The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, September 15, 1897, Image 2
/
y^\ /6\ /i\/? \/i\^6\/<\y^\yR/i\^\/i\ /^
>k
S> XI
7?\
r^i
g iWAMP
^ A STORY OF T
& WVVVWl
$ By EBF.N E
^jfeBOtetOBOkOM
*
Copyright by Robert Bonner's Sons.
CHAPTER III.
CONTINUED.
Samanthy's consent being obtained,
Mrs. Porter went out in the garden,
where "father" was at work, and held
a short consultation with him. The
result of this conference was a fore
gone conclusion, However, as "iatner
always deferred to his wife's judgment
and wishes.
"You can tell him that he can come,
then," said Mrs. Porter, when she
came back to the house. "That is, ef
he feels as ef he could put up with our
way o' livin'."
"Oh, I know he won't mind that,"
said Nannie, delighted with her success.
Then she put on her sun-bonnet
and ran home, never stopping for
a word with Dick, who had been leaning
on the fence, waiting patiently for
the conference with Mrs. Porter to
end.
"I wonder what's the matter now?"
he thought, as he saw Nannie come
out of the gate and walk straight down
the road toward home, without so
much as looking in his direction.
v "Something about the singing-school,
I suppose, or its teacher," he added,
\ with a curling lip. "It's strange how
girls will act, all on account of a handsome
face and smooth ways."
From which remark you will understand
that Dick was beginning to get
jealous of Mr. "Wayne.
"Won't it be nice?" Nannie said to
her mother, when she got home and
told the news. "He'll be so near that
I can run over real often to have him
show me about anything that bothers
me. I mean to practice all the spare
time I get, and get ahead of all the
other girls. I know I shall like him
ever so mnch."
When Dick came to supper, Mrs.
Boone told him about Mrs. Porter's
new boarder. Nannie, for some reason,
didn't come into the kitchen as
she usually did -when he washed his
face and combed his hair.
"Coming to Mrs. Porter's, is he?
Well, I can't say as I care a great deal
about having him for such a near
neighbor. Samanthy and I didn't take
much of a fancy to him."
Dick looked at Nannie as he said
this, but she pretended not to hear.
Dick knew that she did hear it, for all
' that, for her cheeks got a trifle redder,
and she gave her head a little toss that
told that she was not greatly pleased
at the remark.
"I s'pose we'll be favored with whole
-i-x-i ? at?.
u uiumu, aIUIO iuug, ooiu im,
Boone, as they sat down to supper.
"This gal, here," pinching Nannie's
plump cheek, "thinks she'll have the
whole grammit or whatever you call
it, at her tongue's end in less'n a
week."
"Well, it will be a first-rate chance
for me to learn." said Nannie, as she
passed the butter to Dick. "He'll be
so near, you know. I can run over to
Aunt Porter's and ask him lots of quesi
tions when I come to something I don't
just understand."
Too near, Dick thought, but he said
nothing.
They walked down to the school
house together that night, but the conversation
between them was not what
could be called a very lively one. If
Nannie talked of anything, it had to be
either the singing-school or its teacher,
and Dick could not wax very enthusiastic
on such topics, therefore he preferred
to keep still and let her do the
talking.
Promptly at seven o'clock the session
began. Any one who has ever attended
singing-school in the country
knows what the usual routine of work
is: An explanation of the scale, with
its letters, its flats and sharps, and
ever-changing keys, its do-re-me's and
fa-sol-la's, and then, for the beginner's
benefit, little easy exercises which
are to the study of harmony what the
primer is to the reading-book with the
student in the district-school. Every
teacher of music begins with these
a-b-c's of the science, but not one in a
? i . v v _ i
aozen succeeds m matting ms scuojars
understand much about them. The
"fun" comes in when they get to singing
"pieces." Most of the students
can catch the tune from hearing it
sung by the teacher, and singing real
tunes is much more satisfactory to the
scholar than drilling on dry exercises.
This school was like all others in this
respect. After the rudiments had been
dwelt upon for an hour, Mr. Wayne
said they would practice a little on
some old tunes for recreation and
variety. Had auy one any choice of a
f tune?
I
Deacon Snyder called for "Windham,"
adding, as a sort of postscript:
''That is, ef the teacher is familiar
with it."
Yes, Mr. Wayne was quite familiar
irUVi tlmt tune. Thev could trv it.
