The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1899-07-26
TO STUlY MINER-OLocY.
WHY THE YOUNG MAN WENT
TO THE MINES.
Said They Wee Good Place tn Go TO
III One wanted Ia Escape Be
ing Killed by His Vie
Tins Friends.


AS the little steamer which acts as a
ferry pulled out OF Norfolk harbor
bound for Old Point Comfort a muscu-
lar colored man who might have been
thirty years old ambled up on deck and
stretched out in the sun alongside an
old man of his race who sat ON a camp
stool with his feet resting on a bat
tered bag
"Goin' far?" asked the young fellow
by way of opening up conversation.
Bout ez far ez Cape Charles. suh."
Give aroun' hereY'
"Norfolk"
81 came down from NYork three
years ago an I'm just goin' back"
The old man looked at the young
man with the interest with which a
southern colOred man always inspects
his northern brother He planted his
feet more firmly on his Gladstone bag
and then said:
"Soh?"
"Yes: the north is good enough for
me. Are you looking for work."
Eyes, / is"
well take my advice and don't try
the mines"
Il knowed Sam Jackson. what is in
the mines" said the old man, IAN l
knowed what took him mining"
"Cut a manY
mo, sub, not at all 1t weren't no
man; it were n woman. an he shot
her"
He weren't in my shift. There were
a Nofolk man alongside o. me, an his
name was Pete, just Pete, an l heard
that he shot a man and that he didn't
come out of the mines"
"Wuz he tall, and did he have big
scar on his cheek?"
That's him."
why, know'd Pete an | sees him
shoot Bill Woodland two years ago cleo
ton day"
well. let me tell you, ole man, the
mines amt no place for IA peaceable
Niger, nowse. | was born aroun'
Thompson street, N York, an I've
seen some cutting an some pistolling
In my day. but nothin' like the mines.
Why, | was working with a shift my
first week in 'em. and n fellow long
side of me began jollying me because
l was from the north. / knowed there
was some bad men in the mines, an
I jes' thought I'd throw a scare into
him, so / SAYS, Il know all about you,
fellow. an I'm friend of the man
you cut. I'm goin' to fix you What
Ia, L. Ill 7 Iodine,
into the biggest barrel of she biggest
pistol ever seen. 1t was two feet long
an as big as your arm. | told him
was jes' foOling. an he put ii up. He
changed into Two mine mex week"
"Soh," said the old man admiringly.
''If you cut ii man an the man has
friends" continued the young man, 81
would advise you to 60 to the mines.
If his friends locate you in one mine
you can change to another. an if they
try to get you, they've got to come
pretty strong or they'll get cut to
pieces. If YOU shoot "A man an he has
friends. get into the mines quick. But
if your man don't have no friends,
les you stay out of the mines"
What for did you go?" asked the
old man.
Il tell you what for" said the young
man. Il went to the mines to mind
my own. business an to study miner
ology," and then he got up, stretched
himself. and went below
He cut somebody, sure" said the
old man to the deckhand. "but | wan
ter know what dat air miner-ology is"
When the boat put in at Old Point
Comfore the audience which had been
entertained by the discussion on mines
heard the old man ask the steward If
he knew what miner-ology was, and
the answer which he received was evil
IDENTITY disappointing.-New York Sun.