Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1891-08-18
WAKEMAN'S WANDERINGS
PIT BROW LAsses As SEEN At
THEIR eRlMY TOLL.

withaI-Their Work. Wages and Ways
lCopyrght, 1891, by Edgar l.. wakeman.l
WIGAE. England, Aug. l.-Approacning
Wigan by the Lancashire and Yorkshire
railway, which completely gridirons those
two important shires Of tremendous indus
tries, the eye rests on a fair and pleasant
landscape The nearness Of great manu-
featuring cities has crowded the pretty
farmsteadings closely together The fields
are small and carefully titled. The roads
are narrow and often paved. Hedges are
trim, gates are well painted. farm Offices
are ample and bright with fresh white
wash. and fine old towers or neat spires
here and there show above masses Of an
cient trees through which splatches Of
color from thatch, tile or gable hint Of
quiet village homes. To the eye IL is
winsome aud pastoral picture. Soon the
horizon line is pierced with chimney stacks
like mighty spears Besides these, as your
train speeds along there shortly appear
little bunchings Of houses clustering about
higher grimy clumps of buildings, and
surmounting these are huge wheels OF
steel Seen across pretty copses gentle
hills or nesting homes and outbuildings,
these seem like mighty spider webs against
the gray Of the far lower sky.
Scores Of these weird, black, lacelike cir
cles are visible. The meadows and fields
run green and fair close 70 the edges Of the
huddled structures beneath them. They
are the great wheels above the mine pits.
Over these run the steel wire or chain
which lifts or lowers the "hoppet" OF sends
below the cage" with its half dozen empty
trucks 20 return them to the bank or pit
brow, each truck laden with its 600 10 800
pounds Of coal Thousands more men dig
beneath these wheels and fields than labor
| in the fields above. There are more miles
| OF streets. galleries and ways below the
/ surface Of Lancashire than above, counting
/ all the countryside highways and city
streets It is beneath these mammoth
wheels which lift the coal that warns half
| of Britain. aud drives more than half her
changing machinery. that you will find
nearly one-thir,l Of all the pit brow lasses
Of England 10 their toll
Your first glimpse Of the pit women at
work ia their strange garb. with their
faces. arms and hands black a. night from
the CRIME 81 the coal dust, would fll you
with feeling % revulsion aud dread Of con
tact with such apparently saturnine crea-
lures aud a thrill Of indignation that
women were enslayed by such seemingly
degrading work. Acquaintance with the
work and the pit brow lssses themselves
will completely change these first impres
sious.
There are Eve kinds NJ women's labor at
the mines. To make this clear "a those
unused 20 mine proviucialisms the Eve
classes may be called "washers,' cob
| iers !" "tippers" " 'sscreeners" aud "fllers''
or "levelers.' The work Of the former
found 70 BE- at some mines 10 wash the dirt
] aIar rrtfIaa rrrb
sheds A rapid flow Of water filled two par.
allel troughs. Tue women raked the dirt
together and got rid Of IL through traps In
the trough Most Of these women wert
singing heartily a. they toiled. They were
under shelter, seemed 10 take their work
easily. the sound Of the running watel
was pleasant. aud they told me they would
I not like 10 exchange their work for ans
other labor ut the mines
IL occurred TO me there might be sons
connection between the running water ant
the songs. and found il 10 be- true Thes'
! were the only lasses who sang always a
: their work The purling OF the wate
, through the shining coal affected thesl
prisoned humans inst as a tiny house foun
tain will bewitch continuous melody from
the throats Of canaries and mocking bird
] in your window or conservatory Their
was the hint OF the wildwood IN it; th
whispered voices Of the fields and streams
the endless call of natures heart 70 all tina
was responsive Ia their own
The "coblers" are the coke burners. A
many mines all the line coal and refuse O
the screens is transformed into coke ol
the premises. The women here. iron
the nature OF she work. are compellei
TO do considerable hard labor Armei
with long handled shovels they 5000
the small coai into the arched doorway
Of tbe ovens with the same throw an
force as, and FAR more deitness aud dextei
ity than, the men. Whea the ovens an
finally ''charscd,' the women build up IA
doorway with bricks, which are plastere
over, and the ovens are then left to then
selves for several hours The coke is tina
ly taken out in the form Of a huge iumI
which splits easily IN pieces. Here agai
the women are employed Ia splitting th
coke "cobles" OF Jumps and then loadin
them into trucks. The coke il apt to ct
thsir hands and the women are provide
with stout leather hand guards With "a
aid OF these they pile the coke into the col
wagons or cars until filed, and then trim
the loads neatly, 20 that none Of the col
Is lost In its subsequent railway iourne.
AT most mines this work BY women is oJ
Of doors in storm or shine. though sever
OMuEEo nave AaAclJ FAoNA1r4 o--N-@a-
The clippers" do the heaviest work a
complished by women at the brows Of En-
lish mines The shafts are surroutsf
with high metal platform. usually CO.
cred a. a projection TO machinery an
workers. but open AZ the sides for light an
air. A the cage comes up from q
depths l.>sow with its load Of six truck
these are removed from opposite sides, q
weight OF each truck, chalked on it BY q
weiRhman below, shouted 70 the tallyma
= who Is boxed In a little glass encased ofhl
AZ one side. by tally boys, and as the trncl
are pulled from the cage BY powerful me
they are caught by the pit brow womel
who shove them 70 the tip" where q
coal Is conveyed 70 the screens. and ups
them. Each truck when empty must wele
800 pounds Its load Of coal will run FRO
600 70 so pounds. Il 4 geared on dimln
tive wide-tired wheels. but a. best is
cumbersome bnlk 20 handle. Yet TWO
fhnaa afronr nh brow Iaaena Will catch ca