In the coal-pit cabin.
As a rule, we do not find colliers so well informed as factory operatives; but, on the other hand they are a quieter and more tractable set. They hardly seem to know fear; but still, the darkness in which they labor, and the many dangers surrounding them in their cavernous abode, appear to imperceptibly affect their general character.
Though, from better application of mechanical power, and a more scientific regulation of the currents of air in our larger coal-mines, accidents have become less numerous, they will, from the nature of the work, always be rather frequent; and the collier, on descending the shaft to his daily task, if reflective, must be keenly alive to impending danger.
In walking through the coal district about the time the men leave off work, it is amusing to watch the different bands of men emerging from the pit's mouth, having been quickly wound up by the powerful machinery from the regions of darkness into the welcome light of day. Many of them are as wild and frolicsome as a pack of boys let out from school; and as soon as they can free themselves from the chains, in which they have been hanging like a large bunch of smutty grapes — the youngsters in the middle for greater safety — they run capering and shouting from the bank, making the most of their liberty, and dispelling, by their boisterous mirth, any false notions of pity we may have been entertaining for their hard lot. In winter certainly, during their working days, they never see the sun, for those of them who labor the whole of the day, commence before it is light, and do not leave off until it is dark, being underground nearly from 6 A. M. to 6 P. M. The
Monday following the reckoning
Saturday is mostly a play-day with these men; and, if wages are good, not unfrequently the Tuesday also, though on these occasions they will frequently assemble at the pit at the customary time, and then, from some trivial excuse — easily found by men unwilling to work — or at the direct instigation of one of the youngest hands, they will return home again.
It takes but little, on ordinary occasions, to make a whole pit's company "play" Should the engine man be but a few minutes behind time in the morning, and cause a slight delay, when they are ready to go down the shaft, they will often refuse to work; and should any unforeseen occurrence prevent the whole day's work being done, they can seldom or never be persuaded to begin later in the day, and do three-quarters or half a day's work instead.
Though individually the colliers do not care much for a few wounds and bruises, priding themselves upon their hardy endurance of suffering, yet, if one of their company is slightly hurt in any way, so as to be compelled to leave his post, they will in general all desist from working, regardless of the consequences.
We cannot give them, as a class, great credit for being provident; but there are many exceptions, and in visiting their homes, we find that where there is a shelf for a few books, a little store is also laid by, in the proverbid
stocking foot or in the savings bank, against "the rainy day." At present, literary societies and mechanics' institutes have signally failed in reaching the
bulk of these men, though free lectures, in populous places, and other means of social entertainment, appear to be attended with good effects.
For religious instruction, a great portion of them are indebted to the
Wesleyan connection, and — is coming nearer still down to their level — to the
Primitive Methodists, or 'Ranters,' as they are vulgarly called.
In the prayer-meanings of these dissenters, there is a degree of energy and enthusiasm exhibited which in most cases accords better with the colliers' taste than the more formal church service.--Another inducement is, that many of their own number take the lead at these religious meetings, and, with exemplary zeal and striking enthusiasm, strive, as far as their ability permits, to inculcate the doctrines of Christianity.
There are many who will listen to the exhortation of a "butty collier," whom nothing would persuade to attend the ministration of a duly ordained clergyman.
In traveling about the neighborhood of the pits, I frequently have opportunities of talking to the colliers about their work, or other topics, and have found occasionally, under a swarthy cloak of flannel and dirt, a degree of intelligence that much surprised me. On a cold or rainy day, I have sometimes entered one of their calls by the pits, sure of finding shelter and a good fire.
If you have never been in one of these places, you may enter with me this evening, and see and hear what is going on. A capacious fire-place, on which a barrowful or two of coal would be lost, occupies nearly the whole of one side.
There is no neat cast-iron grate, but some long bars, or old pit rails, are stretched across a wide cavity in the wall, forming an ample receptacle for the fire.
Rods of iron, or sometimes strong ropelines, are stretched across the cabin in front of the fire place, for the men to dry their wet clothes upon, when they have been working in places troubled with water.
Various interstices are seen round the unplastered walls handy for putting dinner basins and cans in, or for slowing away other odds and ends; and in one of the corners furthest from the fire, a rude cupboard is generally found, where powder, safety-lamps, luse and cartridge bags for blasting rocks, candles and other stores, can be put under lock and key Round the walls are fixed some short butts of trees, across which are placed rough slabs for the men to sit upon, by whom a large bottle of ale is often discussed, when for some extra work they have had what they call a "fetching" from the nearest public house.
