"BRAVE I.OVI,1,
Ife'd nntlilng l.nt his violin,
IM nothing lnt my
Hut wk wern wed when skies worn blue
Anil summer ilnys wore long.
Ami when w rested by tho hmlgo
The ro'ilns cjiin mill libl
How they hnil ilnrml to woo nil. I will
When curly spring was nohl.
Wi' sometime suppm! nn dewberries
or slept among th liny,
pill ort (ho fanners' wives nt ev
( Kill" nut to hiMir ill tiliiv
The rurniiM tunes Ihn ile.ir old tunes
n coil dl not starvn for loni;,
WIiIIh my mini li.nl his violin
Anil I my sweet love soup,
Tlii" worlil has nye gone well with u,
Oi l man, sine w"re one ,
Our ho nel.-ss w.indrim; ilowii Hip litnoa -
It long ago WHS rolli".
Iliit tlms-i wlio w ilt br gold or gear.
For linn iiml for kin,
Till youth's sweet spring grow brown ntnl
senr
Ami lo I and beauty twin",
Will ni-vcr know Hie joy of hearts
ThKt ni"t wt limit ti tciir,
When you hn I I n' your violin
Ail I 1 a Mini.', n y tli'iir.
M-iry Kyle n.illas,
ANOE.THY TO ORDER.
nv cm:. crtAitt,F..
Jin; wood
burn's earliest
recollection was
of Ml litipninted
'SiAv.-fc'JL. M"rv 1,1,1
. -tlT(i..f,..'...lt,
f
mm,
try town itiCen-
Iral Ni'W York
fStKtv. 'J lit ru ho
llVOll Willi his
mother mid father
nnd t lie babv
brother t lint died mil il ho
w as twelve years did. HiH father
kept a grocery, also was superinten
dent of the Mission Sunday-school
held every Sunday afternoon in the
mission chapel on tlm outskirts of the
town, where nil t lit" rolling-mill em
ployes lived. Peter's father was n
delicate-looking iiihii, with hint; hide
whiskers, and, generally speaking, n
pious tone of voice. II in mother was
more robust. She wore a Muck Uce
bonnet with purple flowers, h
water-fall- it was then at the begin
ning of the seventies and taught a
class of boys in the Home Hnnday
school IVtev, of course, being in the
class. They were a good family ;
thoroughly well respected in the town
and fairly prosperous. Groceries are
necessities; Mr. Woodburn provided
for a good cIiihs of patrons. He owned
his home and had a modest bank ao
conut. He believed in education and
l'eter was kept closo at hit books.
Peter did not dislike hi books j he
was loud of rending. He studied well
and passed high examinations. From
the public schools he went into the
Academy and got n taste of mathe
matics and higher classics. He had a
great notion, too, for modern Ian
guapes and his parents fostered it.
An old professor took him in baud and
found him an apt pupil. When Peter
was seventeen he whs t hought so much
of by the Young Men' Christian As
sociation that they made him librarian
at their library, to his infinite joy.
It was a well-selected library aud
Peter read and rend onmivorously.
When he was nineteen hu father died.
Peter and his mother were alone in
the world, She was an amiable, middle-aged
Boul very proud of her boy
and very content with him. Ho was
quiet, studious, industrious. He spent
his evenings at homo with her, and
read aloud a great deal. Of course,
he frequently read fiction -generally
English novels of higher class English
life. Ofton he would discuss what he
read with his mother. Once he laid
down hia book with a nigh, and aaid
almost sadly : "Ob, mother, how de
lightful it must be to live in an old,
old house, where you grandfather and
great-great-grandfather have lived be
fore yon. It must be delightful to
trace away back in your ancestry and
know who they all were. We can't do
that iu America. For instance, mother,
you don't know much about your great
grandfather, do you, now?"
The good woman shook her head.
