow under fifteen years of
age.
The boys are of all sizes and ages,
from little fellows scarce big enough to
be wearing pantaloons up to youths of
fifteen and sixteen. After they reach
this age they go to work in the mine, for
there they can make more money Not
three boys in all this roomful could read
Or write. Shut in from everything that !
IS pleasant, with no chance to learn, with
no knowledge of what is going on about
hem, with nothing to do but work,
work, grinding their little lives away in
his dusty room, they are no more than
he wire screens that separate the great
jumps of coal from the small. They have
no games; when their days work is done
hey are too tired for that. They know
lothing but the difference between slate
md coal.
The smallest of the boys do not get
more than 81 week, and from this the
'ay goes up to 50 and SO. Some of them
i've several miles from the colliery, and
ire carried to the mine every morning
II the cars and back again every night,
he company charging them ten cents for
ZACH trip and deducting the fares from
heir wages at the end of the month.