Without running into any excess, there is a sort of untrammelled enjoyment about these free-and-easy sittings in the cabin that many of the pitmen have a strong relish for. The "fetching" does not always consist only of beer; solids, such as bread and cheese, and ham are often added; and many a royal banquet has passed off with loss stealing enjoyment than is realized by these jolly colliers around their huge fire, after some heavy task is done.
Sitting thus, some of them with eyes half closed, drawing at a short black pipe, they recount to each other scenes of danger they have passed through, difficulties they have encountered, extraordinary seams of coal they have helped to get, and other wonderful experiences.
The first that speaks to-night is an old man, upwards of sixty, short and stiff, of the true collier build.
His legs are bowed a little, but firm under him yet; and you can see that the bridge of his Roman nose has been broken, for a dark-blue line stretches across it, shewing where a lump of coal or other black substance has fallen upon it.--You will frequently see colliers with many of these blue seams upon their face, and other uncovered parts of their body, for wherever oucu deep into the flesh it brands a man for ever.
‘"It was better than forty years ago,"’ he began, "in 'Bony's' time, when I was a lad 'drawing dans,' and doing work such as you youngsters know nothing about now-a-days.
There had been a bad harvest, I remember, and the wheat was so had that the bread made of it would hardly hold together, it was so wet and soft; and my old woman often scooped the middle of the loaf out with a spoor, and put it in cans for the children to with treacle, like pudding, I have seen tempered chaps throw a lump of their against the wall, where it would stick like mortar.
Potatoes went up to a great price, and were hardly ever seen in our pit; and often there has been a scrambling fight to get a taste, if the young men saw a few in somebody's dinner-basin.
Well, there was a lot of us driving a 'head' through some faulty ground, with a bad roof, and I was drawing out in dans what little coal they met with while pushing through.
I had to go about forty yards through the uneven way they were making, back into another road, where a second lad met me with an empty dan-basket to go back with.
At middle-day, this lad brought our dinners, and I took them to the end of the head, but we had barely sat down to eat them, when we heard a loud rumbling noise near at hand. 'Now we are in for it,' said one of the men; 'the head we have been driving has fallen in, and we are shut up.'
"Creeping warily along, they found it even as he had said; for about half the length of the way, the roof had fallen in, completely blocking up the passage.
The hardest collier looked spite, which, with the dirt, I remember, give some of them a strange, leaden look, us though they were numbed with cold and fright.
We did not feel any more appetite for the now, so it was carefully laid by; for, as one of them said, 'We shall want it bad enough by and by. The men did not spend much time in useless grief; but putting
out all our candles except one, for we had not more than half-a-dozen in all, they began resolutely to work to clear out the road again.
It went on slow and toilsome, for having no to prop it up, the roof was continually giving way, now that it was once broken.
Candle after candle burned away, and though the sweat ran off them, they could not make much progress in clearing the road.
When half the candles were gone, they had not gained above a couple of yards in length: still they kept manfully at it, being all thoroughly aroused to the impending danger of being left with little air and no light.
We could now hear men working at the other end of the head and knocking, as colliers do when they wish to signal to one another, being too far away to be heard by shouting, and this revived our courage very much; for though we could tell that the head had fallen in for a considerable length, we knew every effort would be made to get at us. I carried the last candle to them and had to wipe it carefully before giving it them, for, almost unknowingly, tears had been dropping on it as I hurried along.
I told the man I gave it to, that it was the only one left; he said nothing, but sticking it in a bit of clay against a large rock, worked on in silence with more vigor than before.
I dragged away with all my strength at the rocks they got out, to clear their way a little, stealing now and then a furtive glance at the small candle fast melting away.
When it was almost burned down, one of them proposed that we had better see after our dinners, and put them where we could conveniently find them in the dark.
We did so, and then tried to cut up one of the hack helves into splinters, to give light a little longer; but it was old and tough, and would not, after all, give any light to work by. Bits of tobacco paper and other scraps made a spill or two, to eke out a flame for a few minutes, and then we were left in total darkness.
‘"Judging by the time the candles would last, we had now been blocked up for six or eight hours, and I, for one, began to want something to eat badly, though ashamed to say so to the rest.
Now we were in the dark, however, the oldest man proposed we should sit down and eat a small portion of our dinners, and think over what we could do for the best.
Oh, how good the soft bread was now ! I wondered how I could ever have disliked it before, and could hardly deny myself from eating it all. But as I heard the men whispering to each other, that it may be a day and a night before we could be got out, I laid a portion by for another little meal, nor did I quite empty my can of beer.
