Work in the
coal-mine I always dreaded. One reason for this was that any one
who worked in a coal-mine was always unclean, at least while at
work, and it was a very hard job to get one's skin clean after
the day's work was over. Then it was fully a mile from the
opening of the coal-mine to the face of the coal, and all, of
course, was in the blackest darkness. I do not believe that one
ever experiences anywhere else such darkness as he does in a
coal-mine. The mine was divided into a large number of different
"rooms" or departments, and, as I never was able to learn the
location of all these "rooms," I many times found myself lost in
the mine. To add to the horror of being lost, sometimes my light
would go out, and then, if I did not happen to have a match, I
would wander about in the darkness until by chance I found some
one to give me a light. The work was not only hard, but it was
dangerous. There was always the danger of being blown to pieces
by a premature explosion of powder, or of being crushed by
falling slate. Accidents from one or the other of these causes
were frequently occurring, and this kept me in constant fear.
Many children of the tenderest years were compelled then, as is
now true I fear, in most coal-mining districts, to spend a large
part of their lives in these coal-mines, with little opportunity
to get an education; and, what is worse, I have often noted that,
as a rule, young boys who begin life in a coal-mine are often
physically and mentally dwarfed.
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