The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-12-10
A StoISer's Life.

passengers on an ocean steamer
know little about the lives OF the stok-
ers, who shovel coal into the ships
furnaces. Crossing overin the Ceph-
alonia of the Cunard Line this sum-
mer," says a correspondent, II was
leaning on the starboard bow one
evening, when black figure came out
OF some hole which leads to the dark
regions below the decks. end leaned
over the rail near me.
"He looked like an imp from the
kingdom of Pluto. He had on an
indescribable suit OF clothes, if it may
be called a suit, and he was actually
dripping with black sweat.
''There was something very mourn
ful and yet resigned in the mans face,
whose red eyes looked out from their
sooty framework like two partially
eXtlnguished GOALS.
awe were soon chatting freely; that
is to say, | asked questions, and he
answered., with slight foreign brogue,
which ! shall not attempt to repro.
duce. He told me he was one of the
eighteen or twenty fremen, and had
just come up to get breath ofalr.
"How much coaldoes thiss ship burn
in a day?'
"'Well, sir, about eighty ton. Ii we
forced her to 90 fifteen knots an hour,
as she is built to go, it would take
nearly twice that. Some of the New
York steamers burn two hundred tons
q day
"It must be hard work. Your work,
| mean
"'Yes, sir (modestly). No man
knows how hard till he tries it, SIR
"'How many hours a day do you
have to shovel?'
"'Well, sir, goes on at four O'Clock
tomorrow mornin' an works till
eight bells, eight O'Clock, you under
stand. That's four hours. Then I
comes up to breathe an get bite of
somethin', an the second gang goes
on for four hours. They knocks off,
an the third gang goes on. That
brings me on agin at eight bells, four
O'Clock in the afternoon. You see, |
puts i'll eight hours q day, four hours
at a time
"It must be hot down there?'
"'lt's an awful place, sir. One hun
dred and forty degrees where / work,
raking out ashes. Takes a young
man to stand that, sir
81 looked at him closely. He could
not have been over twenty-five.
"Iou must get terribly thirsty
What do YOU drink
"'Noth:n' but water Three or four
quarts. Sometimes we puts q piece
OF ice in it. Not often, though. You
see 'twouldn't be saie.'
GLOW much pay do you get for
this work?'
"'Well, sir, the c. Company, if l
do say it, does better by us than any
other company. Wegets fourpun six
teen about twenty-four dollars a
month.
THAT isn't much to support afam.
ily,'
"'You're right. sir. Most of us don t
have families. I've got one, though,
an my wife an little girl were sick
when | left Liverpool
81 couldn't get him to talk much
after this. and finally he moved away
toward the forecastle, saying, as he
went, Good night, sir. Perhaps he
wanted to think by himself OF his
wife and child, for it is entirely possi-
BILE even in this world OF social dis.
tinctions for stoker to have emo
tions and affections.
"It Is said that stoker on al
ocean steamer wears out in six years,
though he may possibly live two years
more if he is very strong. rugged
young man when he begins. All at
tempts thus far to substitute machin-
cry for manual labor in filling the
furnaces have been failures. Heaven
help the stoker. and give us all more
sympathy for him and Others like
him "