"No that is, well, I don't know about
all of them. Von see I had two grand
fathers and yes, I guess I must have
had four great-grandfathers. But
about as far as I can go is my grand
father on my mother's side that's
your great-grandfather ; be lived down
to Middle Forks and was a cobbler.
But he was a real good man ; read his
Bible all the time he worked." '
Peter draw another deep sigh. "I'll
go on readiug the next chapter, now,
I think," he said, for his mother's
recollections were n?t to his taste.
Another time he tried to Cud out
something about his father's ancestors.
But of these his mother eould tell him
little, except that his father, like her
self, had been orphaned at a rather
early age. There was an uncle of his
father's out iu California might be
very rich by this time, but she didn't
know.
With another sigh Peter gave up
trying to investigate. He simply went
on conducting his father's business
and laying aside a little money, and
patronising the library where he was
still librarian during certain hours of
toe day such as he could best spare
from the grocerr.
When he was lacking just a few days
of coming of age, be had the great
misfortune to lose his mother. , He
knew it was a great, au irreparable
misforUine. He was now alone iu the
world ; bis best friend was gone for
ever. He felt a great deal of grief in
a quiet war. ' He shut up tho little
house and went to live at the hotel.
He hardly kuew what he meant to do ;
it seemed to him that nothing now
bound him to hisoative town. At the
hotel he breame acquainted with a
gentleman who waa going out nest
and talked glowingly of chances out
there for a young man. Peter became
interested and soon made up bis mind
to go alonsf. Within a fortnight's
time he had sold his grocery and his
home, drawn bis bank balance and
put the money iu such safe shape that
ht could get at it at any moment.
Then he went West.
Holier, steady, industrious and wnll
inforined, l'eter Woodburu prospered
beyond his expectations. At thirty be
was very well oft very well oh" for a
young man. He had mining proper
lies and other property; a home in
IU-nvcr, a llrsl-rnte lmme. He had
everything man could desire --except,
of course, a wife. He had always
been too busy to fall ill love, it
seemed. And" bis ideas of women
worn very excellent, chivalrous ones,
derived from the excrllcut English
fiction he had read.
As he rame into his thirty-first
year it began to dawn upon him that
a man should have a good wife and
settle dowu to family life some time
or other.
With this idea in his bead hn oatno
Kat--itwas .itine and went to slay
at a delightful and fashionable water
ing place oil the Jersey const. Eligible
men were not plenty thnt year, and
Mr. Wondbtirn he always registered
as Mr. !'. 1. Woodburu, for it seemed
to him that l'eter was not exactly an
American name and that Pierce was
very much more musical and quite as
ensily written nnd hn bud heard Ins
mother sav that his father's mother's
maiden inline m Dclainnter Mr.
Woodbnrn was very mttcli in demand.
He was a tall, One-looking fellow and
.-ported very rich.
The girl tint most ellricted him,
and there were very many lino girls
there, wai a Miss Until I'.r. tt, of Phila
delphia. She whs t:ill, slender, grace
ful in dancing and swimming, charm
ingly well bred, arcordini; to Peter's
notions acquired from his novel read
ing moiles; and dutiful, vet not sim
pering. l'eU'i' soon hud fallen head
t.ver ears in love with Until BreU.
There w as no opposition. Mrs. Orett
gave cordial verbal consent and bless
ing; Mr. Bret1; wrote his approval
and Peter was i'l a sort of paradise.
And yet, underneath it all was a sort
of gnuwing appreheusioti of tho possi
bility ot the Hretts at some time de
manding tho history of bis ancestry.
Werethey not Philadelphia folks? And
was that not the terrible the crucial
test? Who was your grandfather?
Whs it not strange they had not al
ready insisted on knowing?
Tho more K, thought of it the more
ho lay awake nights. At length hn
could no longer etidura the strain. He
miiht be prepared for any emergency.
Tho idea came to him one night that
if one must make oneself, one might
as well make one's ancestry. There
wuld be no great particular harm in
it, seeing Hint it was only to be used
as a matter of reference.
