Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-02-12
THE NINE By THE SEA.

Il
A strange sight is a coal mine. Won
derfolly picturesque, with its streets and
lanes and alleys, It's unbending corri-
doris and countless chambers of the
dead. The men there, with blackened
faces and scanty attire, seem of another
race from those above ground, and the
feeble lights cleaning in the midst of
the darkness gave weird. unreal as
pect to the scene
The only sounds heard are those Of
the coal wagons, slowly pushed along by
boys toward the mouth Of the pit, and
in the narrow passages, where the men
are at work, the clang OF their pickaxes
as they cleave their way through the
great rocks of coal. Men are not the
only beings here. There are horses
that have not seen the daylight for
many a year, to draw the wagons in the
broader passages, and sometimes, if the
light of the lamp is turned toward the
ground, the bright little eyes of rats
chow they came to that underworld I
don't know may be seen peering cut of
hooks among the walls. There is an al
most fearful somberness about the
place. Thoughts that the daylight.
would at once dlspel seem to haunt the
air, and the voices of the men as they
wander about-each one, Gideon-ike,
with his lamp and pickax-have deep
er, follower tone than above ground.
For two days storm, long remem-
bered on the coast, had been raging
but the men in the mine, accustomed as
they were to hearing the roar of the
waves above their heads, paid little heed
to the increased noise. George Hell
mers alone mad noticed it, and each day
had spent more time than usual in ex-
aiming the supports of the roof.
It was now night time, and he had
been experimenting some dangerous
work in the lower levels, Of blasting
with gunpowder, which, much against
his advice, the owner had ordered. This
being done, leaving further orders for
work with the men, George turned away
and walked alone in the direction of the
pits mouth, carrying in one hand
large canister containing the gunpow-
der, in the other his lamp and the
heavy stick that, on account of his
lameness, was his constant companion.
Even in the imperfect light it might
have been seen that great change had
passed over his face; it was haggard
and pinched-looking there was a
strange, restless glitter in his eyes, and
now and then his lips parted with invol-
untary quivering movements, quickly
pressed together again with that stern,
set expression that was now habitual to
them.
Instead Of leaving the mine, sudden
thought seemed to strike him half way,
and he turned aside and entered part
of the mine long deserted on account Of
working too near the bottom Of the sea,
but which recently had been opened
again; and, though George had many
times warned the owner Of the danger
Of weakening the supports Of the roof,
large quantities Of coal had been taken
from it.
All was still as he advanced through
the narrow passage, but soon these wild
ened into more open space, and, as
he entered, the noise of the tumultuous
watersoverhead wasfearfully loud. Acold
draught of air smote on him and made
him shiver. The place was known to
the golfers as "Boggart's Hole" or the
Ghosts Hole" It is an immense low
rooted hall, one of those natural caverns
that exist beneath the sea and land, and
In the center was an abyss, into whose
depths no human being had ever pene-
trated. The workings had been carried
on along the sides, and rude pathway
led half way round, abruptly stopping
above the great chasm.
The poor light which George had il
lunnined only narrow circle round him,
but be knew the place well, and, eau
tiously stepping along, reached the part
where the last workings had been made,
and which was SO low that he could
touch with his hand the black, shiny
roof, to which the gigantic, loathsome
fungi chung.
As he stood there wild fancies stole
over him. Loud above sounded the
thunderous boom Of the surf, and be-