Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-07-07

mile or more before reaching the
breasts where they were at work, and
Lazy Tim was one of these.
SAT the time I'm tellin' you of I
was doing inspection work going
through one part of the mine an an
other to see that the timber support
ing the roof was safe, and that the
tracks along the gangways were all
right. By the way, though, if you
haven't been under ground much, I'd
better tell you something of it. You
know, two or three hundred feet below
the surface there is one set of work
ings called lift, laid out something
on level, though mighty irregular.
First, when you get to the foot of the
slope In the car, you find the main
gangway, "A sort of main road, and
oftentimes there are many branches or
small gangways leading from it. Now
the coal is blasted out of chambers
called breasts, which are located at
regular intervals like, with great pill
lars of coal and rock left standing be-
tween them to support the roof; en-
gineers and miners have to be mighty
careful not to blast away any of the
pillars, for the roof reaches way up to
the surface, and besides the millions
of tons of soil and gravel and stone
between the miners and the open air,
there may be forest on top of the sur
face, and often towns and cities stand
over mines that are being worked.
SO you see that it is risky job to rob
the pillars by blasting away part of
them, specially when you remember
that three hundred feet below city,
with hotels and banks and factory
buildings, there may be one lift; and
two hundred feet below this one, an
other, and third and fourth hun
dreds of feet below the others-mind
you, with scores and scores of miners
in each lift blasting away, and load
ing coal into little cars that run on
rails along the gangways from the
breasts to the foot of the slope where
they are hauled up to the surface.
But like sailormen and railroad hands,
minors get so used to danger, day af-
ter day, that they don't seem to feel
it always; and fools that they are.
when the supply of coal begins togive
out they will, at times, run the risk of
robbing pillar in order to make their
work last few weeks or months
longer
"Well, on this particular July day,
years ago, l tumbled out of the car at
the foot of the slope, and started along
the gangway looking about and in
specting as usual. There were some
little repairs needed at the mule
stables, L remember, and I spoke to
the stable-boss about 'em. DO the
mine mules live under ground?' you
ask. OF course they do, for years and
years ut stretch, without ever seeing
daylight. Save usl But I could tell
ye some curious tales of those big,
shaggy mine-mules, and maybe 1
will some time. But as was sayin',
nothing particular happened that July
day until about noon, when hap
pened along by Lazy Tins breast,
just as he was openin' his dinner pail.
Anyway, he sang out tonne, Come
along an eat here, Jim,' and 1 sat
down beside him, at the same time
taking the lid off my own pail. We
talked politics and one thing and an
other until 1 lighted my pipe. said,
Tim, why don't you fire up with your
pipe?' and he replied, MY matches
are beyond in my coat there, and 1
thought I'd wait until you finish that
pipe, and start another, when I could
use your match. This didn't surprise
me, but mention it just to show that
lazy Tim was still Lazy Tim at the
age of thirty, and when the father of
two children, one of them little girl
cripple with something the matter
with her back, so that she couldn't
walk. And then he stretched out,
and told me that Mary was getting
some better, the company doctor said,
and that very day, for the first time in
her life, she was going away from
home-poor little thing Where's
she goin' Timmy?" 1 asked, and he
answered, She's going on Sunday
school excursion with my wife and
Johnny, too. There's to be three sec
tions in the train, and all the Sunday
schools of the region have joined in.
She never was strong enough to go
anywhere before, and She been
talkin' and latin over this for weeks!
The train starts at noon sharp, and
the last..section is due to pass over the
surface above here where we're work
in at 1890, but IT'S likely they'll be
considerable late, they always are.
However, from 80 till one I'm just
goin' to lay here and smoke and look
up at the roof, and think of little
Mary goin' on her happiness-party,
as she calls it,. I nodded with ap-
rroyal, and said, Good for you, Tim
/ L