Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1904-10-21

lelt NJ Intervals 10 support Tue IOOI,
and after a mine is worked out"
these pillars are minded away. The OPP
Grafton Of removing them is technical
/ ly called ''robbing the pillars" and it
Is the most dangerous work known to
the miner; for the roof caves in as the
sustaining columns are removed, not
unfrequently burying the miner for
ever beneath a mountain of rock and
earth. With this brief explanation of
our title we will proceed to narrate an
incident of a thrilling nature that oc-
Cured not long ago in Pennsylvania
coal mine.
Tie night is bitterly cold, and the
singing north wind bowls and whis-
| ties about a miners hut in the Penn
sylvania coal regions. Ever and anon
a violent gust drives the drifting snow
beneath the door, and through the
many crevices of the rudely construct
ed cot, and each wild blast seems to
shrek in the ears Of those within that
abode of poverty the dread words:
Famine! famine! famine!"
A man and woman.are crOuching be-
side smoldering fire. and in cradle
between them an infant is sleeping.
Hunger and want have stamped their
dreadful signs upon them. Their faces
are thin and pale, their eyes are hol-
low, and the wolfish glare of starvation
flashes in their glance. The mans
head has sunk upon his breast, and
his attitude is that of sullen despair;
his long, slender fingers, which he ex-
tends over the por fire. work ner-
vously, and a dark frown rests upon
his brow.
The woman rocks the cradle, and in
a weak. plaintive voice chants nur-
sery hyIan; yhile, with look Of agony
! and yeaFning such as only the devoted
mother can bestow, she gazes upon
the skeleton face of her starving
child
The infant awakes from it's troubled
sleep, end its cry of hunger breaks
upon that poor mothers ears, and
wrings her heart with anguish, for she
has no food to give it. Mechanically
she takes the baby to her breast. and
strives to give it the nourishment for
want of which it is perishing, but the
fount Ia dry, and the little one looks
up into its mothers face with piteOus,
wondering eyes. Then that mothers
fortitude gives way, and she sobs
aloud in a despairing burst of awful
grief, while to her breaking heart she
clasps the furnishing babe.
In silence the man has looked upon
the heartrend!ng scene, but all the sa-
cred emotions Of the husband and of
the father are stirred within his breast.
Can he calmly look upon the awful
| grief OF the woman? No, he springs
to his feet, and standing erect, he
smites his clinched hapd upon his
breast, and fiercely cries:
by Heavens. I will have food fer
you this night! The good God never
made man to starve in this land of
plenty II he is willing to work. Wife,
/ am going forth to seek food, and I'll
get it. Yes, I'll get it, and if in no
other way then l will steal it! l am
| desperate; | am a wolf now, and
would tear the throat of him who
dares to come between me and the
food ssek for my starving family"
AS he spoke he drew his thin and
tattered clothing more closely about
his emaciate6 form, and strobe toward
the door.
"Oh, John, john" cried the woman
rising and following him. Where are
you going? What are you about to do?
Stay, do not go forth into the storm
tonight. Watt until morning comes"
Wait! / tell. you Mary, the babe is
starving. No no, l must go now.
But, John, help may come tomor-
row. l have written to my father.
have told him that THAT / and
my babe are starving, and he will not
cannot refuse to help us now
"Ah, Mary, when you became my
wife he drove you from his home, dis
owned you. because l was poor. He
wished you to become the bride of a
father, ana your hopes will prove
groundless. Mary, l would work I'M
til fell dead at my task, rather than
accept his charity. But there is nc
work, the mixes are idle, and day after
day / have sought in vain for some la
Dor by which could earn our bread"
"Oh, If my father does not aid us,
then God help us! Oh, must my baby
| die?-must we starve-must we
starve?"
mo, no! BY the God that made me,
no! Food I'll have, if it costs my life
to get it," answered the man, and
there was desperate energy in his
wild words that told he was terribly
in earnest.
He pressed a hurried kiss upon the
brow of her who for love had given
up comfortable home to share his
humble lot. and then he went forth
into the night, into the driving storm
The wife pressed her face against the
pane, and strove to pierce the gloom
in which he vanished, while he
struggled onward onward through the
snow toward light that glimmered
like beacon in the distance.
The way was rugged and huge drifts
ly breasted them, and at last, painting
and exhausted, he reached>a large brick
dwelling, that by contrast with the
miserable miners huts around il
seemed a mansion. This was the res
idence of Hugh Ashton, the proprietor
of the colliery. and he was the man
| upon whose employment all the min
ers of that little hamlet depended fol
q livelihood.
John Fayne, such was the starving
miners name, rang the doorbell, and
was admitted to the presence of the
king
sMr. Ashton" said he. as he con
fronted the wealthy operator, my wife
and child are starving; will you give
/ me some food for them tonight?
have worked for you in the mines unit
compelled by sickness to give up, and
o1fhnn.ur, an, NON HE ~, rrorIr~u IN