Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-12-29

through the bit and water is injected
into the rock.
The miner drills these holes all day.
Then he lamps in his dynamite ana
fires them just before quitting time.
The explosive rends and breaks the
rock and exposes the precious copper.
In his mine the copper is intermlngled
with gravel, holding the mass togeth-
er in fine wire-like formation.
The drill ceased it's clatter ana we
began our backward journey. Next
drep to the very bottom, $500 feet
into the foundation of the earth.
Beyond the efforts of our lights was
darkness Not the darkness or the
night, but darkness without the sus-
gestion of a star, the darkness OIL
senseless sleep. the darkness even OF
death itself.
Something seemed to oppress us, anu
our voices sank to whispers BY ana py
we ceased to talk Somewhere drop OF
water fell with a splash. Then tAat ST.
lence-that silence so intense 1t seemed
to pulsate. Above was busy village.
People were walking and driving, eating
and drinking. working and sleeping.
Armed men were in brown tents. others
roaa steel-shod horses Trolley cars
banged their uneven way. and locomo-
tives shrilled or puffed in hoarse ex-
| haust. Above, yes-more than mile
above.
Over our heads the weight of humani-
ty, of churches, schools, haoltauohs'
commerce and all things attendant on
| humanity. And more, the weight OK
more than a mile of Mother Earth. Pitt
full mutes we with our little carplde
lights, our white faces and our specimens
of copper
They showed us what might happen.
The 34-year captain, sure OF loot ana
agile. climbed through narrow opening
We followed for few feet and STOOD
while his light cleaned higher ana
higher Before us and behind him a
maze of tangled wood, of fallen rock,
forest of destruction brought about oy
Nature,s attempt to heal the wound in
ficted by man. 1t was only "caveln'
a common thing, but emblematic OF the
Titanic power of destruction concealed
within those everlasting rocks
When the copper is all out OF vein
the working is abandoned. Rocks drop
and the sides cruInble BY and by II
ceases to exist. 1t fills up and the sur
face is not disturbed. Sort of consoiins
| thought more than a mile below the
| surface, to know that if the roof or the
| world came down, those above Wouid
never know of your passing.
| These caves" do not occur In the
| abandoned workings alone. Sometimes
they come down about the ears or the
| men as they labor. Before the fall there
! is whispering and a groaning, warn
ing that something is coming. Maybe
the noise of the drills browns this out.
Maybe the worker is on contract and is
thinking only of his dirt" a drop of
rocks from the roof as a preliminary OF
the big show.
And thence comes another Indictment
against the one-man drill Even small
rock dropped 20 feet may do damage to
the head of a man. If he has some one
working with him he can be dragged to
safety if he is unconscious If the near
est man is 1900 feet away ne is apt to lie
there until to recover his pody IS al
! most as difficult as it is to secure cop
per.
Above. our friends, our families, our
homes Below. the fires of the center o.
| the earth. The heat came through the
rocks and filled the chamber
The slightest exertien produced rivers
of perspiration Even absolute loss OF
! notion failed to dam the stream. II was
as though the hot room of bath was
sped up many degrees stokehole OF
| an ocean finer is the only fit comparison
In the copper country man can reach
the equator by merely dropping a few
thousand feet. He may leave blizzard
! and arrive in the orthodox conception oi
| hell in 10 minutes.
glitter in the roof attracted me. ant
l turned my lamp upward, continuing tc
walk. Fatal mistake-I stepped into one
of those black holes leading to nowhere
My body shot into space, my pulse froze
| my hair turned white. Ages passed be
fore I struck-ages in which broker
bones, scattered brains and mangled re
mains were burned into my conscious
ness l stopped-standing not even ar
ankle twisted. The depression into Which
had stepped was a scant foot, but fol
all practical purposes it might as wei
have been thousand. The only thinl
that saved me from dying was my speed
in falling. Any delay would have beer
fatal.
Over the rocks we climbed once NOR,
and reached the car. Again the timber:
with their lichens, finally a marble o.
daylight, and then the surface.
eW had written a new chapter in oul
lives. We had descended the deepes
mine in the world. We were again a
the surface the dank breath blowing il
our faces the cage ready for another de
scent.-New York Tribune.
NURSE WAS AN ARTIST IN CRIME
| Marie Jeanneret, Win Eound Poa&rv