The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-06-21
Those
Black
Diamond
Men"
True Pictures of the
Coal Fields. .......
DEv. WILLIAM FUTCHEY Glib
X BONS has added rich gift to
II l,o it,rr

n EN. WILLIAM FUTCHEY GlB-
IN BONS has added a rich gift to
~ the literature illustrating types
of American life. His book. "Those
Black Diamond Men," just published by
1.-The Fleming II. Revell company, has a
unique value. for 1t contains character
sketches absolutely true as found in the
anthracite coal regions. A man of cul-
ture and unusual depth of spiritual ex-
rcrience, he has gathered these impress
sions before the strangeness, the pathos
and the tragedy became commonplace
because of familiarity He has written
these down with certain freshness and
spontaneity that no other interpreter
of conditions in our region has APP
preached. He has touched deeply the
springs of life underground and has
been close enough to the "other half"
that. like Jacob Riis, he has listened to
the heart beats and found that they are
alive.
His book deserves rank with Jacob
Ris How the Other Half Lives" with
Ralph Connor's "Black Rock and
'"Sky Pilot" with Wyckoff'.; Work
ers." Indeed, in some respects it ranks
above any of these, for somehow, woven
into the dull fabric, the rough and
Vdarkened warp and woof of the unlove-
1y caskets where his diamonds are
found Is subtle personal touch. Il ten
.der humor, a lack of bitterness that
none of these other books possesses to
such marked degree. The sarcasm is
keen and 1t cuts, but there, too, is the
tender healing Of an understanding
that does not condemn harshly but
ever pities.
I'll ~
novel. the characters appear again and
again in succeeding chapters and grow
dear and familiar There is a clergy
man with strenuous ideas and degree
of muscular Christianity which he finds
useful. There are English. Irish, Welsh,
Hungarian and Polish types easily rec
ognized and real. There is a sweet girl
with mission to go and preach the
gospel in China. but who finds her
heather along with her love at her own
flearthstone. There are woeful trage-
die and also bright glimpses of happi-
ness within the covers of this volume,
but chiefly the stories are tnged with
irrepressibe sadness that must hover
over the spot where tragedy is ever the
expected thing.
The fierce. hot resentment against the
SuiS III lhc idpvIlHS lIloii-lNluol-iS
everywhere predominant. 1t is such
resentment as man must have felt in
his heart who has been baffled at every
step by this menacing enemy, whenever
he has struggled to lift his fellows.
Another element prominent in the
series of stories Is the exceptional sense
of justice which the author shows. He
touches upon most of the grievances of
the mine workers, the daily peril to
life, sulphurous cum dumps. the defec-
tive condition Of powder. the rapacity
of corporate and yet he turns to the
other side of the question and shows
the kindness of heart. the generosity
and considerati tion of the individual OPP
orator, beneath gruff exterior. the
true ethics of strikes and the position
little understood-which the fOreign-
speaking laborer occupies.
While the colors in which the pic
lures are drawn seem in the main SOM
bre, there is certain vein of delicious
humor running through the entire book
that lends an infinite charm. The de-
scriptiOn of the scene where the iras-
cible president of a great railway
awarded fifty dollars to an importun-
ate Italian woman for the destruction
OF her goat on the railroad all because
the president did not understand her
lingo and thought she was bewailing
the loss OF COW, Is irresistible funny.