The next morning hn took pencil
and paper aud prepared a book of
lineage. The only names he knew,
Clinton aud Morris on his mother's
side, Woodburn aud Delamnter on hia
father's, were excellent. What he did
know be told no lies about; what he
did not know might have been true as
easy as not for all be knew. To be
sure be purposely forgot to mention
the great-grandfather shoemaker who
read his Bible constantly while cob
bling. His father, George Washburn,
he made descend gracefully from
Puritan gentlefolk through a gentle
manly line of New England farmers to
emerge a "merchaut" he t'.id not say
"grocer." His mother, also from
English stock, with just a slight drop
of Huguenot blood, to account for
preferring the name Pierre.
When, after several mornings' work,
Mr. Woodbnrn had completed this an
cestry in peuoil murk, he very natur
ally knew it pretty well by heart.
There were blank pages in his
family Bible apart from those where
the entry of his parents' marriage was
made and that of bis birth and his
brother's. Upon these pages he copied
carefully in pale, old-fashioned ink
the precious lineage he had labored so
hard to construct.
Days passed. At the proper time
the subject was brought up of family,
and Mr. Woodburn casually mentioned
his ancestral record in the old Bible,
and after some persuasion gave it to
his betrothed for perusal.
The effect was excellent. The Bretts
regarded him with new veueration
at least the parents did. As for Ruth,
it seemed not to make so much differ
ence. But some few days later something
else transpired. A letter, forwarded from
Denver, came to Peter Woodburn with
news that bis father's uncle, the one
his mother bad once told him of, bad
discovered that his grandnephew was
a tine, prosperous fellow. The old
man, Delamater, was coming East and
wanted to meet Peter. Of course Peter
was glad to bear from the old man,
who, it seemed, was au old bachelor
and well off.
In due time old Mr. William Dela
mater came East and put up at the
same seaside hotel and. of course, was
presented to the Bretts. Peter had
taken pains to meet him in New York
and see wht he was like in advance.
The old roan had passed muster very
creditably. He had lived in Han Fran
cisco and bad very good ways, dressed
well and was not uugratnmatioal by
any means.
He took a great fancy to Ruth Bret'
and they became great friends. The
old man was capital story teller and
used to entertain Ruth's mamma for
hours dowu at the beach while Ruth
bathed or promenaded. One might
almost have suppoaed that Peter would
take certain precautions in the matter
of a hint to bis grand-uncle as to the
matter of "family" and Philadelphia
prejudices. But Peter omitted this.
And so the mischief was wrought,
They had roiib down to the beacti
onn morning and found there was no
bathing. It was very rough. Mrs.
IJiett bad ensconced herself In bpr
beach chair, old Mr. Delamater bad
made himself comfortablo at her side,
Itnlh was loitering about, and Peter
Woodburn was somu distance away
smoking and looking out at tho ocean.
Siiddouly Peter saw flying toward him
his fiancee.
"Pierre, Pierre, quick, sho whis
pered. "(Jltiick, take your uncle
awayt" Hhe was white and scared
looking.
"What's the matter?" be asked.
"Ob, I I'll tell you later. Only
lake him away quick I"
Peter strode over to tho old man.
"Uncle, quick, come along ; there's
the queerest looking thing down there
down whore those men are. I'd
hardly aik the ladies to go just yet
there's such a crowd. (Jtiick, uncle."
And ho dragged him away.
"Uncle, for Heaven's sake, what
wero you talking about to Mrs.
