Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1889-07-18
THE COAL MINER
TRUTHS OF THE COAL FIELDS IN
TERESTINGLY TOLD.
Some of the Breaker Graduates-The
Slate Picker, Mule Driver and
Miner in the Pennsylvania
Anthracite Regions.
From the New York World.

little of the life and trials of the miner.
If it gets its fuel cheap it cares not how
or by whom it is produced. There are
only two things that attract attention to
the mincr-a general strike that causesa
scarcity of coal or some terrible disaster
by which scores of lives are lost.
Yet the miner deserves to be better
known.
lie is, as a general rule, patient in
dustrious, God-fearing, poorly paid work
er, whose toll contributes to the comfort
of many and the wealth Of few, but
who of late years has been unable to
secure either comfort or wealth for those
near and dear to him.
The statues of Pennsylvania say that
children under twelve years old must
not be employed in or about the mines,
but in the case Of the children of the
coal fields necessity knows no law"
and the little ones are often sent to pick
slate in the screen rooms of the big,
black, dusty breakers at q much earlier
age. Boys of eight and nine years and
sometimes younger enter upon this exact
ing employment, which stunts mind and
body. This is the first step to the mines.
4 few years ago little toddlers not
more than six years of age were some
times found picking slate in the screen
rooms, and accidents by which children
were crushed TO death by the massive
breaker machinery were not infrequent
People not acquainted with the condi-
ton of affairs naturally wondered why
children were permitted to become slate
pickers at such Il tender age, but the
cause was not difficult to find. Owing to
the frequency of fatal accidents in the
mines, by which the father of the family
was suddenly killed at his task, the
mother and her little ones are often left
penniless and without means of support
In such pitiful extremity the oldest
boy, no matter how young, would be
selected for the coal breaker so that his
little pittance of forty, or fifty, or sixty
! cents a day might help keep want from
| the door.
The natural pride, modesty and love
| of independence on the part of the poor
widow made her shrink appealing to the
poor authorities for help, and so her
boy would enter upon the career of q
slate picker at an age when most boys
are considered too young to begin then
school life.
Under the provisions of the present
| law boys under twelve years of age are
not supposed to work in the breaker, but
a great many who are only eight or nine
manage to make themselves look older
for the purpose of leaping over the legal
barrier, and tender hearted inspectors
who are acquainted with the needs OF
their families will not press the little
men too hard for the official record OF
their birth.
The great ambition of the average
slate picker is to become a mule driver
in the mine. This is considered desr.
able promotion. 1t is a step that adds
to his peril and to his pay, besides plac-
ing him in authority over a mule.
When a boy begins the work of mule
driving in the mines he has much tC
learn and runs many risks. The average
mule is as tricky as a ward politician
but the mine mule has tricks enough fol-
a Congressional district. The anima
seems to acquire added cunning in itS
ungerground home, where it thriVes and
grows strong in the dark, and it loses
nothing in this line by contact with the
mischievous mule boys, who take speca
delight in teaching it new antics. Many
of the sturdy mules employed in hauling
coal cars from the chamber where the
coal is mined to the foot of the shaft
along the subterranean track that grows
as the working increased have been in
the mines for years, and some of them
have become blind in this underground
service. The only light they see is that
reflected from the tiny lamp which the
driver or the miner carries in his hat,
except in case of a strike or protracted
suspension, when they are turned out to
grass in some of the fields which the
coal companies own.
Occasionally boy of human nature
manages to get on good terms with the
mule of which he has charge, but if he
happens to be ill-tempered and the mule
vicious, the combination is anything but
agreeable. Kicking on the part of the
mule and whacking on the part of the
lad vary the monotony of the grim, black
galleries of anthracite. Sometimes a
little mule driver is kicked to death, but
the danger of being squeezed at the side
of the car or crushed against the roof
! before he learns the fine points of his
| risky calling are much greater.
Nevertheless the mule drivers of the
coal fields are brave and hardy, and
those of them who have been in the
| service any length of time acquire a
degree of self-reliant courage that they
find greatly to their advantage in after
years. They become reckless riders of
the stubborn animals and in time man.
age to secure q control over them that is
really remarkable.
When the mule driver grows too big
to work and longs for the wages paid to
his class, he becomes Il "laborer'' if he
decides to remain in the mine, which he
almost always does. He has of course,
| been a laborer since he began the bust
ness of slate picking, but there is a spe-
cial meaning attached to the term in
mining coal, and certain remuneration
/ goes with it. This varies according to
locality and opportunity; nevertheless it
is pretty clearly defined in a general
way. The mule driver receives about
81 10 a day, sometimes a little more and
sometimes a little less. The pay of the
laborer runs from $3.50 to 81 rs and So
per day. The work of the laborer is
harder than that of the miner and not
so well paid, because his is what is
classed as unskilled labor. 1t should
not be so classed, however, for the reason
that none but men of intelligence ought
to be permitted to work in any depart
ment of mining. The work of the labor
er, as well as that of the miner calls for
ceaseless vigilance and thorough under
standing of his own environment.
The laborer is not held responsible for
the regulation Of the air currents that
facilitate ventilation, nor for the presence
of the noXious gases that frequently ac-
cumulate in such large volumes and scat
ter death and havoc through the subter-
ranean workshops upon contact with a
spark, nor for the swift and fatal fall of
roof, but he must, as one who is in per-
sOnal danger from such things, feel
ltr nt aI in