New-York tribune., 1902-07-13
BOYS OF THE COAL NINE
BEGIN WORK ON THE BREAKERS AND
GROW INTO MINERS+THEIR
CHARACTERISTICS


The breaker boy of the anthracite coal regions
is in a class by himself In no other part of the
world there found boys az work al so tender
an age. earning much laboring so hard as
they do in the great. black. dust-couded breakers.
There is to-day many boy OF nine and ten wears
sitting on the chute boards. picking slate from the
coal and drawing for the work his atty cents a
day OF course, the employment laws officially do
permit this. No boy shall work who is not over
twelve, they say. but when boy brings a certif-
cate saying he is above the required age, what is
the breaker boss TO do, especially when boys are
needed?
These little fellows stay in the breaker usually
until they are fourteen or fifteen. and then follow
ing the path their fathers trod before them they
leave the great coal cleaning structure descend
by shaft or slope into the coal producing depths.
To one who has never been in the coal region.
structure, high the twenty story skyscrapers
covering an area as large as the average city
block, built, sometimes of iron but usually of wood
with countless windows. with numerous terraces
marking the divisions like giant steps and resting
more legs than can be counted side. and
the earth on the other Under the legs run the
tracks for the into which the cleaned and
marketable coal is poured from the chutes and
pockets
Away at the top Of the mammoth structure the
coal, fresh from the mine, is taken in carloads
along trestIes. up the long plane, to be empted
into the crushers, which swallow a time.
Leaving the crushers. the coal passes, by gradual
stages. down between rollers where the various
sizes drop through into the chutes arranged for
them, and are sent sliding down these chutes and
under the hands of the boys. whose duty it is TO
pick out the pieces of slate that slide along with
reaches the cars. waiting below. clean and free
from the larger impurities.
The boys sit on little wooden seats across the
chutes; their legs in the moving coal, ready to
stay the slide when the slate is thick or to kick
The rollers grind ceaselessly. with which
treny,S - 49, au I .te SIlule oL Ine many
S STrgaTs ms, OF Soa DOWN ne IRON chGteS The black
BOYS, '''1' '--s
From o'clock in the morning till 4 or in the af-
boy works in the midst of this coal dust and coal
Children Of the mine they. born in the
shadow of the culm heaps. with the roar of the
their feet The ae of f1[ h cTass WITH MINES b 0eRea[a
black with Gulm dirt or red with sulphur from
the soft culu, the aeIds they play in are pock-
marked With cave holes. and bare Of all save coarse
red unpainted, in dingy rows along dingy
Their whole life is lived with the mine. Is it any
wonder that II is their ambition go into the
breaker as soon they big enough pass
strain Of bended back and 6ehum6ed fingers
through the long hours Of the day? Far better is
than TO 20 10 school Indeed many would be sent
cents day is much 10 the average miners brood
and the only schooling considered necessary by
shovel and drill the ALPHABET Of the mine the
geography OF the workings, and the Chier problem
About two hundred is the usual quota OF boys 70
% several sections are Iariops bosses and over all
boys in charge and stands over them much the
schOolmaster does. to see that they do not shirk
cannot be heard, he uses switch or throws a bit
Of coal, and makes the gesture which means get
when a BOY first gets into the breaker. he is put
runs down a No, chute. In a few months, If nc
improves and shows an aptitude for work ne Is
then TO the No chute, where he cleans larger
given seat at No l chute 70 pick lump coal and
The rates ;e'1 Of paw vary at drerent mines but an
average is follows No. chute, % cents a day;
no chne IS This IS f6r ten honT Ss woTE S
but they usually work only eight hours. and
paid by the hour they get about one-hfth less than
The boys pick the slate from the chutes and throw
it into wooden boxes. When these are full
boy chute tender empties the box INTO the slate
step in promotion above No. chute. while the
ssR oS 6f a 'eE ae lot boy which is the
The compulsory education laws enforced in the
last few years have somewhat changed the con-
ditions. and during the school terms. many Of the
boys have 10 give up their benches and go 10 school
II is then thar the companies have difficulty in M
id ing Their and a the hand % 9Tcs OF s bs % b9 5X
into the schools. the companies have 20 MI their
se What e thew 1 look forfair MA Wages and work
that is not so hard or so dangerous as that in the
and daughters Of these ''foreisners'' dressing in
6Pssker 65ss Gt me" ''''''eS anu 7s'''''S ''11s
The senses OF the boys sharpened by their
contact ~ tender with much OF life that
Is rough and hard and they quick 10 take ad-
vantage Of any gain in position, and, on the other
offers. and II often does when the dust grows so
thick that cannot more than Few feet
and the boss Is able TO discern only the boys on
the lower benches. Often these lapSes are visited
the heads Of the offenders with extra work. for
the coal, il empties into below, Is watched
by a coal inspector. and he, il he finds Il full OF
slate. sends IL back TO be through the chute
a lot OF IL the boys sometimes work all night, ''on
condemned" IL Is called.
The breaker boy graduates in time 10 mine boy.
and believes that he Is advancing rapidly In the
world when he leave his bench in the breaker
and go into the mine He then considers that he
and chief consideration is that there is boss
stand him all the time and he IS practically
his own master He has certain work to do. and
does IT, He first becomes "nipper. or door
tender" then a driver" and later a runner.
and after that a real man in age and strength.
he graduates into a laborer and a mine worker
proper.
AS a ''nipper'' or door boy he enters the mine
between fourteen and sixteen. begins work by earn
ing 50 cents a day. and is gradually raised until
he gets 9s cents and in some mines a dollar. A
''nipper's' work is TO ahead OF trip or cars
the doors and hold them open while the cars
pass through, then shut the doors carefully catch
the operation Is repeated. The doors built 90
intervals in the gangways of the mines 70 econ
omiZe the air current. and the work OF seeing that
they are properly opened closed Is very i'm
portant. II the door left open air current
would be diverted o distributed gas might form
and explosion wreck the mine and kill many