The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-11-03

pears to whoever enters the mine-a
pretty 3-year-old boy, with curling
golden hair.
Another mine that was made a pris-
on for the innocent is to be found in
California. A beautiful Indian girl was
shut up in an old, disused shaft by
discarded lover. He left bread and
water enough to last for a few days,
| after which she was doomed to slow
starvation. Travellers passing by the
lonely mine at night hear a woman's
voice calling for food and water. AT
first 1t sounds clear and shrill with
agony, and then becomes weaker and
weaker, until it dies away in feeble
wall.
Conwall is full of mining supersti-
tions, as is natural since that is the
only occupation of the people, with
the exception of fishing.
There is a public house in that coun-
ty with this sign: Come all good
Cornish boys, walk in. Here's brandy
rum and shrub and gin. You can't do
! less than drink success to copper, fish
and tin"
If on his way to work one of the
miners passes q SNAIL he always
! leaves him a small part of everything
! he is carrying for his own lunch, in
return for which attention the little
| creature is supposed to protect him
from accident and to bring him good
| luck.
At the mouth of almost every shaft
| is fastened a horseshoe, and as the
miner dFscends he never fails to touch
! his hand to the mascot, after which
! he feels that he is safe for that day,
at least.
The Cornish miners say that when
Noah's flood went into the sea it flowed
| from east to west, violently breaking
UP the rocks and tearing down the
! trees in its course. To prove the as
| sertion they point out the direction in
! which the great rocks lie in the mine
| and say that they frequently come
| across trees extended from east to
| west.
One Cornish mine is haunted by a
white rabbit. This specter invariably
! fOretells misfortune. Sometimes the
! little creature jumps upon the miners
| shoulder, and the he is surely a doomed
man.
Many are the stories told of warnings
! Sivel to miners just before the occur
renee Of some catastrophe. One man
| was called three times. At the third
summons he threw down his pick and
went to see what was wanted. He had
barely moved from his former position
when an enormous rock fell that would
! inevitably have crushed him had he re-
mained.
One of the great burning mines is
supposed to have been purposely de-
stroyel. The ghost of the man who
did the wicked work is seen, when the
shaft is dark, to issue from the shaft.
He is enveloDed in flame and rises
shrieking from the ground, pursued by
the spirits of those who lost their lives
through his evil act.
The miners in the emerald mines at
| Muzo. Roraina, say that the maenifi-
cent butterflies peculiar to that local
ity are the spirits of the mines and oh
tain their brilliant green color by feed
| ing on the emeralds.
a MAGIC CIRCLE.
The Indians call Roraina "the red
rocked light mountain" They claim
that 1t is surrounded by magic circle
within which no stranger may set foot
| without danger from the demons which
concealed in the interior of the noun
tain. On stormy nights, VIXEN light
ming flashes, the demons dance. They
take the form of beautiful women,
dressed in white, and their eyes are
living emeralds.
How strangely matter of course we
are! When do we ever think what toll,
what pain has been expended in the
| productions OF any one of the articles
of our daily use? Take, for instance, a
little lump of black coal. Lives may
have been sacrificed, hearts broken, in
bringing it from the dark home in the
bosom of the earth to the light of the
upper world. And all for what? To
go up the chimney in smoke; to fall, a
handful of ashes from the crate. The
romance and bitter reality OF life are
too completely blended to ever be truly
| separated.