Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-04
The BEL CLAN COAL COUNTRY

I time comely. Their eyes are bright and
i their beauty Is accentuated by the coal
Edust on their faces, through which the
/ red flames forth like that OF the dark
j set In a background OF black diamonds
Como with mo and let us visit one of the
| mines. we enter The great works where
! the mighty shaft is jerking up and down
raising the coal to the surface. AT the
mouth OF the opening stand a half dozen
of these Belgian girls, their heads done
ND in blue and white handkerchief tur-
bans, their sleeves rolled up high above
the elbows, and their shapely ankles
nIainIy showing between the ends Of
their skirts and their white wooden clogs.
See them grasp that car as the engine
| stoos and shove it over the rails to
where IT is to be dumped for the sorters.
| AS they do so another gang OF girls takes
their places to handle the next car and
others shoot the empties back to the
other side OF the shaft. There is no fool-
Ing about this. The women work IKE
bees and with the strength OF horses.
They do more than the men, and they
are, am told. more conscientious in
their work.
SORTING COAL.
Leave the shaft and come with mo to
the sorters. The coal rolls down chute
into the cars. Women stand at the side
Of the chute and help 1t onward With
hoes. Girls OF fourteen to twenty sit FUR
Their down picking the refuse and slate
out Of the coal with their hands. Stun.
further on there are more turbaned. bare
armed maidens. sooty and dirty, working
away as fast as their fingers can move.
and in the railroad car itself. into which
the coal drops, there are other women
hoeing the coal this way and that, sortlns
the waste. All the work is done by the
piece, and the girls are paid In proper 1on
to the amount they perform. asked as
to the wages, and was told that the rate
ia 2 cents a, basket, and that the best
workers can pick about a basket and
half every hour, thus earning as much as
80 cents in their day of twelve hours.
AMONG THE WOMEN MINERS.
And still the women miners of Belgium
are far better off to-day than they nave
ever been in the past Their condition
has been notoriously bad. For long
time little children were employed in
the mines. They were harnessed to carts
and coal cars with straps and chains SO
that they crawled along on their hands
and knees dragging the coal to the mouth
Of the suaft Now women under twenty
one are prohibited by law from working
underground, and hence those whom you
SEQ on the surface are young girls. They
could get better wages down below, and
many Of them will leave the surface
work and go into the mines as soon as
they are old enough.
AS q result, the surface girls are not
bent and broken. and those saw were
as well developed physically as the prize
golf girls of the United States. And still
they were toiling like SO many horses
pushing the cars this way and that Some
were lifting great Jumps Of coal weighing
from fifteen to twenty pounds each, and
others were doing all sorts of work which !
In America would be done by men.
In one place ditch was being dug and
lined with brick and cement. A girl Of l5
was mixing the mortar with hoe, and
little further on at a brick pile three
sturdy girls were loading bricks upon
wheelbarrow which fourth girl pushed
upon the car when it was full. They
were working hard, and the perspiration
stood out In white beads upon their dusty
faces. I took photograph Of them, and
my heart came into my throat as they
smiled.
WAGES IN BELGIUM.
1 have said that the women who sort
the coal earn about 50 cents day. Some
get less, but there are others who make
as much as 40 cents, and In the mines
they are paid as high as As cents. Men
miners get 70 or so cents underground,
and about 80 cents at the surface. Boys
OF Il and IS are paid AZ cents, and chill
Gren about 20 cents and upward Alto
gether. there are 124.OoO miners in Bel
GUM, and of them all doubt whether
10 per cent make 81 a day.
And still the Belgian working day
averages from ten TO twelve J,n,,rc ava