Brett ?';
"Talking about? Why nothing in
the world let's see. O, yes, sho lib
gnu to talk about her ancestors and
asked me if I wasn't proud of mine
tho old Puritan nnd the tho what'it
sho call 'em? And blamed if I know
what she'd got in her head." Andtheu
sho says "Oh, well, you are one ol
there independent Americans that
would prel'ev to be considered aelf
umilc. But your nephew, Mr. Wood
burn, seemed to feel a getitiiuo pride
in being well born. I think it no ad
tniriible his keeping that old f.imilj
Bible and being able to go back gen
erntious. I certainly tlo approve it;'
and I up and says, "Oreat Hcottl Von
don't inuau to say you put auy credit
iu that balderdash why, lie jusl
probably made thnt up to suit him
self. Why, on his mother's side, now,
thev were iiist ordinnrv shopinnkeri
'nnd grocers and farmers and .lust
then Miss I'uth began to tell nie yon
wanted mo and (lood Gracious,
l'eter, you're as palu as a sheet I
What's the matter?"
"Nothing, uncle; only I guest
you've just ruined all tho happiness ol
my iiTe. Why couldn't you keep youi
m utlh shut; that's all. Now, for pity'l
sake, keep away from tho Bretts."
He turned and strodo away, hnrdly
knowing where he went until hu saw
Until coming to intercept him.
One look into her eyes reassured
him ; they were shiuiug almost mer
rily. "Oh, Pierre!" kIio cried, with a lit
Ho laugh, "what au escape!"
"What do you mean, Ruth?"
"Why, your uncle was just giving
roil away for nil he was worth. I have to
laugh. He says you made up all your
ancestry.
"And Rntli you you couldn't
forgive me if I did such a thing?''
Wooilbnrn's voice shook.
"Bless your old heart, Pierre I
Listen ; anyouo around to hear? Why,
yon know mamma's father was just a
plain dry-goods-storo man iu in
Camden. " But don't tell, Only just
make your uncle hold his tongue."
"Then everything is all right?" The
color leaped buck into Peter's cheeks.
"Why, of course. Wasn't mamma
cute? That's tho real Yankee word.
She pretended not to have heard any
thing he said, All she remarked was;
'Dear me !' The old gentlemuu is al
ways most garrulous when tho wind
blows away from me, and I can't catch
mi v thing he Buys, Jt's quite too
bad.' "
l'eter Woodburn burst out laugh
ing. Ruth laughed with him. "Left
go back and sit by mamma," she said.
New York Mercury.
Pump Shotguns For Bobbers.
Messengers and guards for the
United States Express Company ar
being furnished with rapid-tire repeat
ing shotguus with which to guard the
property iu their charge. Beside the
outlet nnd bomb proof doors to tin
express cars and the burglar-proof
safes, which cannot be opened even by
the messengers, train robbers will find
guards and messengers supplied with
these guns in addition to the revolvers
they have always carried and ready
and willing to engage in a shooting
scrap at short range.
To ex-Senator Thomas C. Piatt,
President of the United States Expresn
Company, is due the adoption of the
repeating shotgun. He has been ex
perimenting for some time with guns
of various makes, and perhaps he
would yet have been undecided as to
what make was best for the purpose,
but a practical demonstration of the
value of oue gun was made when one
Devery, a would-be-robber, drew a
pistol on Guard Bell in the Washing
ton depot. Bell had a Winchester
"pump" shotgun with six cartridge!
iu it, and ho fired twelve large-sized
buckshot into the person of Devery,
and he was carried to a hospital to
have his wounds dressed. The attend
ing physician expressed surprise at
the wounds, and said that at forty
yards a mau would be riddled with the
discharge from it. Detroit Free Press.
Internal Temperature ot Trees. ""
The internal temperatme of trees
has been observed for some time past
by M. Prinz, of Uccle, in Belgium,
who finds their meun annual tempera
ture at the heart of the trunk the same
as that of the air, but the mean
monthly temperature of the trees some
times differs from the latter by two or
three degrees ceutigrade. Ou oertain
days the difference iu question maybe
as much as ten degrees centigrade. In
very cold weather the interual tem
perature falls to a tew tenths of a de
gree below the freezing point, and
theu remains stationary. In very hot
weather the temperature of the tree
stays at tttteou degrees ceutigrade or
thereabout A large tree is, therefore,
oooler in hot weather and warmer iu
cold weather thau the air. London,
Qlobe.