And soon the audience was making
the air doleful with the mournful
strains of the tune the deacon had
selected.
"A little more expression -would improve
it, I think," said Mr. Wayne.
"Let me sing a verse as I think it
ought to be sung."
He did so amid the profound silence
of the class. He had a smooth, clear
voice, and he sang -well and with due
regard for the sentiment of the words.
The old hymn took on new meaning
ander his rendering of it. The girls
were delighted with his way of singing
it, and the young men wished thej
could sing like that; but Deacon
Snyder, whose musical education was
as primitive as the cut of his pantaloons,
and who was not inclined to be
progressive in his ideas, hardly agreec"
with Mr. Wayne's opinion of how tht
hymn ought to be sung.
'"I don't fancy quite so many flour
ishes," he said to Sister Smith, with t
deprecating shake of his head
" 'Tain't the way they us't to do it,
an' I reckon they sung as much fer tlu
honor aa' glory o' God then as they d<
Secret. i
M
vwwwvw W
"HE FRONTIER. fk
* Q
REXFORD.
?so?eeetete?et#ic
sif^ *
now'days. But I s'pose it's the fash'n
to sing it in this way out among folks.
Even religi'n is gettin' to havin'
fashi'nable quirks to it, I'm sorry to
eait T rrr, in far rrnrtfi old-fftshi'nfid
B ?
singin' that hain't got none o' the
pomps an' vanities o' the world mixed
up with it." , .
"The deacon he's alius a-finding'
fault with anything that don't jest
agree with what ho was brought up
to," said Samanthy, between whom
and the deacon a long-standing grudge
existed. "He'd find fault with the
Angel Gabr'el ef he was to come an'
blow his trump diff'runt from the way
ol' Mis' Snyder blows her dinnerhorn."
After school was dismissed Dick
took up his station by the door to wait
for Nannie. The boys generally
ranged themselves in a row, waiting
for the girls to straggle along, trying
to look unconscious of the presence of
the gallants, who were always conVv
a rtl-Nnavfrt/l rvf oil
OCXUU9 U1 UCIU^ IUC v/ayoco. *cu ui an uuservers.
Pretty soon the girls began
to edge their way toward the door,
whispering to one another and giggling
in the way common to girls when
there is nothing to giggle about, and
pretending to look as if "beaus" and
"comp'ny home" were the very last
things they were likely to think of.
Nannie, however, loitered behind
the other girls, apparently busy over
a proper arrangement of some portion
of her apparel.
"Aren't you about ready?" asked
Dick.
"Almost," answered Nannie; "but
I've got to speak to the teacher first."
Then she walked over to the place
where Mr. "Wayne was standing, with
the information that Mrs. Porter
would take him to board while he remained
in Brownsville.
"Thank you very much for your
x i _ _ il. ~ 4.1? ? .M TVf~
xruuuie ill uie waiter, bbju iu.i.
Wayne, with a smile that set foolish
Nannie's heart to fluttering. "I think
I'll go there to-night, if you'll be kind
enough to take charge of me and Bhow
me the way. It's on your road home,
I think?"
"Yes, we go right by there," said
Nannie, with a sidelong glanoe at
Dick.
Then the singing-teacher said something
to Nannie which Dick could not
hear, because it was said in a rather
low tone. But he saw the girl's face
color up like a rose, in pleased surprise,
saw her look toward him with
a little air of hesitation, and then saw
Wayne take it upon himself to decide
the matter for her by drawing her hand
within his arm with an air of ownership
and authority which stung him to
fierce anger. They stood thus for a
minute or two, while Wayne answered
some questions, then they made their
way to the door and went out, laughing
and chatting, and Nannie, as she
J -i_ 1 ~
passeu jl/ich., seemeu pencuuj uuuuuscious
of his existence.
"There, you've got the slip this
time," laughed Lucindy Smith ?
'Cindy, for short. "I-wouldn't let him
cut me out in that way 'thout showin'
'em that I could do jest as well summer's
else. I'd be as independent as
she is," with an insinuating smile,
which, however, made but little impression
on Dick.
"I snum, but that was done purty
slick, or I ain't no jedge o' horned cattle,"
laughed Bill Green, close to
Dick's elbow. Bill was an old admirer
of Nannie's, and had a grudge against
Dick for "cutting him out" there. In
consequence of this bad feeling on his
part, which had settled into a bitter
emnity of the dogged kind, which is
always ready to avail itself of any opportunity
for revenge, he enjoyed
^ A 1 * ill .'il. 1
.LACK s evident uiscumuturo wiui a.eeu
relish.
