Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1886-09-03
THE COAL MINER.

pOrcheS the roses are DlOOiHluS anu
ia whose adjacent gardens the traces OF
industry and good taste are visible IN
these golden days. Some Of the dwell
ings are only il single story, but the
majority of them are two stories high.
They are cosy frame buildings, erected
for accommodation rather thar comfort,
yet combining both, and around the
doors of many of them and under the
friendly shade of the fruit trees that
throw their cool shadows across the
walks are heard the voices Of children,
whose merry prattle is fatal to anarchism
and all other isms that aim at the de-
struction Of love and home and hope
and religion. AS Il general thing, ;he
miners have large families, and while
their tables do not boast of many OF
life's luxuries, they manage to get a
moderate share Of such substantial fare
as pork and cabbage, potatoes and beef
steak, with an occasional pie. The ma
iority OF them now find it difficult
matter TO feed themselves and their fam :
lilies. IL requires no small degree Of
tact, at the present rate of earning, to
pay the monthly store bills, to say moth
ing of clothing and.the other necessities
of life. And yet the output Of coal is
large.
When business is brisk seven or eight
hours constitute n miners working
day, while the laborers work ten houls 5
or more per day. On full time miner
earns from 81 80 to $2.75 day, and he is
fortunate just now if his earnings aver
age 1925 to $3.50. Under favorable
circumstances, and with plenty Of work,
laborer earns $l.75 day generally,
but he does not earn much more than
IS cents a day at present. The men en-
ployed OH what is called "the day shift"
generally 60 to work at Z O'Clock in the
morning, and those employed in the
mines ut night, or OH the might shift,
begin their tasks at ) o'clock in the af-
ternoon. The food of the miner and his
family generally consists of plain, sub
stantial fare, meat of some kind being
used invariably once a day. Much OF
this meat is bacon or Shoulder" which
is bought because it is cheaper than
"5utchers' meat" This is the staple
article of diet and it is supplemented by
bread, potatoes, cabbage, when in sea-
son, and good deal Of salt fish and
cheese. These constitute the main ar
ticles of food on miners table, but
when work is steadier aud pay better
the love of luxury extends to ah occa-
sional cake or pie. Some of the miners,
although they are the exceptions to the
general rule, ar so fortunately situated
as to be able to raise their own pork,
and at their tables meat is not rs scarce
as it is with those who depend for the
necessaries and comforts OF life on their
slender earnings.
The miners outfit requires in the
first place a coarse suit of clothing. II
the working place is wet an oiled suit
similar to that worn by sailors is essen-
tial, with broad sou'wester hat and
heavy hob-railed boots. The hat is gem
orally provided with a place for holding
the lamp in front while the miner works.
The miner must have drill-generally
six or seven feet long and tipped with
about six inches of steel. Recent in
yentioas have improved on this primi-
tive method of making room for the
blast that brings down tho anthracite,
and patent augur does duty in many
places at present for the cumbersome
drill and Is much handler. The outfit of
the miner includes an Oil-can, a mining
lamp, wicks for the latter, dinner pail
and pail for coffee or water. The
blasting materials consist of powder
served in twenty five pound kegs or in
prepared cartridges. When the former
is used the miner makes up his own
charges and uses waterproof paper for
the purpose. The ready. made cartridges
are supplied in fire-pIoof cases.
In preparing for a blast steel needle
about five or six feet long is inserted in
the charge, which is tampered close, af-
ter which the needle is withdrawn aud
a straw or squib inserted in the hole
thus made for the purpose of igniting
the explosive. In gaseous mines touch
squibs are employed to fire the blast, as
a flame would be specially dangerous.
All these fine points must be under
stood by the miner TO carry on his work
successfully; but, careful as he is, great
accidents that startle the country and
fill whole communities with woe some
times occur. To this class of mining
horrors belong the disasters at Avon
dale, West Pittston aud Nanticoke, all
of comparatively recent occurrence, and
the Carbonlale mine ''cave-in" OF
nearly thirty years ago, which is still
remembered yividly by some of the
older miners of the Lackawana Valley.
A disaster that takes twenty or forty
precious lives at single swoop is nat
urally remembered with terror, but the
miscellaneous deaths that are caused by
fall Of roof and explosions Of fire damp
in single year are not less appalling.
The death list in the coal regions is ter
ribly augmented every year by the fa-
talities in the mines, and the long ar
ray of widows and orphans who are
thus suddedly deprived Of the means Of
support is something pitiful to contem-
plate.
(! The pleasures ia the life Of the miner
are of a primitive sort. Occasionally