The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1900-10-17
OUT OF DARKNESS.
How the Mules of the Pennsylvania
Mines Act During Their
Vacation.
Wilkesbarre, Pa, Oct. 13.-Bowed by


Wilkesbarre, Pa. Oct. 13.-Bowed by
the weight Of toll, bruised by car and
coal, blinded by continued darkness,
bony, black and blistered, the mine mules
are being hoisted from the damp depths
of the collieries in this valley and turned
loose in the fair green fields. Humani-
tarians talk about the sufferings of I'M
cared-for children, officials of big sOc1e-
ties decla1m at the number of animals
they have saved from torture, the dog
and cat and bird hospitals flourish, but
the mine mules stand alone in the land
strangers in a strange land. Down in
the mine their day is spent in hauling
cars Of coal along slippery, narrow pas
sages, a Pickering lamp at their heads,
a goad-armed driver boy at their heels;
their nights in narrow stalls lighted by
one lantern, their companions the big
mine rats.
There is always threatening them the
deadly explosion, the suffocating mine
gas, the flood, the fall of rock, the run
away car, hundred and one dangers,
and yet they live for years and years
without sunlight, without grass. with
out the luxury of a roll, the delights Of
an embarrassed gallop the smell of the
earth and growing things.
Not for Sympathy.
Many of them never see daylight after
being taken down a mine, and live out
their lives in the black depths with no
knowledge of what is above. But now,
owing to the great strike which has TIED
up the Wyoming and Lackawanna dis
tricts, and crippled those of Lehigh,
ShamolSin and Schuylkill, many Of the
army Of mine mules are being brought
to the surface and turned loose in the
fields The companies are not doing this
through sympathy and kindness. 1t is a
hard-cash proposition, being cheaper to
keep mules on the surface than below it.
No more pathetic sight can be i'm
aglned than to see the great dumb
brutes rushed to the head of the shafts
or to the mouths of the slopes and led
into the greenness and light and fresh
ness. The poor brutes, rull Of the spirit
of the mine, can hardly be induced to
step from the cage, and when they dc
the softness of the earth frightens them.
1t is with difficulty and stumblingly that
they are led from the mines to the fields.
The light blinds them, space bewilders
them. The touch of the tracks and the
ties as they cross consoles them for the
moment. They hesitate again to step on
the soft earth.
f Once in the fields they are both hui
morous and pathetic. Striped of their
harness, their manifold bruises barred to
the light, they stand living monuments
der burns, coal bruises car cuts, roof
jabs, whip streaks, rail rubsmau speak
as no tongue can Of their sufferings.
Blinking at the Grass.
There they stand knee-deep in the
grass, blinking, afraid to move one way
or another. Usually they stand so, day
and night, for two or three days, until
hunger and fatigue and the slow recov-
cry of their eyesight makes them bold
enough to walk. Their steps are ludi-
crous. They cannot understand that it
should be soft under foot Sure-footed
by nature, accustomed to hard railroad
ties and rocky floors and mud, by habit
they find it hard to realize that the way
ing green floor is firm and sound. They
are even afraid of the grass which moves
with the touch of the wind, but least of
all can they understand the space.
Cooped as they are IN narrow gang
ways in the mine, with hardly room to
turn, the roof forcing their heads low,
the rib scratching their sides if they
sway from the track, they cannot appre-
ciate the vastness of a two or three acre
lot
After a few days, when they are daring
enough to move around and investigate
the strange, new world, their delight
knows no bounds. They learn to nibble
at the grass and find it good to eat; they
learn to look at the sun and wonder
they learn TO see the birds fly near them
without being frightened; they learn it is
good to roll on the green carpet, and they
kick and gallop, gambOl and prance,
battle III the sunlight, eat of the fresh
ness of the field, smell of the earth, and
cry their joys to the skies in long-drawn
notes of delight
The best thing about it is that they do
not know it will all end sooner or later,
that the strike will be over and that the
mine awaits them.