Webster City freeman., 1912-04-09
BY -
Candlelisht
CHAPTER 1.

should carry them back down the
shaft, he drew a book from his miners
coat and prepared to use the few mo-
snents Of upper daylight left him.
/ The book was covered with a news
paper which had taken on the pre-
IEN0ilinG iron-ore color and was just
the shade Of his hat and his shoes.
e.As far as he had toiled through the
book. the red hematite had left its
mark and now only a few unopened
pages kept their pristine whiteness.
! Harry was young man of Cornish
Darentage. AS soon as they would take
him in the mines he was set to pick
ing up ore and helping his father load
the tram cars. Soon he began to work
for himself, and his sturdy strength,
mis- bright mind and his ever kindly
way won him place among the men.
There were Swede and Firms and
Cornishmen in the mines. All were
good workmen, but many Of them dull
as the tram cars that did their duty
faithfully on the tracks, but were
useless without the guiding rails.
Even as a young boy Harry discov-
ored that he was quicker than most of
Me men, that he kept better record Of
the tramming and knew always how
much he and those who. worked near
Aim earned. When he recognized this
difference his great ambition was to
be put in charge of a gang Of men.
AS a child he had been to school,
could read in halting way from SIM
pie books, could write a little and
count enough to keep track Of the
Grams.
But in this boy was born the spirit
of unrest. On Sundays he would lay
aside his miners clothes and in a
cheap suit of upper-air dress wander
about the town. Occasionally he met
che principal of the high school. He
did not envy him his white hands,
his life of seeming ease, but he saw
In the teachers face look that he
Rnew was different from that Of the
miners. In vague way he realized
chat the young man looked into the
world that was closed to him. He
wondered what 1t was and longed for
q glimpse of it.
The young engineer at the Office also
attracted him. He realized that jack
$50 understood the teachers world,
bur he also knew the mines. Even
when he put on miners clothes and
came down the shaft there was no
,pistaking him for common miner.
He Fks1ew all about the ore; he had
map of all seven levels OF the mine
IN his head, and whether he rowed
IN the lake or walked through the
epHn or sat at the hotel table, he
could tell just what part of each level
WAS under him. But he knew other
things, and Harry understood that he
did,
One day he had been sent to the Of
Eice and on Jackson's desk, in clear
crystal vase, were some roses, the
sight OF which touched Harry with
feeling new and mysterious. A book
was lying there with rough edges
and a soft leather cover the color of
his ore-dusted coat, and a magazine
with silver paper knife between its
leaves.
Harry knew it was all different;
that it touched him and awoke in him
q vague longing for-he could not
have told you what He was but
child crying in the dark
Finally he went to the school teach
or and abruptly said: Il want to learn
TO read"
The teacher happened to be the
right sort. He may not have under
stood the situation fully-he didn't
need to, but he saw a bright-eyed
young miner with ambitions for bet
ter things, and he was willing to help.
Harry studied mornings and even
hngs and caught the few precious mo-
onents at noon. His progress was
rapid and he soon learned to read.
Writing was harder, for his fingers
were stiff from work, and odd mo-
anents could not be SO readily utilized.
But his horizon widened and soon
scame visions Of better things.
Somehow Jackson heard what he
was doing and became interested. He
Rent him books and explained things
in the mines that the others did not
care about and could not understand.
Three years Of such work had done
Ior him what high school course
usually .oss for the average boy. Only
~ few more pages of Caesar and he
will be ready TO try the examinations
1or the School of Mines. If he passes,
the money he has saved, with work in
the mines during the summer, will
carry him through. When that is
done, Jackson has promised to help
Aim TO a position.
The bell rings and Harry, pocketing
his book, moves to the shaft with the
rest. As the cage descends, he lights
his candle, hooks it into his hat as he
steps off at the third level and is only
q miner with an afternoons hard
work before him
In the middle of the afternoon he
at,,A& ,,,jty, ~,