Diok was too busy with his own hard
thoughts to pay any attention to the
remark, and started off home through
the woods, not being in the mood for
company.
When he came in sight of Mr.
Boone's, an hour later, he saw Nannie
find the singing-teacher standing at
the gate together.
Rather than pass them he made a
detour around the house, in the shadow
of the woods, and reached his room by
climbing over the kitchen roof. Just
as he was ready to step into bed he
looked out and saw that they were still
standing there.
"I do think, Nannie Boone, that
you ought to be ashamed of youraelf,"
he said, with one wrathful glance at
the girl who had jilted him. "If you
think I'm the kind of a fellow that can
be twisted 'round your finger, you're
greatly mistaken as you'll find out. I
don't play second-fiddle. If you prefer
the singing-teacher to me, it's all right
?that's your privilege?but you can't
throw me by one day and pick me up
the next."
He lay awake a long time that night,
thinking over Nannie's treatment of
him. He resented it bitterly, because
he cared so much for the girl, and hau
been sure that his regard for her was
returned.
"That fellow's got to keep out of my
path," he said, the last thing before he
went tosleep. "Ifhethiukshe'sgoing
1 to br>ss me 'round he'll find that he's
got hold of the wrong man. If he
! isn't a rascal I miss my guess, and I'll
prove him to be one yet."
J CHAPTER IV.
' A PROPOSAL AND A REFUSAL.
i Nannie and Dick had but little to
i say to each other next morning. He
! ironl riff ii\ wnrk- with n, scowl on his
! I face, for the more be thought of Nau[
1 nie's conduct the worse he thought
> she had used him.
4"If I had done anything to give her
- the least excuse for such treatment,"
i he said to himself, "I wouldn't blame
, j her at all. Of course, she has a per,
j feet right to go with him or any one
; I else, if she hadn't given me to under)
j stand as plainly as it's necessary to
%
understand anything that Bhe'd marry '
me, some day. She knows what my i
attentions have meant, and she knows,
too, that I consider her the same as
engaged to me. Under the circumstances
she has no right to treat me in
this way, and I have a right to object
to it,"
About eigut o ciock ne saw xttumie
and Mr. Wayne going down the road i
toward the schoolhouse together.
Wayne was carrying her dinner-basket
and evidently making himself agree- .
able, for Nannie was laughing. The ,
sound of her laughter made Dick look .
positively ferocious.
? "Never mind!" cried Dick, in a '
sepulchral tone, with a tragic flourish 1
of his clinched fist in the direction of \
the two who seemed to be so absorbed J
in their conversation that they had
forgotten the existence of any one 1
else. "I'll get even with you, ytt, 1
sir, see if I don't!" Then he added: 1
"And with you, too, Nannie Boon!" |
Thereupon he made up his mind, as ,
a preparatory step toward "getting
even" with her, to straightway forget
all the tender thoughts he had had
concerning her, and let her go her
way and he would go his. He began
by telling himkelf that he did not care
half as much for her as he had thought
he did. But he couldn't convince
himself of that, for he knew well
enough that he had never cared so
much for any other girl, and the
probabilities were that he would never
care so much for any he might meet in
time to come. In spite of all his efforts
to the contrary, he grew miserable,
and Nannie could not help seeing it
as the days went by.
Dick did not take the interest in the
singing-school that he had thought he
was going to when it was organized.
But he did not feel like staying away
and letting Wayne and the boys ancl ]
girl8 laugh at him, so he attended ''
quite regularly, and once or twice, '
just to let Nannie see that he didn't
take her conduct so very deeply to .
heart, he went home with Rhoda Stev- "
ens, who had been the only rival Nannie
had ever had in Dick's regards. I
Ehoda was a pretty girl, and had it not .
been for Nannie she would have been
the belle of Brownsville.
