The record-union., 1891-08-15

women, four at each screen, some knOwl-
edge Of the wonderful quickness of eye
and movement on the part of these pit
brow women can be formed. No ship
! stoker ever came UP from the coal bunk
| ers more ebony black than they all be-
come after the first cage of the days OPP
Grafton has been tipped"
! The Jewelers. or "fillers' attend to
| the wagons or cars. Though the coal is
carried into them direct from the screens.
! much tumbleS about on the tracks. This
! IS thrown into the wagons, and when
they are filled. the women climb into or
upon them and adjust the coal in the
! same manner as the coke-makers trim
/ the coke wagons. This work is usually
done by girls from IA to Is years of age.
| They scramble under, between and over
| the wagons with the agility of monkeys,
and every one has superb physical de-
Velopment. / saw one place her hand
upon the bumper between the railway
wagons, and with a light spring leap
upon it, and from this, in another motion
vault into the loaded wagon five feet
above. Carrying a spade in her left
hand, she only had the use Of her right
hand, and yet no professional athlete
could have accomplished the performance
with more grace or apparent ease.
Having been fortunate enough to come
/ upon the pit-brOW laSSeS at various mines
at all hours of labor, in all departments
| and conditions of their labor at their
/ hours for meals and rest, on their way to
the mines and to their homes, and again
| in their homes. l can testify to their
| thoroughly good nature, good heartedness
! and unusual respectability. l confess
that / expected TO find the most forlorn
creatures bearing the image Of woman.
| All the illustrations [ had ever seen
portrayed them as hollow-cheeked hol-
loW-chested, scraggy, sodden and
| beaStly. They are nothing of the sort.
! Physically they are the finest formed
women in England. 1t is of course a
! startling thing to come suddenly upon
/ the platform above pit mouth and
amid the deafening clamor Of the engines,
! the crashing of the cage as it comes
! from the abyss below with terrific speed,
! the laundering of the iron trucks upon
! the metal floor as they are clipped" and
! hurled back into the hollow iron cage,
with the endless booming of the coal
! along the screens and into the wagons,
while lodging the flying rock and shale
| half discern these weird. swarthy
! figures ofWOmen, clad half in mans and
! half woman's attire, plunging here and
! there, as If engaged in some bedlamish
! saturnalia. 1t is one of the most pictur-
! esque scenes of labor | ever beheld, and
has the element of wild and awful gran
! deur in it.
But it has not the hopeless tragedy in it
! Of the certain wasting away of human
| life furnished by the mill or the factory.
English roses glow from English cheeks
| and flame through the pail of coal on the
| faces of these pit-brow Iasses. You can
not find plumper figures, prettier forms.
more shapely necks and limbs or daintier
feet, despite the ugly Clogs" in all of
| dreamtul Andalusia. THERE'S not harder,
tirmer, finer flesh and muscle in any
| prize ring. The sparkle of royal good
health leaps from their splendid hazel
! eyes. Their lips arc like the cockney's
heart and spirits, cherry ripe" And
! you never will find more dazZlingly
| white or beautiful teeth in the Azores, in
| Cuba, or with our own colored people
/ the cOaI-duSt performing the work of a
magnificent dentrifice.
Their picturesque costume various at
different mines. At some there are a
ragged lot indeed at their work But at
nearly all those pits, which are the prop
erty OF single or partnership owners, the
"Blundell" costume of the great Penn
berton mine, located two miles from Wi
gan, is III the main in use. This was
| originated by the late Hon. Mrs. Blum
dell, wife Of Colonel BlundeIl, NJ. P,
owner OF the Pemberton, fund being
provided from the purse of the deceased
lady to furnish annually as q free gift to
each plt-brow lassie at that mine, one suit
for working use.
1t is OF stout blue serge, and consists of
a jacket, which is a sort of blouse in
shape, short petticoat reaching nearly
! to the knees, pair of trowsers precisely
| like mans, and clogs instead of shoes.
! Their hair is first done up tightly in a
! kerchief, and the whole is incIosed IN a
fsCrt Of gathered bag, which fits tightly
about the forehead and around the back
OF the neck. Some wear mems caps for
head gear. These costumes, which at
tract no attention whatever in mining
regions, save from strangers, are donned
before the women leave home in the
morning, and are worn until they return
at night. They are mostly cleanIy
women and a bath is invariably taken
when the brow or 'broo gear is thrown
aside for the day. Then the it-hrow
lassie is arrayed as becomingly as any of
her class in England, and on the village
street or at church Of a Sunday you could
| not pick her out from among her COM
panions, unless for her fine color, form
and a positive classic poise and grace of
carriage possessed by no other working
women of England. / was in company
with Vicar Wood of Pemberton a part of
the time during my visit to the Penn ber-
ton mine. In view OF all that had been
charged against this form of woman's
labor, and particularly as the claim had
been persistently made that its influence
was ''unseXing" and demoralizing, |
bluntly asked him what was the real
character of these thousands of women
| for morality.
Well" he thoughfully replied, ''it
was one of the conditions made by the
Hon. Mrs. Blundell that no pit woman
/ here at Pemberton should receive the an
nual gift of a suit of clothes who did not
bear reproachless character. / have
charge Of the distri button. There has not
/ been but one instance where refusal OF
the gift has been found necessary during
the past ten years.
In almost countless conversations with
the pit-brow women, l have not found
one who did not seem happy and con-
! tented in her labor. For this class any
| labor at any wage is godsend in Eng
| land. Most Of them are rather proud OF
their distinction. All prefer it to any
other toll to which they have access.
| Their hours are from six in the morning
until half past four in the afternoon, with
half hour for breakfast and dinner; and
their wages from seven to twelve Shill-
! ings per week. Their meals are taken in
| their own room at the mines. where there
are rude benches, tables, and, winter or
summer, huge coal fire, at which their
coffee or tea is warmed. Altogether, [
should seriously regard the pit-brow
lasses as the hundsomest, healthiest, hap
piest and most respectable working
women in England.
EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN.
TIE USUAL REACTION.
Can this be / who on the stool
H. a