COAL MINKUS.
SCr.NF.S OK DUTItKHS I Till?
AM'lli:.( U K ItKCilOXS.
Crentl Forms the Chief Pond
Thus Who Helve for "llliielt
lln!tu!il V Novell Ages
of Miner's l.lfo,
of
T TAI'.D times bnvo often born
felt in the mining regions,
L ''Mt "pv,'r before, says a
C Wikesbnrre (I'entl.) letter to
the New York World, bus stnrvntioli
been so near as now. Employers run
give the men no hope of improvement
for nt least ilvo months to come.
How to support a lnrge family on 910
or 913 a month is a problom iu econ
omy no dillictilt that tin miner, ex
perienced ns be is iu such nj necessity,
hns ii 1 most given up trying.
The condition of nffiiirs in tho Wyo
ming Valley may be taken ns nu exam
ple of the destitution Unit also pre
vails in the other two tiuthi'iieitu min
ing regions of lYmisylviiiiiii tho
Hchuylkill and the Lehigh. Wyoming
i-i greater Hum both, its mines nre
more prosperous, its output much
larger nnd its miners double in num
ber, but from Cnrbondnle to Hehlcks
hinny not one of the hundreds of
mines is being worked more than two
days a week, nnd soma have closed en
tirely. In this valley are 1511,11110 men
employed in nnd about the mines.
N'ific-te utha of t h dim Iihto tiimilica to
support. The highest wages made by
tli'st-cbifs miners tluring .luuuiiry was
A very Inrgo majority received
lcs tliiiu 915. For February the fig
ures nfe oven' lower.
Such nn amount of money is suffi
cient to keep a single mini in comfort,
but it must be remembered miners'
fiuuilies mo invariably large, mid the
household ithont small children isiiu
exception. The question of children
is a serious one in mining regions, and
has oftiu been the subject of discus
sion iimolig operator nnd company
miiuiigers. Poverty nn 1 children seem
to increase iu the kiidio ratio. "It is
not ii mutter to bo c iusidered lightly
or humorously," said the uinnuger of
n litro company to the World corres
pondent. "Miners' families are grow
iug constantly, and nt a time when the
pniviits can ill uffor I to fend more
mouths. Every accident leaves a host
of helpless children, who become sub
jects of charity. Raising a family of
is or more keeps the father constant
ly iu iVibt and creates a home iu which
there is the direst povertv. Thy miuer
nr,'Ues his sous will keeji bun iu old
ui , luil the young men soon marry
and havo all they can do to support
themselves. J lie subject is a most ser
ious one for mining communities."
i'tt'iid is now the chief food iu the
majority of miners' homes. Iii some
it is already the only article, nnd the
intuitu r is increasing daily. "There
is many a ftuuily iu thu v.illey wherj
llrj bill of fare is dry bread for break
last, dry bread for dinner an I dry
bread for supper." This was tho
sintumeut of a mine worker who knew
by sad experience thnt it was true.
"The miner is poorer to-day - tli'iu
I ever know him to ba before. Out
of his pittance ot wages must tirnt
come $ii to 912 for house rent, anil
theu see what is left for the family to
live ou fl'i a month, ot thirty-three
cents a day, to feed ami clothe six or
more persons. This is what huudreds
have . been existing ou for two
months."
During 1893 there was an average
of 180 working days in the mines, or a
little more than half time. The first
month of 1M.U the mines averaged
about eight days; the second not so
much. The question of wages is little
heard of auy more. Now it is a ques
tion of work. Yet it took years of
Conflict and agitation before wages
fere adjusted to their present basis.
The followiug list, taken from tho
AN IDl.3 I'OAL BBEAKEB.
books of the Lehigh and Wilkesbarre
Coal Company, shows what the meu
could make if they had the oppor
tunity :
PAT Or THE MEN.
OuUblu workers Ter month.
