The Jennings daily record., 1902-12-16
The Hero Of
the Coal Breaker.

S41O OOS1 A1A VSSAO4
- He great coal breaker was clouded
with dust. and noisy with the
rumble OF the crushers and tons Of
%oaen fans aarn ena a the
breaker boys worked industriously. sepa-
An day long. with the exception Of an
hour at noon. they had been tO,ling In the
breaker and their hands and arms ached:
Hello! Wake up there!" shouted one of
the boys across the breaker. HIS voice
scarcely sounding above q whisper, 30
great was the confusion.
IN wake you up!" replied the boy
spoken to- and he SHE'D piece Of Stag
Where's Pelican? Is that him with the
A roar Of laughter followed this sally.
and the dust-covered face OF Pelican
smiled with an outrageous attempt to ap-
Say. fellows. tonight we'll go and
have swim In the river. It's not enough
ann}hel to be there now! Look out. here comes
Then all conversation ceased. for the
roar of the coal made 1t Impossible for any
one to hear his own voice: but the break
er boys had a way of getting around this
Ihey began mimicking each other. and
speaking with eyes. lips and hands. Near
many days and weeks in the breaker.
Far down the chute sat Charlie Spar
he listened in dull. Indifferent way to
this chatting. His little hsslds ached
they were bleeding In many places from
It takes month and more for a new boy
to get accustomed to the work Of sorting
the coal before the tender skin of the
Charlie had not lived In the mining vii
lage until he received the appointment as
breaker boy. His father had been miner
tn park,s ,H~l l,s4 oh
tained position through friends.
There was little in Charities life to make
things bright and attractive Her father
away. waiting until he could make money
enough to enable her to live where he
To-day the work seemed endlessly hard
and dreary. and he worked away with
monotonous regularity. picking out the
slate 81: and and foreign matter with, his bleed
ing hands as the great mass of coal came
in charge Of his chute occasionally
s aas ona
when Charlie failed to secure a large
piece of slate which slid past him. the
man said sharply:
See here, youngster. you must wake
un If You wv, want 2. to retain your job You
Charlie nushed. but bravely turned to
his work with greater energy. using ev,
h boHs mac no van nhss e
felt that the boys considered him an in
other mining district.
eral when the boss" reprimanded him.
drudgery Of the labor went on and the
roar and dust continued to fill the air
The man in charge Of the breaker boys
the various workers. Fifteen minutes
later. as he turned his steps downward
again, the breaker boys near Charlie e. -
could not understand.
When within twenty feet Of Charlie, the
man MAJ stopped and watched vat him: Under
breaker boy was filled with embarrass-
ment. but his eyes and hands were alert.
In u that m Instant s;t: half T a dozen pieces Of
slate rushed down on Charlie from above.
He raised his eyes in surprise at such an
he saw the breaker boys who had ex-
changed the sly signals intently avoiding
his gaze in an instant charlis fealizsa fea sa
extra work forced on him. Charlie caught
a piece in either hand. and then grabbed
Could estch ali the peees had een
sent down or him. AS several. of them
passed his place. the boss" turned
caught sight Of the omission. His eyes
lowered at Charlie and, stepping toward
him. he said:
wages. We dJn't want such clumsy boys
on This breaker"
!ns, Lead of flushing this time. the blood
ly white. Even his hands grew so white
that the s::tn was in strong contrast to
the b.ocd and coal dust on them. But
along. apparently unaffected by the sud-
den discharge. His m-nd. however. was
working few rshly. He was thinking of
the W .dOwed mother in Il distant village
who was hoping and waiting for her boy
to provide Il home fer her in the mining
village.
Silence fell on the breaker boys around
and, as if ashamed of what they had
done. they avoided looking at him. Char
lie was ineiffere s 10 fhe,r looks J., he
serve had made h m unpopular. He real
ized that his manners had been mis- MT r
preted by h.s companions. and they had a
right to their opin CT him.
In half an hour the incident seemed
partly forgotten. and the boys joked and
their faces unit! they looked almost hide
GUS with their coating Of black ccal dust.
While enjoying particularly duet lull in
the operation of the machinery they be-
gan shout 'ng back and forth, and making
merry at each others expense.
ohnre ova 1 bs n, ra5 Of 5hs so b.
directed more above than below him.
While he looked upward a strange sight
were engaged in a friendly wranfle. and
the body of one cf them shot cut
into the chute down which the coal
poured. Unable to catch himself the boy
turned over and over and uttered q cry of
fear. But It was all done so quickly that
no hand was stretched out to save HIM
none except that CT Charlie Sparrow. He
saw the boy while s Ill far above him. and
with the instinct to save another In dis
tress he stretched out his hands to inter-
cent the fall.
The lad was falling down the sharp in
cline swiftly. and Charities arms seemed
hardly sufficient to stop the descent
Bracing himself against one of the steps.
and clung to it; but the momentum was
too great and he was jerked from his po-
sition and hurled down with the victim.
Down .ney went. turning over twice.
but the bottom of the chute was not more
th,,, fanS nd t1a 61an