The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-12
NOT WHILE HE LIVED.

Pits colliery about fifteen years back, and there was one man there who hailed from South Wales as got pret- ty friendly with. I've called him man." but don't know if the title comes right. He was more like a stunted boy than a man, and more like some sort of queer anil nal than either. He had a monstrous large head and shoulders, and pair or little, bowed, twisted legs, no bigger than a child's of a year old.
 I've said we were pretty friendly, but I don't know as I was anything more than civil to him.
 He was clever and could speak Eng 1 fish as well as any of us. He had been two years and more at the Nine Pits, and he brought some, money with him | when he came, for he had a. cottage of his own and a tidy piece of garden, which was above what the rest of us 1 had. ..'
 There wasn't a man of six feet amongst us stronger than he was. To have seen him swing his pick would have made you see, down some of the narrow, low galleries, where chaps like me would have to crawl
 l lived along with my father and sis- | ter then. We were precious poor, and father used to say he hoped Hetty would marry some one able to keep her., so give us lift that way. One day a new hand came to the pit, Jim Marwood by name, See him on | Sunday, going to chapel, clean and smart, as straight as a pole, with his blue eyes ooking so frank and smiling, and you'd say he looked a picture.
 He struck up mighty affection for me before he had been month in the gang. He told me all about his friends and such Like, most confidential, and I found out he had to keep his mother, and hadn't sixpencs he could call his own.
 We'll, one day-I remember it as clear as yesterday-it was between the lights on September evening, I was snok- ing my pipe in our back room-father was out of the house-when heard voices in the s9other room across the l passage. It was Matty and my sister talking together. .t tsr }'7 a} @. |
 Matty was the dwarf. He had a long Welsh name, but we; called him Mat ty" in the general way, because of his rough hair, and he didn't seem to mind the joke.
 T love you!" he says to Hetty. 1 five loved you ever since I've seen 1 you. Won't you marry me? I'd be a good husband to you.@
 She went into light, kind of scorn- full laugh. .e,, ~.
 Marry you?" she says. "Why, Mat ty, you must be dreaming! Of course won't"
 He was silent for minute; then he says: I'm stunted and crooked, l know, but love you better than any other man will ever love you, and I've ] a comfortable home to offer you" If you had twenty homes, Iwouldn't have you," she answered quick. ESQ do say no more about it."
 I think he moved round the room af- ter that, for his voice sounded nearer to me. He spoke sport and savage like:
 "Jim Marwood's the man that stands between you and me. Do you think I've been blind? Jim Marwood has got your heart, and do you think you will ever marry him while I'm alive?"
 Hetty never was the girl to be cowed, and she flashed round on him the next moment like gunpowder.
 ''It is Jim Marwood that has got my heart, and I have his and Pm not ashamed to say it before you or any man. I know you've got your cottage and your garden that you are so mor- tai proud of, and I know Jim is poor, and we shall have to wait for years, but you needn't think you'll frfghten me out of marrying him, for you won't; and if I didn't marry him, I'd never marry such miserable, wicked ugly little wretch as you! So don't flatter yourself would"
 I saw him no more that night, and, I didn't let on to Hetty that l had over heard them.
 The next day we were all under l ground as usual. Somehow or other Matty and Marwood and me found ourselves always pretty close together. He seemed to me to be hanging on to Jim in a way didn't like, hearing what I had heard, and I kept as close to both as well could.
 I noticed that the dwarf scarce took his eyes off Jim, except at twelve o'clock, when we stopped for our bit of food, and then he sat in a corner by himself under truck and scrubbed on 8 scrap of paper, with queer sort of 1 smile on his face.
 In the afternoon we got down to a lower level. It was a dangerous part of the mine, as we all knew, and we kept our davy lamps pretty tight, I can tell you.
 There's fire-damp about here," said one of the men.
 And a spark would settle the lot of us, wouldn't it?" said the dwarf.
 "Ah, that it would!" Jim answered Nothing more was said about fire damp, however, and that day, the l longest day l had eyer known, came