At first, Dick blamed the singing- '
teacher most for the trouble between
him and Nannie, but, when he came to '
think it over, he felt that Nannie was' '
most to blame. It was quite natural '
for any young man to do as Wayne !
had done. If Nannie had not encour
aged him he would doubtless have
kept in what Dick considered hie
proper place. The singing-teacher | J
made long visits at Mr. Boone's, and | 1
- X Al lil I 3
lie ana Dannie sang rc>gevuur uum
Dick was obliged to shut his teeth 1
hard together to keep back bitter
words that struggled up for utterance. He
wished he could shut the sopnd of j '
their voices out of his ears. The truth j 1
was, he could not get over his passion , ,
for Nannie as easily as he had hoped '
he might. He loved her too well for
that.
On the second Saturday of his stay i 1
in Brownsville, Mr. Wayne borrowed j 1
one of Mr. Boone's horses and "went j '
below" on business. What that par- 1
ticular business was he did not take | !
the trouble to explain.
That evening Mr. and Mrs. Boone ' '
went over to Mr. Porter's, and Dick j (
and Nannie were left alone together. j .
Dick's heart had been growing ten- '
der toward Dannie trom ine moment ;
when he had seen Wavne riding away, i J
I Sometimes he had thought that maybe j
she was flirting with the singing- j 1
teacher to try him. It might be ths,t ! .
she blamed him for not having spoken j
out about his intentions in plain terms, ' 1
and'took this way of bringing him to j
a definite declaration of what he mean t. 1
It was quite possible, after all, that
she did not care two straws for Wayne. 1
Dick took courage at the thought, and
he resolved to improve the present op- ! '
portunity to come to some understand- '
ing on the subject.
Nannie had the week's ironing to do j 1
that evening, and Dick found her at I 1
work in the kitchen when he came in !
from the barn.
He sat down and watched her as she
shook out the garments piled up in the 3
" - - * i ? 1_1 - J1 XT I *
clotiies-basKet, ana sprinmeu tuem. | .
She looked toward him once, and j
caught his eyes, and a quick flush over- j '
spread her cheeks; then she turned j '
away and began singing one of the new |
tunes they had learned at singing- ,
school. I
"Nannie," blurted out Dick, all at j !
once, "you don't seem like the girl
you were a month ago." '
[To be continued.] '
Uniting Sheets of Mica. j
It is often desirable to join sheets of ,
mica, and a very simple operation will j
secure that result. Put clear gelatin
into cold water; let it remain until it j
is Boftened, then press out any exceiis ^
of water with a soft cloth. Put it over ^
a water bath until it melts, then add (
heated proof spirit to make it fluid,
being extremely careful not to put too j
much of the spirit?simply enough to ^
liquefy it. Meanwhile dissolve one
and one-third ounce of gum mastic and
one-fourth ounce of gum ammoniac in '
four ounces of rectified spirit. Add
this to the gelatin and spirit solution,
stirring in very carefully, keeping the
mass in motion continually uutil it is
perfectly blended. Put it in glassstoppered
l>ottles and see that it is
perfectly sealed. "Warm it when wanted
for use and apply quickly. Then
press the sheets together and place a
very light weight on them, leaving
them to dry for several days.
Coal Black TVHter.
In the rear yard of Mrs. D. M.
Stewart's residence in Rushville, Ind.,
is a well that is a curiosity. Until two ,
years ago it was one of the finest water 1
wells in the neighborhood, and people 1
came from all around to draw of its '
- ' mi 11 1
cool, refreshing waters, men me
water noticeably became affected, and
eventually grew so bad as to be unfit
for use. The well lias been practically
abandoned until a few days ago, when
Mrs. Stewart liad occasion to pump
suine of tbe water. Tho stream that
flowed from tbe wooden pump was as
black as ink and almost as tbiek. An
examination was made and tbe contents
of tbe wbole well were found to
be tlius colored. No explanation of
tbe phenomenon has been given.?Indianapolis
News.
"She has become a very active tem- ;
perance worker all of a sudden." i
"Yes, she punctured her tire on a
j broken beer bottle."?Truth.
, /'
vk
1 MINING OUR
| ? BLACl
t . _ ?i i _ r ,1??? +1,0
1 nave JUSl bptJIlt U lew uujfo at tuc
Jnited States geological survey in
[Vashington, writes Frank G. Carpener,
looking up facts about coal minng.
The geologists know more about
ioal than any one else. They can tell
rou ju'it how the world looked when
:oal was made, and they describe how
here were ages of luxuriant growth
sonsisting of pine trees, fir trees and
ill kinds of mosses and plants, which,
lying down year after year, became s
jreat matted bed of vegetation. The}
ell you how this bed was bottled up
)y being covered up with rocks and
low it finally turned into coal. Thej
;au tell you just how this happened
md how long it came to pass befort
!soah was a baby or Cain killed littlt
mi laid a fhfl Garden of Eden.