Trying to work again in the dark, one of the three men got hurt in the back by a rock falling upon him, so that we were compelled to give over, lest some of us should get killed.
We knocked occasionally, for them to hear and answer us, but the sounds did not seem to come much nearer.
How slow the time passed away.--Our little store of food, though we divided it into small portions, was soon gone, and now thirst began to be felt more than hunger.
After we had been shut up about twenty-four hours, as near as we could tell, the air began to feel very close and oppressive, and it made the men feel so weak that they could not have worked even if we had had candles.
One of the colliers had been used to attend prayer-meetings, and getting us all to kneel down together, he prayed earnestly, and encouraged us all to do the same.
I cannot remember much longer myself, for they told me I had been insensible for some time before the road was open; but at length the way was cleared, and we were carried out all but lifeless.
It had taken more than forty-eight hours to get to us, for the rock fell in so continually that timber had to be set all along to support the roof over the narrow way."’
When the grey-headed old collier had finished, he refilled his pipe, and wanted to know if ‘"nobody else had got nothing to say."’ There was a lusty little fellow in one corner whom they called "Jerry," who gave us an account of how one day he was pulled up the pit without his leave.
It appears he was what they call a "hooker-on," or one that connected the carriages of the coal with the pit-chain, when ready for being wound up the shaft, and unhooked those which came down empty; and, if the pit's company were all at work.
was continually kept close to the bottom of the shaft.
It appears that one day as he was connecting a carriage of coal to the main chain, the engine started rather sooner than he expected; and just as he was slipping the hook into the large link, his thumb got fastered, by the snatch of the engine, between the two, and before he was well aware of it, he found himself a good many yards up the shaft.
They pause slightly a short distance up the shaft, to steady the weight; but he said he was unable to shout, and consequently was pulled up in that manner to the top of the shaft, his hand and arm completely numbed by pain and tension.
Practical jokes occur, it seems, even in coal mines; and one that had nearly proved fatal to the parties engaged was now related.
In some pits, otherwise well ventilated, small quantities of carbureted hydrogen gas collect in nooks and crevices of the roof, especially in corners partly out of the current of air which runs through the various workings.
To frighten a novice, a reckless fellow will put a naked candle up into one of these places, causing a miniature explosion of fire-damp, just sufficient to terrify any inexperienced person, but what an old hand would consider a mere bagatelle.
It appears a stranger had been down one of the pits, who seemed very forward with his remarks, and altogether skeptical as to danger; indeed, the man said ‘"he gave himself important airs, and knew all about everything a great deal better than us poor colliers."’ So when they had come to a part of the pit by an old road, that had been used for some time, a sly rogue among them directed this savant's attention to some tarry matter oozing out from the coal in the roof, close to the air door leading into the old road.
Adjusting his spectacles, the opinionated wiseacre put up his candle to the place to note well the phenomenon, saying, at the same time, that it was nothing new to
him; but he had scarcely uttered this self-conceited remark when the gas caught fire from his candle, which he had been poking all about, and a scorching flame passed over and almost blinded them.
They instantly fell down flat, as is usually the safest plan in cases of fire, and he, imitating their example, did the same.
It was well they did so; for almost in an instant a loud explosion fairly shook the ground, blowing the air door, close to them, into fragments over their heads — The flame, they said, must have passed through a crevice close to the door, and ignited a large quantity of inflammable gas in the old disused road.
Fortunately, they escaped without any very serious injury, though the learned theorist's practical experience was of a painful character — such as he would not wish repeated; for his eyebrows and whiskers were singed off, and his clothes bore sure testimony that ‘"the smell of the fire had passed over them."’
The introduction of flat chains into the collieries, though combatted against by the men at first, as most new things are, has been the means of saving much loss of life.
It was not a very uncommon thing, before, to hear of a hempen rope breaking, and dropping a whole band-full of men. Such an accident seldom or never occurs where good three-link chains are used, for as one of the chains is able to bear more than is generally trusted to all three, and as they are all joined fast together at every alternate link by a wooden "key," driven tightly in, and held there by stout little nails called stubbs, it is possible that all three chains may be broken in separate places, and the weight still be sustained, by the intervention of many keys between broken parts An old charter-master — who contracts for raising the coal at so much per ton — told us how terribly frightened he had been once by two links breaking together.