FurMiir'u , H5
l'lrk 43
Mnt'ilH tonen 40
W.iu-huivu 40
Per iluy.
Ten waters 1 f1
I'ut.) i Us-iiixcr SI 00
PirdtiiHii 1 (ill
l!r.-Her eUK.lU'ers 3 US
Ho '.lu euglneers S SO
Fan engineers U 00
bo hIhm , 1 53
MlirilKKi-M 1 'ii
I. ),or rs
K.nlt) pickers, ...
Top nit ii
II. nckimitha
I.'arp-ii.er
Co il iuieetunt. ..
..1 10 to 1 30
30e. to 1 M
ICOloltiS
a oo
II 10
I 74
I'r mouth.
tii.nlt. workers
FiirHinnu , '. to 11
Kirn I owui. 73 to SO
blalilo 1 oases , ii
1'enUy.
)ilv. r Losses - f'i US
l'u:;iU'UKiuir i 00
Minor, first elnss ,., 9 311
lUiii-r", seooml class 9 17
Miners' laborers..
...T3 ISto a -ili
Tlmbermi'ii
Track eleiuier ,.
Iliinners a let ilr.vxrs...,
I'nti'lietS.
poor bovs ,
I'lnne loot men ,
Innlilo earpenl
CiirpentHrs' hi'lr. . . .
Mason
....9 17 to 1 in
.,..1 411 to I 71)
. ... 1 fill to 1 s
. . . . t nn to I 2
in I no
....1 JOIO 1 SH
IK
...A til) to I HS
2110
From the list it might be imagined
tho mine-worker was in prosperous
circumstances pompnred to many
other trades, but I tin difference ap
pears when it is found that eight days
a month is the average time worked.
Not one man iu the wholo list made
over 920 tluring January, ami many
of them are of considerable education
mid experts in their work.
Despite their almost desperate con
dition, hnrdly a word of denunciation
of employers and the rich is beard.
There nre no strikes, no meetiugs of
unemployed, no agitators and no btbor
organization. This change in a re
Kioii, once the very centre of such
-reason ElL!'
11 ' W&m
A MIMF. CAUIM OI'ITI'IFII ItY EltlHT PKOI1.E.
discontent, is most remarkable ami is
accounted for iu two ways. The
operators say the men are more intel
ligent and retul the uewpapers. Tho
men sav : "Wo bnve bad enough ex
perience with such things." There
fore, iu this present stringency, there
is no complaint, because the men
recognize as well as the operator tho
causes, which are very difK'reut from
those which eHeot other business.
The total product of the anthricite
mines for 1H1U nas 4',00l),000 tons, of
which Wyoming Valley put out 25,
000,01)1) tons. At the eiid of the year,
when the entire product should have
been sold nn 1 the mines worked full
time to supply the demand, there re
mained ou band o,QI0,l)li) tons of
coal. Tho mines closed at once. Add
ing to the prevailing tluliiess of trade
came the warmest winter known iu
years. There was no sale whatever
for coal. Niuety-Hve per cent, of tho
nutbracite coal is consumed in house
hold staves and furnaces, mid the
weather has an immediate effect on
trade. Ho while warm weather has
proved a blessing to the city poor, it
has taken away the work of mauy
thousands of men iu Pennsylvania.
Weather is tho cause ot three-fourths
of the destitution. The price of coal
at the mine is seventy-five cents lower
per ton thau for several years past,
although retailers hold to the same
old lofty figures and make greater
profit. This causes a most decided
disinclination ou the part of the opera-
tors to mine much coal. Not until
lake shipments to the Northwest com
mence, about July 1, will there be an
improvement in the anthracite re
gions. As the weather .continue to
get warmer there will be less work
than at present, and the miuer will
havo to exist iu some way ou nothing.
