The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-10-14

Tor October:
I'm IL years old. goin' en- i3.~ sais
the boy to the boss Of the breaker IL
cidnt look more than 10. and he va.
only st but the law said he mus
be IL 20 get a job. He was one Of q
multitude of the 5000 OF
the mines. who. because miners fara-
HES are large and their Jay compa-
rauve small, start IN the breaker BE-
fore many boys have passed their pr
mary schooling. From the time he en-
ters the breaker there is a rule OF pro-
gress that is almost always followed.
once a miner and twice q breaker
boy, h upward growth Of boy 10 man,
breaker-boy To miner, the descent from
manhood TO old age from miner To
breaker-boy; that is the rule. So the
s-year-old boy who IS "I2 goin' on 49,"
starts in the breaker. He gets from 90
10 20 cents for 10 hours work. He rises
at $50 o'clock in the morning. puts on
his working clothes, always soaked
with dust, eats his breakfast and by 4
o'clock he has climbed the dark and
dusty stairway TO the screen-room,
bench built across a long chute through
which passes a steady stream of broken
coal. From the oal he must pick the
pieces of slate or rock.
1t is not a hard life. but il is con-
fining and tiresome. Sitting on his I'M
comfortable seat, bending constantly
over the passing stream OF coal his
hands Soon become cut and SCARED by
the sharp pieces of slate and coal. while
his finger nails are soon worn to the
quick from contact with the iron chute.
The air he breathes is saturated with
coal dust, and as a rule the breaker
is iercely hot in summer and intense
ly cold in winter. In many OF the mod
ern breakers, to be sure. steam heat
ing pipes have been introduced into
the screen-rooms, and fans have been
placed in some breakers to carry away
the dust. But however favorable the
conditions. the boys life is a hard one.
Yet it is a consistent introduction TO
what is to follow.
The ambition of every breaker-Doy is
to enter the mines, and al the first
opportunity he begins there as a door
over ii years of age, and
often nder-- The work of the door
boy is not so laborious as that in the
breaker. but is more monotonous. He
must be on hand when the first trip
of cars enters in the morning and re-
main until the last comes out at night.
His duty is to open n shut h door
as men and cars pass through the door,
which controls and regulates the venti-
lation of the mine. He is alone in the
darkness n silence all day, save
when other men and boys pass through
Ills uOOI. NOl many OI lucSe pONS care
TO read, and if they did it would be
impossible in the dim light of their
lamp. Whiting and whistling
are the boys chief recreations. The
d~oor-boy's ages vary from 65 TO 75
cents a day, and from this he provides
his own lamp, cotton n oil.
Just as the breaker-boy wants to be
a door-boy, the door-boy wants to be
a driver. When the mules are kept in
the mines, as they usually are, the
dr1ver-boy must go down the shaft in
time to clean and harness his mule,
bring him to the foot of the shaft and
hitch him to a trip of empty cars before
z o'clock. This trip of cars varies from
fou to seven, according to the number
of miners The driver k the empty
cars TO the working places and returns
them LOADED to the foot of the shaft.
They are then hoisted to the surface
and conveyed to the breaker, where the
Goa is cracked, sorted and cleaned, and
made ready for the market. There are
today 10000 drivers in h anthracite
coal mines. These boys are in constant
danger not only of falling roof and eX-
ploding gas but of being crushed by
the cars. Their pay varies from $1.1O
to $1.25, from which sum they supply
their own lamps, cotton and oil.
When the driver reaches the age Of
20 he becomes either a runner or d
laborer in the mines, more frequently
the latter. The runner is a conductor
who collects the loaded cars and di-
reefs the driver. The laborer is EN-
ployed by the miner, subject to lie ap-
of the superintendent, to Dad
the cars with the o a which has been
blasted by the miner. AS a rule he is
paid 50 much per car, and a definite
number of cars constitute q lays work
the number varying in. different
mines-averaging from five to seven,
equaling from twelve to fifteen tons
of coal. The laborer's work is often
made difficult by the water and rock
which are found in large quantities. in
coal veins.
There are "a, 1000 aborers in the an
thracite mines of Pennsylvania, each
one of whom is looking onward TO be-
coming a miner in the technical sense
of the word-that is. the employer of
a abnrer To do this a laborsr must
have had two years experience in prac-
teal mining and be able to pass an
examination before the district board.
If he passes he becomes a contractor
as well as a laborer. He enters into
a contract with the company to do a
certain work at so much Ter car or
yard. He blasts all the coal, and this
involves judgment in locating the hole,
skill in boring it, n care is preparing
and determining the size Of the shot
The number of blasts per LAY range
from four to twelve. according to The
size and character of the vein. He is
responsible for the prcpping necessary
to sustain the roof. According O. the
law of the state of Pennsylvania, the
company operating the mine is obfiges
20 urnis the miner the needed props
but the miner must place them at u
places as the min boss designate
Most of the boring Is Tor with har Il
machines. The miner furnishes I i
own tools and supplies. His pOwd Il
squibs. paper, soa n oil he is CO n
PEELED to buy from the company VIII ic
employs him. This equipment inclu de
the following tools: A hand mach in
for drilling, drill, 9crapper. net die
blasting barrel, cIowbar, pick SIN ove
EamTner, sledge. cartridge PIN. oil cal
tool o and lamp. AS a rule ne rise
al a. m: ne enter The mir 81 sortl
after 6. In some cases he is Obliged I
walk a mile or more Underground [
reach AIS place OF work. he epend
from eight TO ten hoursin the mine
Taking 300 days as the possible work
ing time in a year; the anthracit
miners daily pay for ths-p past 20 year
will moi average over s1,9 a day, an,
that of the laborer not eve s1.35.
His dangers are many. He may b