He was coming up the pit on the top of a loaded coal "skip," or basket, and when near the top he heard something snap, and looking up, saw that one of the links had broken, and of the two remaining links one appeared rather slack.
By and by, he could plainly see that the one link which appeared to bear all the weight, was parting in two.
It was an old engine, which wound but slowly, and the short time taken in being pulled up the last few yards seemed, he said, like an age. As the link parted and stretched a little, of course the other chain tightened up, and had come to its bearing before actual severance had taken place.
It was impossible, he said, to describe the intensity of his feelings for the few remaining seconds as his eyes glared at the single whole link left, on which his life depended.
He wasn't a praying man then, he said, but his heart offered up an earnest ejaculatory petition, almost without his knowing it, and his companions stared with astonishment as he fell on his knees upon the "tacking," or platform covering the top of the pit, and returned hearty thanks for his safe deliverance as soon as he was safely landed and out of peril.
Colliers are rather inclined to be superstitions, perhaps owing to their work being so frequently done in the dark, or with such a light as only makes darkness visible.
They are generally too willing to believe in a special
Providence averting danger and death.
Where there are so many accidents, instances of what appear to be miraculous escapes are not uncommon.
Several cases have occurred of persons falling down shafts some forty or fifty yards deep, and sustaining no serious injury; and though science may assert that the parachutical inflation of the man's stiff flannel shirt, or the woman's voluminous skirts, broke their fall, the collier finds it easier and pleasanter to believe that
Providence interfered in a direct manner.
It is an old assertion of the pitmen, that the roads fall in more when all is quiet, at night, than during the daytime, when men and horses are continually employed in them; and they often have to clear away in the morning large masses of rock which could not have fallen during working hours without causing loss of life.
The sexagenarian here recounted some of the narrow escapes he had undergone, of which I can only remember one or two.
He had finished earlier than usual one day, and was coming up the shaft in company with another man clandestinely, as employers object to one or two coming up by themselves, and expect them to wait until the customary number (eight or nine) are all ready together.
He was not sure whether they shouted to the banks man or not when near the top, for him to signal to the engine man that men were
coming up; but, either accidentally or otherwise, he pulled them about a yard too high and they came in contact with the pulley, just as the tacking was being pulled over the pit. His companion fell out, and dropped on the very edge of the tacking overhanging the pit, escaping wonderfully with only a few bruises, while he himself clung to the rim of the pulley, against which he was pulled, and was gently lowered again unhurt.
Another time he was ascending the pit with eight or nine more colliers after their usual day's work.
They were singing away on coming towards the pit-mouth, as they often do; the engine man pulled them up exactly to the right place; the banks man leisurely pushed the tacking over the pit, when instantly the large hook they were hanging by snapped in two, and dropped them all on to the tacking, just ready to receive them.
Had the hook broken a second or so before, they would all have been precipitated to the bottom of the shaft, some six hundred feet, and consequently have been dashed to pieces.
The old man said, that he frequently thought of that time when death was so near; and often when he and his family had been but badly off, when wages were low and work scarce, he gratefully trusted that the same watchful
Providence would help them through their difficulties.
The big fire having burned low, and their several pipes gone out, the story-tellers, after placing a large piece of coal — which a London needlewoman would think a liberal week's allowance — on the fire, to keep it in till next morning, all wend their way homeward.
Though surrounded by many dangers, a collier, unless from compulsion, seldom leaves the pit for other employment.
The young, strong men, when working by measure, can often do their day's work by dinner-time, or soon after, which leaves a large portion of the day at their own disposal.
When wages are good, of course play-days are numerous, and in many other employments these holidays never occur; and a collier lad is dearly fond of a
loose end, as he terms it — an expression derived from their sometimes having the measure they are working
fast at one end, in the solid stratum, and
loose at the other, from a head having been driven in it previously.--Besides the Field Club.
to provide against colliery accidents, they often join another club or provident society, so that in case of illness or accident, they may be well provided for support and medical attendance.
The collieries being now under the immediate inspection of government, no serious accident can occur without a thorough investigation taking place; and if adequate protection is not given to men's lives by efficient machinery and good ventilation, compulsory measures are resorted to, by the imposition of fines upon the proprietors.
The master in a colliery often retains that title only by courtesy, for when the men are master of their position, they do not scruple to show their independence, and will work or play just as they please, without letting the interest of their employer interfere much in their proceedings.
With healthy homes to live in, a moderate education given to them.
and recreation free from vicious contamination placed within their reach, these hardy fellows would all become worthy and well-behaved members of society.--
Chamber's Journal. 
