The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1877-02-08
ssys IN tns pennsylvania Zines.

Several miles from this place, near
tue little mining town Of Sc. Clair, is
the Hickory Colliery. Il Is one OF the
Oldest mines in the old SchuylkIll
region, ami its furrows and tunnels
undermine tAe whole Of the steep
black hill. High up on 3 spur Of the
mountain its rambling frame build
lngs, blaekened with age aud coal
dust, may be seeD for miles along the
Schuylkill Valley. The entrance to
the mines Is from the top of the pre-
cipitOus bill, which, covered vita the
black refuse Of scores Of years, bears
the semblance Of q mountain OF coal
dust. From the doors and open
windows OF the eOlliery build
lngs great cloud of black dust
IL ever streaming, settling on every
thing about till there is not an object In
the neighborhoOd but is black as the
black diamond itself. The Interior of |
the buildings Is s cloud Of hRzy black
ness and the black, silent msa, ~
they appear aAd disappear ia the dust, /
seem like 81 many evil gsnii d0atinR
in dark storm clouds without bright
or cheerful feature to alleviabs the
gloom OF the surroundings.
In little room in one OF the5s bic
black sheds-a room not twenty feet
square-where a broken stove, red
hot, tries vainly to warm the cold air
that comes In through ths open win
dow, forty boys are picking their
lives away. Fhe floor of the room
Is an inelined plane, and 4 stream Of
coal pours constantly in from some
unseen place above, crosses the
room, and pOurs out again into |
some unseen place bslOw. Rough |
broad seats stretch across the room,
i've or six rows Of them, very low and |
very dirty, and on these the boys sit |
and separate slate from the coal as It /
runs down the inclined plane. Il Is 3 /
painful sight to see the men gong so /
silently and gloomily about their 1
work, but IL Is q thousand times worse
to see these boys. They work here,
In this little black hole, ali day aud /
every day, trying to keep cool 10 sum-
mer, trying to keep warm IN winter, /
picking away among the black Goals,
bending over till their little spines are
curved, never saying q word all the
livelOng day. These little fellows 20
to work In this cold, dreSry room at
seven O'Clock Ia the morning and
work till it is too dark to see any
longer. For this they get from one %
three dollars q week. Que result Of
their work Is the clean, free coal that
Durns away TO ashes in the grats an.
other result found 10 q little miuers'
graveyard, beside q pretty little
where more than every other
stone bears the pane of some little L
fellow under fifteen years Of age. I'll
any one Of these boys could have bis
choice between lying Ia the silent
or staying In the living
grave on the top Of the black hill, I
firmly believe that he would choose
the quiet rest In the hillside.
The boys are Of all sizes and ages,
from little fellows scarce big enough
t. be wearing pantslOOns up 20 youths I
Of fifteen and sixteen. After they
reach this age they 20 TO work /
Ia the mine, for there they can msks
more money. Not three boys "a al
this roomf1l could read or write, not
one Of them probably knew aught Of ,
the great world that lies beyond the :
bills which bound the valley; not :
Dne who has q higher ambition than
10 be old and strong enough TO 60 ;
down In the mine and delVe. There !
10 no sadder spectacle than boys who \
are men before their time and these
boys are not only men, but they are
Did men. Shut in from everything {
that In pleasant, with no chance to
earn, with no knowledge OF what Is !
going on about them, with nothing :
10 DO but work, work, grinding their )
little lives away In this dusty room,
they are no more than t1s wire 1
screens that separate the great Jumps
Df coal from the sLnsll. Tbey have no
gamss; when their days work is
iORe they are too tired for that :
They know nothing but the differences :
between slate and coal. / never saw 9
% melancholy 8 place IS this room
where the boys were at work This q
,oOm is only . sample Of 3 hundred
more such rooms n the Scnuykill
Valley. In every one OF them 3 score :
Ir more Of boys are picking away, 4
back and silent, and more than as o
many more are working I'm the mines. .
went down the shat OF this Hickory :,
Nine on q car, with seven miners,
md four Of them were boys. They I
vent down as quietly as 10 they were 4
.oing into the catacomos. 1t was 2
nearly dark, aud they were going =,
Town to stay all night. Hardly 3
word was said u
The smallest Of the boys do not get 2
more than a dollar & week, and from
his the pay goes up 10 two dollars
md three. Some OF them live several
niles from the eoliieTy (nOt this col
iery, in particular, but many Of the
,OllierIes in this regio1) }, aud are car
led to the mine every morning IN the
;ars and back sgain every night, the
company charging them ten cents
or each trip and dedueting the fares
rom their wages at the end Of the
month"; Sometimes, after the boys
lave got to the mine, they mud that
Iome accident has stopped the works :
hen they have nothing to do for the ;
lay and get no pay. In this way, a
I'M told, Il Is no unusual thing for q e
BOY 10 find, at the end Of the month, I,
hat bis Indebtedness to the company
'or railroad fares is more than the E,
,OmpAny's Indebtedness 10 him for
abor so that he has worked all the
nontn fox q few dollars less than
One Of the mine bosses said Z
10 me. when I talked 70 him about the si
Doys-and l bsIieve that he is right
SIT ought to be male 3 criminal Of :
'ense for any company to employ 3 r
BOY In q eollieTy VINO Is under sixteen n
years old, and every miner ought %
be made to send bis boys to school.
n I had BOY should rather throw
him down the shaft at once than put
hin to work in the mine before he
vas old enough TO choose for him
IslL"-PottsVills pa Cor. PbZadsl- 4
1hid Tines. :