Men lived for thousands of years
lpon the earth before they knew thai
:oal was good to burn. All the iror
nade before the days of the middle
iges was with charcoal, and a fairj
:ale is told in Belgium of how a pool
olacksmith discovered she first blacl
liamonds. He found that he coulc
aot ijet along, for it took so much tim<
;o make his charcoal for his furnace,
He was just about to commit suicid<
trhen a white-bearded old man ap
peared at his shop and told him to g(
:o the mountains near by and dig ou
the black earth and burn it. He die
30, and was able to make a horsesho<
it one forging. This is the Belgiai
story of the discovery of coal. Th<
first coal found in America was neai
Ottawa, Illinois. It is mentioned b]
Father Hennepin, a French explorer
tvho visited there in 1679. The firs
mines worked were about Richmond
Va. This coal was discovered by i
boy while out fishing.
He was hunting for crabs for bait ii
1 small creek, and thus stumbled upoi
the outcroppings of the James Rive:
ioal bed. Our anthracite coal field
tiavc perhapu paid better than an;
other coal fields of the world. The;
K-ere discovered by a hunter name*
Nicho Allen, when George Washing
ton was President. Allen encampe<
Due night in the Schuylkill regions
kindling his fire upon some blacl
stones. He iwoke to find himself al
most roasted. The stones were on fire
and anthracite was burning for th
first time. Shortly after this a com
pany was organized to sell anthraoit
coal. It was taken around to the black
smiths, but they did not know how ti
use it, and it was very unpopular
Some of it wa3 shipped to Philadelphii
by a Colonel Shoemaker and sole
there. It was not at all satisfactory
ind a writ was gotten out from thi
city authorities, denouncing tin
colonel as a knave and scoundrel fo
trying to imposed rocks upon them a
coal. Still Philadelphia has Jargelj
been built up by anthracite coal, an(
50,000,000 tons of this coal were takei
out of the Pennsylvania fields in 1896
Since then some of these coal land:
have been sold as high as 81200 ai
lcre, and the Philadelphia and Read
ing Company in 1871 paid $40,000,00(
for 100,000 acres of coal land in thii
region. A3 a sample of the amount o
business done in anthracite coal, the
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company
paid $5,000,000 in one year for mining
md their coal sales that year amounte(
to more thau 810,000,000.
It is hard to estimate the enormous
miount of money the United States
makes out of its coal. We get mor<
ihan three times as much out of oui
coal mines as out of our gold mines
md the silver metal is not in it witl
;he black diamonds. There is a little
region in eastern Pennsylvania, abou
i hundred and twenty-five miles fron
m. *i _ Ji-i?j-. l L~r,
riillHUmpii ill auu uut mure iuuu mvi
hundred miles from New York, whiel
produces every year coal to a greate)
raluc than all the gold mines of th<
Rockies, Canada and Alaska. It is
Dur anthracite coal fields which turr
jut between 50,000,000 and G0,000,00(
tons of anthracite every year. W<
have in addition to this a hundred ant
thirty odd million tons of bituminous
joal annually. We have, iu short, the
biggest and be3t coal measures on tb<
slobe. It is estimated that our coa
jftst of the Rocky Mountains coven
192,000 square miles, and within th<
past few years coal has been found ir
many parts of the Far West. Coloradc
svill eventually be a great mannfaciai"'
ng State on account of its coal.
Utah has large coal fields, and s<
liave the States of Montana, Washing
ton aud Wyoming. We are now get
ting something like 20,000,000 tons o:
:oal a year out of Indiana, Kentucky
md Illinois, and the great Appalach
ian field produces more than fou:
times this aniount. There is mor<
jood burnable earth in the Appalach
IN AN EN*
inn Mountain, than anywhere else ii
Llie world. The coai is easy t.0 get ct
Llie veins are thick, and iu some mina:
they ore n'most on the top of tin
ground. They arc better than anj
^ther coal fields in this respect, witl
-jnc Mingle exception. This is the new
;o?i field 01 Alaska, which, one of thf
geological survey men tells me, comes
right out over the water, so (hat the
:o:il can be d ig dowu and almost fall
into the ships below. This Alaskan
;oal ill probably be used to sup pi;,
the Pftcitic trade, ami its importance
ivill be appreciated when it is remembered
t int the largest Meet that. saib
the Paciiic is the coal lie-it-. 3Joat of
:he cuftl from that region com/.s from
kustraliaaod Japan. ZVIiicli Australian
joal is brought to Han Francisco. 1 Hiring
my travels in J.\pan I visited om
3oal miae which had iifty miles of tunaoln
under the sea, r.nd I learned l-lul
/
'
i
k DIAMONDS. 1
\t?
i the Japanese were making a great deal
i of money ont of their coal.
