The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1878-11-30
Written for the CARBON ADvocNE.l
4" Old Self" Ihe Miner.
A STORY OF THE
Anthracite Coal Regions.
BY w. D. HARRINGToN.


And borrowing dulls the edge Of husbandry.
This above ALTO thine own self be true
Antlit must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Shakespeare.
cold Self" was the nickname which his
fellow associates, in rdicule, gave to Jacob
De Costa. They said he was one of the
most selfish, one of the meanest old growl-
ers that ever welded pickaxe. They sold
also that he was singular, and that he was
mysterious. They thought there must be
something wrong about him. ....
By occupation Il Old Self" was miner
He had followed it for many years. As an
art, as a means of gaining a livelihood, he
well understood his business. His fellow
workers would add that he was " lucky
breast " that it did not turn out to be a
good one. One thing certain, the end of the
month always found a goodly amount to his
credit on the pay-rolls. Jealousy of him,
then, had no doubt been the foundation of
the ill-feeling that his associates felt against
him. For certain, Jacob was not malicious.
If he afflicted any man, it was strictly in
self-defence.
lie kept his own councils, took care of his
own interests, questioned no ones motives,
never promised what he did not pay, asked
no one to help him to defend his rights,
helped no one to defend theirs, avoided all
couhcts or took no interest in what led to
them, and seemed to have no ambition be-
yond the avocaton which he had selected
as a calling.
In the little mining village where he now
made his. abode, in central Pennsylvania,
people did not even know his nationality
he spoke German, French, Welsh and Eng
lish equally well. lie had been heard to
say that he followed mining in the Old
Country, and that was as much as people
knew of his past history, and he was now
an old man.
In stature he was short, athletic, had q
small head, broad shoulders, long wiry arms,
and no one could look at his powder mark
ed face, and not feel that he had adopted the
very calling in life for which nature had in
tended him-that of delvng in the dark,
mysterious bowels of the earth in order to
bring to its surface the wealth that lay hid
den there.
When he came and settled down in the
scene of his present labors, his only family
consisting of daughter, nine years of age, o
beautiful bright-eyed girl, who was no more
like him, in any particular, than he was an
angel of light. If Minnio-for that was the
girls namc--knew anything of hor fathoi'.
past history, she was as retcent on the sub.
iect as he was. She said she never remem-
bered her mother, who died while Minnie
was an infant
He purchased small plot of ground from
DR.. Spencer, one of the principal owners o.
the mines in which Jacob had engaged tC
earn his daily bread, and the owner of {
large portion of the village, where himself
and his employees resided. Upon this plo
of ground Jacob built four-roomed cot
tage, fitted it up cozy, and apparently com
menced life a new, with little Minnie a
houSekeeper.
And here arose. another neighborly mys
tery,-how did he pursue his occupation s.
diligently, keep house so neatly cultivate
pretty flower and vegetable garden and a
J the same time send Minnie punctually t
school? The real solution was that Will
his neighbors were sleeping, "Old Self wa
thinking and working. Seeing these thing
however, only combined to make them fec
even more bitter against him-to inauenc
the neighbors' boys to write with chalk upo
9 his gate and his fence the hateful sobriqut
of "Old Self"
In his tastes and his habits Jacob VIZ
. misery. lie neverspent money for sociabi
itys sake nor upon any of the vanities
life. lie drank no tea, coffee, or intoxica
ing beverages, lived upon plain, coarse die
IS used tobacco in no form, wore the simple
and cheapest clothing, never patroni2ed Il
" village barber except to have his hair trim
re med, nor paid any one a cent more than
Justly owed them, He always attendt
church punetually every Sabbath, but MOI
here even gave him credit for this, exec
the contribution collector and the sext
X who received the pew-rents.
! There was one exception to this pecula
! ty; and this exception was one in viii
ke love inspired him with pride As fro
le, month 70 month he saw Minnie's mind a.
faculties unfolding under scholastic cultu
h. her large brown eyes growing daily mo
nm brilliant, her health-glowing, happy fl
becoming more beautiful in its outlines, a
herself budding into a noble and loval
womanhood, she become the idol now, as :
had heretofore been the soleitude,o of his da
life, and he studied to make her feel hap
'i and to give her Q respectable attitude bei
her associates. And as year followed y
II. her intrinsic worth became TO him soc
"a, redemption, although she could not brJ
from his brow the cloud of gloom and S
row which ever seemed to linger the
Neither could she redeem him from the so
torturing, and to her, humilitating nj
name of cold Self" which each return
lie. season only seemed to bind more clos
IN about him.
~ Old Jacobs humble cottage was not g.
distance from the splendid residence OF
ON Spencer, but as might be expected there
never grown up any mutual sympathy
a.. tween the wealthy coal operator and
,tth rather singular old miner 1t had not
ever been the doctors fault, for altho'
possessed of great wealth, which he had
4E, cumulated by honest but fortunate spec'
tion, he considered himself but the equa
80 the umblistemployee dependent upon b
provided the man was honest. He
ma, abandoned his early occupation as ph
clan, and was now devoted to taking car
no his estates, and in making those depend
upon him comfortable. Ho was also
.,,o earnest humanitarian, taking deep int
TED, in all those institutions and efforts, the
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