Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-09-13
CHILDHOOD AZ THE COAL MINES.

There are many neiaHchoiS ieatuie C
connected with the life of coal miner," "
said Morgan Jones, formerly mine boss IN
the ScLuylliill coal region, but now resi-
dent of New York, "but the most painful is
the employment OF boys in and about col
lieries. A colliery boy is never child. lie
has no games. He seldom speaks. lie
knows nothing of the world beyond the
bleak hills that environ the grlmy locality
where he begins TO earn his living almost as
soon as he is large enough to be put into
trousers.
II have in my mind now colliery where
for wears | was one of the delivers. 1t is
one of the oldest and one of the richest
mines in the region. passed up and down
its shafts every day when it was not idle
for more than twenty-five years. have
helped carry from its depths the manSled
BODY of many poor fel!ow-Workman, crush
ed beneath some fall Of coal or mutilated by
fire damp explosions. | have witnessed the
agony of wives and mothers and sisters, as
victim after victim to the perils that con-
stantly threaten the miner that has been
raised from the deadly depths, and my
heart has ached from them in their grief.
The pognancy of that feeling time never
failed to temper, but the spectacle Of score or
more of boys aged before their time, bent,
and stunted, and worn, working their lives
away i'll the black, dusty breaker, sWelter-
ing and suHocating in the summer and
chilled to the bone in the winter, was some
thing that brought perpetual heartache.
The collery refer to is only the counter
part Of hundreds of others. Its buildings
are on high spur Of the Blue mountains,
l. e.. Hl,n ant, IN
the mines is at the top Of the hill, which Is
covered with the accumulated coal dust OF
wears. clouds Of which are constantly rising
irou the whrlng, sharp -toothed machinery
within, and pouring from the open doors
and windows. The interior is dark and
gloomy, with coal.begrimcd men moving
silently about, appearing and disappear
ing in the dust, coming from invisible cor
ners and suddenly swallowed up in impen-
ctraDle depths.
"In one room in one OF these colliery
buildings. room not more than fifteen
feet square, have seen forty boys at work
pickug slate from the coal that passes swift
" down the chutes in all endless stream.
They are seated on rough hemlock boards
stretched across the room in rows. The win
dous are always open in Wiuter and
summer, in order that the Gust
NAV escape. In winter the wind
whistles through the apartment, and The
snow beats in at the windows and doors.
From Z o'clock in the morning until dark
ness compels work to cease these boys sit on
their benches with backs bent almost double
over the running coal, separating the slate
from il. To do this requires great dexterlty
and skill with the hands and quick eye
The slate pickers range from seven to fifteen
wears Of age. At fifteen or sixteen they are
old enough TO enter the mines, and TO reach
| that stage in heir career is their only ambi-
| ton. Ifs any visitor to the colliery will take
the trouble 10 enter the miners graveyard
near by he will not need to be told how
many Of these boys never reach the goal Of
their ambition. The tombstones in the
graveyard are numerous, but great ma
jority bear the names of boys under the
age of ifteen--slate pickers, who have sue
cumbed to the overstran Of their toil-toil
firm before they had reached the freshness
Of youth.
sThe wages paid to these boys are from
one dollar to one dollar and fifty cents per
week, if they have the luck to be steadily
employed Some of them, in many in
stances, live long distances from the collier
les where they are employed, frequently as
| far as five or six miles. In such instances
they are carried to work in The morning
and home again in the evening in the coal
cars Of the colliery or company. For this
service they are sometimes charged as much
as ten cents Il trip the money being de-
Quoted from their wages. 1t is no uncom-
NOR thing for the boys to find, after reach.
ing the coliery, that the works will be idle
for some reason. In such cases they get
no pay, and have known it to happen that
at the end of the month it would re-
ouire not only all of boys wages to
pay for his transportation, but that he
would still be in debt to his employer.
While was in the coal regions l endcavored to
awaken an interest among the miners on the SUBJ
iect of this employing boys at the coleries, with
| the idea of making = change in the system, but
nine out of ten Of them had large families of boys
and they were willing 20 run the risk of them
being equal to the hardship of the life Of slate
picker rather than lose the pittance each would
] contribute TO the family income got up petit
tion among the people ut large asking the enact
ing of a law prohibiting the employment OF boys
under 16 at any tollicry, and compelling miners
| TO send their children to school until they were
| that age Ius nothing ever came ot IT, In INC
meantime the g,avcyards of the coal regions are
rapidly filling with boys whose surroundings
might be made such that they would grow up &c
be useful members CT their communities, ano
parents employers, society and legislators looE
idly on at the slaughter. "-New York san.