Year: 1869

ALI, the wears of her short life, Bell
Black had lived near to the mouth of the
coal-mine in which her father worked


Mr.. Black lived in the same region
when he was boy, before the mines were
opened, and his fathers rude little home
was so close to the place where the ground
was first broken that it was moved little
way to give room for the workmen to
move about when they began the shaft !;
and then when his son-BelFs father
grew to manhood, and had saved money
enough to put up roof and four walls,
that he could call "home," the old love
for the spot made him put his cabin down
as near to the mouth of the mine as he
could.


One might almost say that the Black
/ family were rooted into that coal-mine.
| for there were three brothers who went
down into it together every morning, and
came up out of it together every evening,
and sometimes fourth person went with
them, and him they called Father and
looked after tenderly, for his steps were
feeble from age, and his sight was dim :;
nevertheless, he also loved the old coal
mine where he had worked when in his
strength, and where his boys toiled all
the day.


Bell liked the mine also until last June.
A gentleman who had an interest in the
mine invited Bell to go TO Philadelphia
and make his daughters visit. He did
| that, partly because he had a sincere wish
| to make Bell happy, and he did it, in part
because he saw some signs of strike for
increased pay among the miners, and he
desired to please the Black brothers be-
cause they were men of influence in their
own class.


Bell went. She left home with tears of
affection for her father and mother, many
words of good-by for her brothers and
sisters Just as long as she could see a
sign of the place, she looked back toward
it, while the wheels of the rail-car rolled
her from home.


Bells home-sickness was very slight
and lasted but day or two. Amid all the
marvels and delights of the city, she be-
gan to wonder how she had lived in the
black, dingy coal region, and she was
sorry when the time came that Mr.. Capt.
tai said: Now, Bell, am going down
tomorrow, and 1 suppose you will be
very glad to see your father and mother
again"


ayes, sir" said Bell; but she did not
look glad at all; and l viii ttI you what
she did Just as soon as she could escape
from the table, she went up to the room
that had been given to her for the visit !;
shut the door, and then she sat down and
cried.


Presently Mr.. Capitals little daughter
Bernie went up. and found Bell crying.


"What is the matter ?" she asked.


"OhlI can't never go back to that
dreadful place to live, and l don't want
to" said Bell.


al always like to come back home when
I've been away" said Bernie, land I'm
sure so you ought"


"Well, don't you have nice home to
come to? 1 guess ] should said Bell /;
al just wish my father wasn't an old coal
miner"


40 Bell Black for shame to say that !!
You ought to be glad he wasn't slave
nor an Indian. And you just cried to see
him the night you came, you know You
did"


al don't care if did," said Bell, "he'd
be my father Just the same if we lived
somewhere else, wouldn't he? You needn't
talk"


If this feeling had lasted only moment,
it would have been bad enough; but 1T
staid until she reached home, and made her
Ssr the Ps PessaEe S sha5 had e seen syen
cross and disagreeable as possible.


Thinking to surprise and please her
daughter, Mrs. Black had gone to the rail-
way station to meet her.


cannot tell you how that poor mothers
heart felt when she saw Bell. Instead of
running down from the rail-car to kiss her,
the little girl Just went up and said ::
Mother, how shabby you do look"


Mrs. Black was not very well dressed,
but she looked quite as well as usual, and
she wore the same dress that she had
worn when, at parting, Bell had clung to
her neck with kisses.


"Do l, my dear child? did not know
it; but dare say l forgot to brush my
hair: the baby has been i'll, and some way
there never seemed so much to do before.
Besides, Bell, there's trouble at the mine"


az wish there wasn't any mine, mother,
and / wish father wasn't miner, and we
wern't poor. / don't want to live here
anyhow" Bell.said, as they came in sight
of the little cabin. Mrs. Black and Bell
were walking, while on a wheelbarrow
Just behind them was Bells little trunk,
and rolling the barrow was Jimmy, the
eldest child of the family.


Jimmy heard that remark, and he
dropped the barrow, exclaiming, as he
wiped his face:


"Bell, you may just trundle that barrow
home yourself L guess my lady has put
on altogether too fine airs for the mining
regions And Jimmy walked past them
and in at the cabin-door, leaving Bells
baggage on the highway.


ats nice to come home and be treated
So" said Bell, "and every things so mean
here. just wish was dead"


Didn't you have nice time at Mr..
Capitals? Were they kind to you, my
dear ?" asked Mrs. Black, going up to
Bell and taking off her hat, while at the
same time she turned about and made
Jimmy understand that he was to go back
after the wheeltarrow.


He went, and Mrs. Black did her ut
most to make Bell feel happy in her
Homecoming, but Bell did not try to find
happiness in anything. When her father
came up from the mine that night, instead
of finding Bell at the top of the shaft, as
he expected, to greet him, she was not
there. and when he went in at the door
she shrank back from his kiss.


1t is true that il was not so pleasant to
kiss a man who had been for eight hours
delving in the black dust and CRIME of
the mine, but Bell had kissed her father
when he was in Just that condition many
times.


"Got a new dress on, have you,
that you are afraid of, Bell?" he
said. "Well, wait till / wash"


When he was ready, Bell had disap-
peared "She has gone upstairs, her
mother said, and added: You had better
let Bell alone tonight; she feels the
change in every thing here, coming
home"


"a weeks a great time to change in.
don't see that every thing isn't just about
the same as usual around here" said the
miner.


1t had been arranged that one of Mr..
Capitals little daughters should go down
with another little girl and see Bell some
time, but the time was put of from week
tD week, and then came the great strike
That wrought evil in the miners homes
and in their hearts At first the Black
brothers held out against it, but they final
ly were forced to fall in with the rest, and
so want and trouble came into their cab
ms


An unhappy summer it was. Bell Black
wes not wise enough to know that God
knew what was best for her when He sent
her to be miners daughter, and that she |
was in lust the best place in the world for
her to be so she went on finding fault, |
and wishing that she had rich man for
her father, and trying to think that fine /
house and fine dresses would make her