Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-03-15
THE MINE BREAKER BOY
MOST GRoTESQUE AND PATHETIC
OF COLLlERY TYPES.

The strike at the Pennsylvania coal
mines is happily thing of the past,
but it will be many years before one
of the most grotesque and pathetic of
the mining types who figured in it will
fade from the memory of those who
had the opportunity of observing him
at close range, writes the Hazelton
| (Penn.) correspondent of the New
YORK Post. We heard quite a little
during the progress of the strike of
the "breakerboy." but it is hardly
likely that the general public has any
fair notion of what he really is. He
is, for the most part, mere child;
small in stature. as black as coal in
face, hands, and clothes; little lab
orer chained to monotonous toll, but
as sharp and shrewd as a Yankee.
The breaker itself. from which he
gets his name. is huge wooden box
like structure. 100 feet or more
in height Its boards have been paint
ed only by the sun. winds. and rain,
and an ugly workhouse it is. Grim
and dusty. it dots the landscape in
every direction and around it are
gathered the numerous pyramids of
| culm, for which it seems to stand as
sponsor.
The interior of one of these build
ings can well be compared to the
mechanism of the old-time church
steeple. There is a maze of wood
work, beam. upon beam; winding
black staircases; platforms and floors
ingrained with coal dust; innumerable
troughs down which great chunks of
mineral slide with a never-ceasing rat
tie; translucent windowpanes, upon
which the coal dust has hardened--in
all realm of blackness. of dust. and
everlasting cracking which would
soon PROSTATE the average man. AS
the coal falls in at the top great roll
lers receive and crush it into various
sizes. Thence it falls downward, over
the spirals or through the jig ma
chimes and the screens. and finally
tumbles into the railroad cars from
the huge bins where it is momentarily
! stored. In this process the breaker boys
are an important and essential part. In
the breakers where there are no spirals
or jig machines, every bit of coal for
the market must pass through their
hands. One can see them sitting
astride the troughs where they pick
all day and toss slate or bone into re-
ceptacles at their sides. Amid a
weird system of machinery, in a cen
trail portion of the workhouse where
the shadows are lost in darkness,
some have to spend all their time.
When these youngsters begin to
work, they must learn to discern def
nitely the differences between coal and
foreign substances. The majority of
them do this very quickly; some. of
course, are backward, and consequent
ly their productive powers are not so
great. The smaller boys have charge
OF picking the small sizes of coal,
while among the larger chunks can
be seen workers of various ages. Here
and there an old man is found. whose
hard and calloused hands tell of many
years labor in the roaring work
houses, where on the sunniest days
the light is equal only to that Of the
average cellar of a city dwelling.
When clouds obscure the sun, a miser-
able darkness is over everything, and
the eternal thunder of breaking and
sliding coal is for ever heard. No
more drear or desolate life can be
pictured than that which is impressed
upon one by the appearance of the
breakers on cloudy or rainy days.
Yet in them the little imps of black
ness must work. In the winter sea-
son, when the dull. sober light is
more continuous. they use miners
ever-wavering lamps. Winter time in
the breakers means chilling work for
| NIL, men and boys. Few are the
steampipes which heat the huge wood
on structures. and as the icy water
trickles down the chutes with the
| coal, it saturates the wooden gloves of
these little mining slaves.
But when the summer season comes
1t brings great relief from winter
trials. AS the days grow longer the
little fellows Of 10, IL. or IA
can trudge to work in the day
| light, and there is no more walking
over the roads perhaps for several
miles, in the bitterness of the noun
tain cold. Between half-pagt six and
seven in the morning they begin for
10 or - hours toll. while the
sun rises and falls and millions OF
yonug beings like their own selves
are enjoying the free bounties of ma
ture.
To know really the hardships of
work in such surroundings it is neces-
! sary to observe and feel them. A
sad sight it is to see thousands of boys
laboring in the grimy breakers for
80, 40 or SO cents a day, lead
ing a narrow. ignorant life. working
as dumb machines. plodding away, in
nocent of broader existence, Of the
! unconscious liberty Of other children,
and shaving because they were born
among the mines-because the condi.
| tions under which their fathers work
corpnel it For n few yaarc oil Coao