They were shipping it to China, not
withstanding the fact that the geolo:
gistu say that China has some of the
I largest coal fields of the world. I
i doubt the extent of the Chinese fields.
1 The people are thrifty, and it is cnri;
ous that they do not use the coal if
I they have it. They are among the
most economical of people, and in the
i different Chinese cities coal is so valu'
able that it is ground to dust and then
; mixed with dirt, being sold in balls
I -1 X 1.1 - Li "i. TA
i auoui tue Kize ui a oiauuit. n is iu1
teresting to know the coal fields of
I the world, as estimated by the geolo>
gistn. Here they are:
> China, 200,000 square miles; United
States east of the Rockies, 192,000
} square miles; Canada, 65,000 square
1 AN EX]
1 miles; India, 35,500 square miles;
1 New South Wales, 24,000 square
c miles; Russia, 20,000 square miles;
United Kingdom, 11,500 square miles;
\ Spain, 5500 square miles; Japan, 5000
!j square miles, France, 2080 square
miles; Austria-Hungary, 1790 square
j miles; Germany, 1770 square miles;
Belgium, 510 square miles.
' From the above table it will be seen
that the English coal area is small.
Still England has for years been the
g centre of the coal production of the
world, and for years it mined more
g than half the total amount used by the
world. The United States' is now
^ probably ahead of it, and we are increasing
our product every year. The
' English coal veins are thin. The
j miners have to lie on their sides to
3 . rf/, .
i BELGIAN MINERS.
r
, work many of them. They have dug
i out the surface coal and they are now
? working at great depths. One English
t vein, fourteen and a half inches wide,
\ is already down over twelve hundred
) j feet. Such a vein would not be worked
i j to any great depth in America. The
: Newcastle coal field, which isthe richi
est in England, has veins from three
j to six feet thick, while the Wales coal
i veins are less than three feet in thick)
ness. Some of our Pennsylvania an3
thracite veins run from thirty feet to
I sixty feet feet in thickness, while the
3 Pittsburg bituminous coal veins are
> from eight to sixteen feet thick. At
3 the present rate of mining it is esti1
mated that all the English coal will be
3 exhausted in 212 years if it is worked
3 down to 4000 feet, and this will be 113
l feet deeper than any of the English
> mines now worked. Notwithstanding
- the enormous amounts of coal which
we have taken out of our anthracite
j region it estimated that we could go
- or. at the present rate for 616 years.
As England goes further down her
E coal mining will become more expeuj
sive, and her days as a manufacturing
- Nation are, consequently, numbered.
l* Already we surpass her a great deal in
3 manufacturing, and there is no doubt
- that we, with our vast supplies of coal
OLISH MINE.
1! and iron, are to be the chief manu,
j facturing Nation of the future.
i Our Appalachian coal fields alone
; could supply the world with fuel for
r centuries. They are the largest and
1 richest known, and they are so situated
thnt flip mal pan be shinned from them
! long distances by water. From Pitts<
burg coal can be carried for eicrht!
een thousand miles on navigable
I streams, and the grate fires of the
i South blaze with the rays from the
r black diamonds from Pennsylvania.
> The Ohio River is the great coal chute
i for the Mississippi valley. The coal
' j is carried down it iu great barges
' , pushed by little steamers, and so fasti
j c-ned together that a siugle steamer
i ! will push acres of coal. Loads of
j twenty thousand tons are taken. A
1 vast amount of coal is carried on the
canals and the great lakes form one of
i the chief highways of the coal _ traffic..
