The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1888-05-04

saCr1nced.
The sunny summer days went by,
but there was no sunshine in ,Napnir's
life She had learned the. full extent
of the calamity that had befallen h,
dear father, and the horizon of her ex-
istence, in which hope was glowing
hut a short time ago, was joyless. No
more, merry laughter for her no wild
ronps along the banks of the stream
with Nero no calling up Of he noun
tain echoes. Nero himself was pinn-
ing, and it seemed as if the sadness Of
his once merry playmates was puzzling
him. f
In time Tom Early was able to be
out again, but now, instead of being a
help, he was burden in his blindness
to the wife and daughter who were so
enderly devoted to him. Mamie often
look him by the ,atd and led him
along the river bank, where he loved
o listen to the music If the water tum
bling over the rocks. At such times
Mamie was sad and silent. Some
times she w-pt a. she contemplated
the face of her father, now 20 changed,
,ud watch d The nervous movements
of his lips, as he sat on a ledge of rock
list ming to the ng oI the river.
After returning weary and beartsick
from one of thee little walks, and
tea ling her blind father to his room.
Nannie's mother called her aside one
dav, and with tears in her eyes told
her all their money was gone. The
little that had been laid aside from the
frugal fathers earnings had been spent
for doctors bills. medicine, store bills.
etc, and now there was nothing left
In her despair the poor, tired mother
aid the case before Mamie, who, il,
seemed, had suddenly grown old and
wisa before her time.
Mamie listened attentively. This
vas new phase If sorrow with which
she had not hitherto been acquainted,
and when her mother had done speak
ing the girl said:
"Mamma, wish l was boy"
"Why do you wish that, my Nao.
ME 2"
"Bpcause then l could go to work in
the coal-breakrr, and earn some none,
for you and poor pspa. d. you think
they would let girl work in the coal
breaker at picking slate =
"No, my dear, that's impossible
and Mrs. Early shook her head sorrow-
fully.
Nannie's mind was made up, how
ever. That night she tried on the suit
of working clothes that her brother
used to wear in the coal breaker before
ha died, and was overjoyed to find
that it fitted her. She contemplate d
herself in the mirror to see how much
she coul look like slat' picker, ami
was pleased with the result
Next morning at dawn, while father
and mother we're sleeping soundly,
Mamie was up and away to the Bris
bin coal breaker, where she obtained
work AZ a slate-picker. As she took
her place in the dusty screen-room,
among an army of boys, she felt TX.
ceedingly strange, and kept thinking
"I wonder if they know l am a girl,
but as the day wore on, and she be-
came accustomed to the novel situa' ior
her mind was occupied with oth"l
thoughts.
The screen-room of the Brisbin coal
breaker was big black, grimey work,
shop in which about two hund ed boys
were employed picking the slate, ol
hale, from the broken anthracite tha
came rushing down the chutes from the
ponderous machinery at the top of tn,
al, ping floor, into which The great
boulders of coal We're dumped from the
cars in which hey were hosted out o
the mine.
1t il in this way that The aothracit.
cleau.d and made ready for thos.
cheerful fires that gladden. our homes
But it is at great sacrifice to the boy
hood If the cnll regions, which ia Otter
dwarfed, mentally and physically, by
the crushing influences of the screen
| room.
The work of the boys is superintend
ed by an individual-g-nerally an old
man-who is called "cracker- boss,
from the fact that the boys call tn,
cosl-br aker a "cracker," because the
coal is "cracked" there.
There are thousands OF boys employ
ed as slate -pickers in the Pennsylvania
coal-breskers, many of them beginning
this work at the tender age of six ol
seven years, and their life forms :
sombre phase OF the anthracite indus
try But with all the hardships o.
their calling the slat'' pickers are some
times merry, mischievous lot, and eve'
ready for fun or folly, 20 that the po
sitron OF "cracker boss is by no mean,
a sin cure.
Mamie, who was referred IT, by tn,
other slate -pickers as "the new boy,
was quiet ana downca-t. She soor
harmed how to sort out the dull slate
from the anthracite, hut 1t made he
6ng RS bleed. Still she bore the or
deal brsvely, for she felt that she wa,
working tor her blind father and hel
grrf-stricken mother.
Her quietness did not suit some o
the other slate. pickers, who had re
pugnanoe to any one sh wing th'
slightest tendency toward what they
called being "good.' For this reason
a decided current of an,ipathy was set
ting in against her, of which she wa
all unconscious.
Such sne-rs as ''The new boy is GO
ing to be an angel and "Twig hi
wings sproutin'," were quickl,
whispered through the screen-room.
Mamie tried to be Indifferent t,
these remarks, but she could not re
strain the tears that rushed to her eyes
and when the others saw that he
cheeks were wet, there was a broa,
grin, that attracted the attention of tn
oraeker-boss, and made him crack h
whip rather emphat'cally.
The most experienced slate-pickt r
felt that the "new boys" tears w-r
due to the fact that his fingers wer
bleeding, from contact with the Goa
this being one of the first ordeals Q
the screen-room. They were right /
surprising that Nannie's fingers bleC
but this was not the cause of her team
Fingrr-, at first and for some tim,
4