The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-01-09
Heart OF Humpback Hill.

he WAS Dung heeulesb 700. me dQpuNce
Heart Of Humpback Hill.
Jim was fifteen, Sam was twelve,
Johnny was nine, and then came the twin
babies. who were not of any age to speak
of. Their father was miner who had
come from England to the mining region
of western Pennsylvania, having heard
that work was plenty and living was easy
In the new country. He had been killed
by an accident in mine, only three
months after his arrival, and his family
were left to fight their way alone in the
world. Jim worked in the mines now,
but he was not large or storing for his age,
and his wages were small, and there was
not always bread enough to 60 round, to
say nothing of butter.
People were kind to them, especially
the members of the iron company, in
whose employ their father had been; but
times were hard, and there were many
poor families to be helped, and lately
there had been great robbery, by which
the iron company bad lost several thou
sand dollars, and they did not feel that
they could afford to give away as much as
they had done.
Sam carried Jim's dinner to the mine
when there was anything better than a
piece of bread. One day their nearest
neighbors, who were as poor as they except
for the possession of pig, which they
had converted into roasts and fries and
sausages, sent them, as q present, fine
roast. Not one of them would have cared
to eat such dinner as that unless Jim
could have some too. Sam had been 80
unfortunate as to cut his foot in chopping
wood that morning 80 that he could not
take step, but Johnny declared that he
could carry Jim's dinner just as well
as Sam.
There seemed to be no reason why he
couldn't, except that he was such little
fellow, not larger than most boys of seven,
and the mine on Humpback Hill was
good way off from where they lived.
His mother cautioned him a great
many times not to wander out of the path,
and she followed him to the door, and
called after him to be sure and 20 into
the right mine, because some of the old
ones were very dangerous, especially the
old Conoshawen mine, which was very
near the one in which Jim worked.
Johnny was somewhat impatient of
her warnings. He had been up to Jim's
mine two or three times with Sam, and
he rather thought he could tell which one
it was, even if the queer little square
openings did look just alike. 1t was the
third-no, the fourth-at the left hand,
as one stepped upon the little table-land,
halfway up Humpback Hill, where the
semi.circle of tunnel-like mines, extending
not down into the ground, like the mines
Johnny remembered in England, but
straight into the heart of the hill.
But was it not, after all, the fifth open.
ing? Johnny was conscious of a little
confusion in his mind upon that point as
he struggled up the hill, and wished he
had asked Sam but be should be sure to
know it when he saw it, And there were
almost always miners about the openings,
or men bringing the ore out in drays
drawn by queer little donkeys that kept
their eyes blinking when they came into
the light as if they never could get used
to it, There was no need of making
mistake about the mines, Johnny thought.
He did wish his mother would get over
thinking he was such a little fellow, and
worrying about him if he wasn't tied to
her apron string
When he reached the mines there was
nobody in sight. He peered into the
openings of four or five, and could not see
80 much as twinkling line in the dis.
lance. And he had forgotten whether
Jim's mine was third, or the fourth, or
fifth.
He was wondering what he should do
when there suddenly appeared out of one
OF the distant mines an Irishman with q
dray full OF ore and blinking donkey.
say, mister, which mine is it that
Jim-Jim Pringle-works in ?" called
Johnny.
The Irishman, who was busily engaged
in filling his pipe, nodded carelessly in the
direction of the opening at Johnnys left
hand. 1t was the fourth mine.
"That's the one / thought, but wasn't
quite sure" said Johnny, and ran into it,
fastening the little miners lamp which
his mother had given him into his cap,
and hoping that Jim's dinner would not
get cold before he found him.
Before he had gone so far into the mine
that daylight refused to follow him the
atmosphere became warm and oppressive,
like that of a dollhouse. The walls were
dripping with water, and if he had not
walked upon the rails which were made
for the drays to run upon, he would have
had to walk in mud and water over his
shoes.
at wasn't 80 wet the last time I was
here" said Johnny to himself.
On and on he went. Jim's dinner
would surely be cold before he got it.
"Surely it wasn't so far to 90 the last
time was here" he thought. at doesn't
seem as if Humpback Hill could be
80 thick through as this This seems
like a tunnel going under the whole
world, without any end"
Could he be wrong2 But no, the man
would have been sure to know, and he
thought he remembered that it was the
fourth opening. He wasn't exactly afraid,
but it did make him q little nervous to
think that he was under the ground. The
roof was supported only by wooden beams
it seemed very easy for the tons upon
tons OF earth above his head to fall and
bury him. He wished Jim didn't have to
work in a mine. Suddenly the feeble
Pickering rays of his lamp were cast upon
solid wall of earth in front of him. He
glanced upward. One of the wooden
beams had given away.
Johnny's heart beat like trip-hammer,
and he grew sick and faint. There had