The amount of coal carried on the tl
railroads is almost beyond conception, b
The Philadelphia and Reading has b
more than fifty thousand coal cars, o
which are dragged by nine hundred e
coal locomotives. These cars are kept b
busy in carrying anthracite coal. The 1
Pennsylvania Railroad employs more I
than seventy thousand cars for the e
mnvprnflTit nf its prml n.nd rr>l?A trad a. n
and the Central Railroad of New Jer- n
aey carries about five million tons of
anthracite coal every year. More coal g
is handled at New York than at any
other place in the world except Lon- A
don, more than fifteen million tons being
used or transshipped at that point
annually. s
One would think that there would 0
be a lot of money in coal for the miners. ^
There is not, and it is a question *
whether the present ^riko will materi- 1
ally better matters. ~A<= f^r as strikes 8
have gone in the past, they have been I
against the working men. Some years 1
ago Carroll D. Wright, the United 1
States Commissioner of Labor, figured a
up the profit and loss of ten years of I
striking in all branches of labor. He *
estimated that the employes during I
this time lost fifty-nine million dol- ?
lars, an average of forty dollars to each '
Iteifi
ggg!
' " ' i
PLOSION. 1
i
striker involved, while the employers (
lost a little more than hal? the amount, }
; or thirty million dollars.
The coal miners live as poorly as
any other class of workmen in the
country. For the most part they are
i in dirty villages, with narrow streets,
their houses blackened by coal smoke.
In many mining districts the houses
belong to the company owning the i
mines, and the miners pay rent for i
them, so that when a strike occurs and I
Hio-p ftvA nut, of monev thev are criven '
V**WJ ***" " "" ~ 1 ~ ?-? i
orders to leave. Many of tlie houses
i have nothing more than two rooms
and a kitchen, and in some .places the
only stores at which the miners can
trade are the company's stores. With
i all this the American miners are far "
better off than the miners of other 1
countries. The coal miners of Japan 1
receive only a few cents a day. Both {
women and men work in the mines, 1
and the foreign ships, which get coal J
at Japan are always loaded by women,
who pass the coal up the sides of the
ship in baskets.
Women are still used in the coal J
mines of Belgium. They dress in
trousers, just like the men, and they
do mnch the same work. They help
load the coal, and in some of the mines
they drag the cars from the tunnels to
the bottom of the shaft. L. Simonin,
a Frenchman, from whose book on underground
life the illustrations of this
letter are taken, describes the horrors
of their life in the mines. For a long
times women were used in this way
in England and Scotland, and it was
not until twenty-five years ago that
parliament passed an act keeping them
out.
Children are employed in the Belgium
mines to-day. The English and
j Scotch used them for years. They
! were taken into the mines at seven,
| eight and nine years of age, and were
j kept there until they grew up. The ,
1 English coal veins are very thin and
I the tunnels are not more than a yard
high. These children were used as
beasts of burden. They were harnessed
to little carts filled with coal,
and had to crawl along on all fours
KaUo ftV\Anf flioil* rrftiflfo on/I
?Y 1 til UC1 to OVVUU VUQU ?? W1WVW M?**V*
chains between their legs dragging
the coal carts to the surface. Women
became deformed by this work. They
were dressed in trousers and shirts
like men. They learned to fight and
swear like the men and became bad
characters. At the age of fifty they
were usually worn out. In Scotland
young women were employed to carry
the coal on their backs out of the
mines. They dragged the coal to the
foot of the ladders and then loaded it
on their backs, holding it there by a
strap around the forehead while they
climbed up the ladders to get it to the
surface. They worked from twelve to .
fourteen hours a day, and would do t
work, it is said, which the men would T
not do. tramping through the water c
with their loads of coal. According to t
law women cannot be employed in our
mines. a
Prttra VinnroTror Viavo Ifirrrplv I V
J-rv/J ?9 ~~~~ O ? J
used. They drive the mules, and in r
the anthracite regions they pick over c
the coal, taking the slate and refuse
out of it. They get from fifty to sixty h
cents a day for bending over the dusty c
coal, roasting in the summer and almost
freezing in the winter. They
are frequently hurt, though it is by no
means as bad with our children as r
with those of Europe a few years ago, u
when in one investigation it was stated:
"That they seldom slept with
a whole skin, and that their backs
were cut with knocking against the
roof and sides of the tunnels, and that
the walking in the water covered their ,
feet with festering sores."
Have you ever been down in a coal j
mine? If so, you can appreciate some ^
of the dangers of mining. A coal mine i
is like a great catacomb. It is a city '
underground, the walls of which in *
muny cases are upheld by timbers.
