The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-10-21
81 wonder If anythin' shall be



and, keeping the lamp like a dogs
nose to the ground, slowly searched
every inch of the stall, in between the
posts, sending their shadows swiftly
round like wheel Of light; all down
the lower side of the stall he searched,
whistling quietly.
well, dash that boy, whatever"
calmly said Job.
He did not exactly use the exple-
tive dash" but it will serve
He slowly bent lower and picked up
a bit of shining steel.
Dash that boy" said he again,
without the slightest sign of temper
@'An after sayin' he did put back ev-
erythin'. The best wedge | got. An
to go an leave it there to be buried
when the top comes down an shoy-
elled into the COB with the rubbish!
| might lost that wedge forever The
best wedge got toe. Dash that boy.
Then he whistled softly as before,
as if he had been giving the boy
chocolates instead Of beans. II any
thing could have disturbed the calm,
easy, wonderful temper Of Job the dan
ger of losing his favorite wedge would
be the thing. He had the same feel
ing for it as an editor for favorite
brand Of blue pencil.
Il can knock out stiff bit O. coal,
he said to himself "easier with that
wedge than anythin'. An for him to
go an leave it there! Dash that boy.
But that was only at the end of the
verse. He whistled the next verse OF
the old Welsh melody just as softly
and sweetly and as beautifully in tune.
Nothing made him lose his presence OF
mind. Not even such a glaring in
stance of misplaced confidence in
that boy could upset him. 1t would
take an earthquake to do that.
Bent double, he put the lamp in
front of him and gave final lock
around before laying the low top lower
still; then he threw up his light to
the lids of one or two of the posts
to see if he had forgotten or not to
loosen them slightly for knocking out
BY this time he had come to the end
of the last verse, and he stopped whist
ling.
He carefully stuck the wedge into
cog, and hung his lamp upon it,
Then he went into the roadway past
the full tram of coal which glittered
in the light, and picked up slender
six-foot post. But before going back
to the cog, he looked up the road way
to make sure that the boy was no
where to be seen. The darkness of
endless night filled the place-the
black night that knows no day; for
Job looked upon spot hidden under
the earth a thousand feet from the
light Of the sun. Nearer the coal, his
little lamp glimmered on the cross
timber and rough sides that held up
the dangerous roof.
'If l didn't send the young rascal
to clean his lamp said Job, "he'd
be potchin about in here an get
.clout with a stone on his head mos
likely"
1t was merely the kindly nature of
him which made him 50 careful. The
boy was, no son Of his only his butty.
He slowly put a plug of strong to-
bacco into his mouth; for chew is
very excellent dust sponge, and the
job Job had in hand just then would
make-it necessary. Then satisfied that
the lad was far enough from the dan
gerous operation, he began to whistle
once more, and with the six-foot post
under his arm returned to his lamp on
the cog.
Holding his slender battering-ram
as near the end as possible, he went
down a step or two, and with profes-
sional skill, knocked out the furthest
posts firsts. A little creaking and
grumbling by the fall of the upper
vein of coal, mingled with rubbish.
more rubbish than anything else"
said Job. splitting out the dust which
enwrapped him like a fog.
Of course, no one wants rubbish; so
Job spoke of it disrespectfully The
mineral called mine makes iron, which
in turn makes Birmingham jewelry;
coal makes smoke, and smoke makes
limited companies and happy share
holders.
He listened for moment to the
-creaked, groaned, and strained like
vessel in rough water. The collier
took as much notice of these terrifics
as an old salt of puff of wind. To
those who went down to the sea and
the pits, shipwreck or destruction was
always too near to be terrible. Like
an old sailor taking a squint at
he roll ft1Cf ban