Now and then you come to rooms out
of which the coal has been cut. The
I co.'il is taken down with blasting now
der, and there is danger of the wall g
falling and of the miners being s
crushed. t!
There is also danger from fire ihvmp,
or the union of the gases of the mine
brought together by the light from
a lamp or candle. This causes a great tl
explosion. It conies like a stroke of C
lightning, and with a clap of thunder. 5
As the explosion occurs a roaring f(
whirlwind of flame goes through the
tunnels, pulling down the timbers and
caving in the walls- It burng eyerj- P
\
ling within reach. Miners
linded, scorched and sometimes bH|
nrned to cinders. Hundreds have ^HHX
ften been killed at a time by such
xplosions, and by the flood of cur
onic acid gas -which follows them,
'he statistics show that even in the
Jnited States one miner is killed for
very hundred thousand tons of coal
lined, and those who are injured
umber many times this proportion.
IICYCLE LINE TO THE KLONDIKE
l Freaky Undertaking by a Syndicate of
Wealthy New Yorkers.
One of the most novel of the many
chemes to obtain a share of the wealth
the Klondike region has been de eloped
by a syndicate of four wealthy
few York business men, who are planting
to establish trading posts and
tores in the mining camps and also to
mrchase all promising claims on the
narket. They will transport their
uen and supplies to the gold fields on
i bicycle specially designed for the pur
mi.. ?a ;_- *ii v. .1
)ubc. iue eut/erpri?e win ue uiiucraken
on an extensive scale, and an ex>ert
-will be sent at once to the
fold fields, well supplied with money
o secure desirable claims. Large
itores of everything a miner needs will
>e transported by boat to Juneau.
Chen the Klondike bicycle comes into
)lay. It will be used to transport the
mpplies over the 700 miles between
runeau and the gold fields by the
3hilkoot Pass trail. The bicycle is
ipecially designed to carry freight,
rad is in reality a four-wheeled vehicle
tnd a bicycle combined. It is built
rery strongly and weighs about fifty
)Ounds. The tires are of solid rubber .
me and a half inches in diameter.
Che frame is the ordinary diamond, of
iteel tubing, built, however, more for
itrength than appearance, and wound i
vith rawhide, shrunk on, to enable the
V? ? ? /11 rt < ^ in
uiiicio iu uauuic it witu uumxuxu ui
ow temperatures. From each side of
he top bar two arms of steel project, raj
;ach arm carrying a smaller wheel,
ibout fourteen inches in diameter,
yhich, when not in use, can be folded
lp inside the diamond frame. Devices i
'or packing large'quantities of material
ire attached to the handle bars and
-ear forks, and the machine, it is estiA
FBEIGHT BICYCLE. .
mated, will carry 500 pounds. The
plan is to load it with half the miner's
equipment, drag it on four wheels ten
niles or so. Then the rider will fold
ip the side wheels, ride & back as a
bicycle and bring on the rest of the
!oad. A sample machine has already
been made and patents have been applied
for.?New York Herald. f
'
TWO FOWLS WITH SEVEN LECS. V
1 New Yorker Hai a Three-L?reed Sooi> I
ter and a Quadruped Hen. I
Two freak fowls are owned by C.
3+<?rn nf t.liA Third Street Market.
East River, New York City, which
ire believed to be unique in their
way.
They were bought by their owner in
Washington Market. The rooster,
which is a year old, has three legs,
FREAK FOWLS.
>
he extra "scratcher" (which, by the
ray, is useless for that purpose or any J
?ther) sticking out behind, between
he other two.
The hen, which is about a year and
, half old, can boast of four legs, two
rhich she walks on, being in tneir
latural places, the extra two growing
iut of her left side.
The strange feathered creatnres
tave been seen by hundreds of
hicken fanciers.
Rnliblt Adopts Chickens.
S. H. Wood, of Westchester, has a
abbit that is bringing up a brood of
line chickens. The rabbit takes a
reat interest in the welfare of its
trange pets, and they nestle about. ^
lieir lurry menu ami seem penecuy w
t home.?New York Journal. j
The largest mass of pure rock salt in
lie world lies under the province of
lalicia, Hungary. It is known to l>e
50 miles long, twenty broad and 250
eet in thickness.
There are about 25,000,000 acres o*
ublic land in Ohio. . - ? /