The mining companies are doing as
much as possible to alleviate tho dis
tress. Effort is made to give all the
men a little work each week. Minos
are worked when it would be moie
profitable to shut down. All kinds A
necessary improvements are put uuder
way. New shafts are sunk, tunnels
driven and gangways opened. This
furnishes employment for part ol the
men all of the time, and the most de
serving are chosen. The Lehigh and
Wilkesbarre Company, which usually
employs 15,000 men, is able to keep
1300 ou these improvements. . The
widows and orphans are cared for aud
special cases of destitution are relieved.
Coal is supplied free and bouse reut is
IIO:if! OF FOl'RTKKN' MEM AND ONE WOMAN.
allowed to fapsn. Rome of the larger
companies build many bouses for their
employes to live in, and the collection
of rent for tho! is deferred until tnuri
prosperous times. Companies that
hove getieru! tores extend long-titnaj
credit tp t ii j men, and in this way foot)
is obtained. As a rule, tho miner is
honest ami pays when hn can. Piiblio
charily, however, is not organized, antt
destitution has been so common fof
years that little notice is taken of it
Tho seven ages of man n the mining
region are sitccossiva periods of priva
tioi, danger nnd hard work. Tim
miner begins and ends bis days in the
breaker picking slate. First, as the
boy, bo enters the breakpr. Then ha
aspires to tend door iu the mine, parry
a whip and phew tobaoco. Next he
becomes a innlo driver and learns to
swear. As miner's laborer next be
londs the conl his employer digs. Then
bo reaches the summit of his ambition
and is a full-fledged miner. As .old
age romes ou anil ho gets tut feeble to
handle tho pick, ho goes back to tho
Ac-,
breaker, where fifty years before hn
commenced life full of ambition and
strength.
In every breaker iu tho valley, boys
and old meu work side by sitle, aud
yet, despite tho inevitable end which
can I so plainly seen, there is never
a lack of youngsters to fill every va
cancy in tho ranks.
The mine worker bus characteristics
that can tie found in no other man.
As the father grows old, tho son tskei
his place, and tho clans remain to
gether, until they gaiu a kind of pro
prietorship over the company iu
whoso employ the families have long
been. Tho past five years have, how
ever, been marked by tho beginning
of great changes iu the old ways.
Tho son no longer thinks his father's
place high enough. The mine has nu
attraction for the young man, aud be
becomes n clerk or a student. Very
few of the rising generation at present
will become miners.
F.dticntion and newspapers are large
ly res) onsible for tho change. At
Hcrnnton tho miners have a philosoph
ical debating society. All of the mem
bers read one or more newspapers nnd
keep posted on public affair. Frank
ness and honesty are the two most
noticeable traits In the miners. Credit
is given by merchants for the asking.
The Welsh, who predominate, possess
these characteristics to A marked de
gree, nnd their influence has pervaded
the wholo region. With such a class
of meu the suffering of poverty seems
more acute. They starve with the
submission to philosophers.
This new order of things has three
most remarkable resnlts the decline
of lawlessness, the extinction of labor
organizations aud the exodus of Huns,
Finns, Polandcrs and Bohemians. The
Mnllie Mctluires, once the terror of
the mining regions, are no longer
known. Tho reign of murder and as
sassination has completely ended.
Crimes are few and life is safe any
where along the lonely monntain roads.
Duly a few years ago it was an almost
uncommon occurrence to find a super
intendent or disliked boss lying dead
in the road, and mysterious disappear
ances were frequently reported. The
radical change to the present quiet
and orderly state is a most astonishing
one to those who knew the mining re
gions in their former day of lawless
ness. A strange exodus from the anthraciU
mining regions, especially the Wyom
ing Valley, is the emigration of Huns,
Polanders, Bohemians, Hlavs and Finns.
They formerly swarmed into the mines
and were employed in large number
by the operators for very low wages.
They were put in place of experienced
men, but were soon found to be a most
costly experiment. By ignorance and
carelessness they caused many acci
dents that proved expensive to the
operators. The old workmen allied
against them, the companies found it
more profitable without them and sud
denly the tide of immigration ceased
and au exodus commenced. The
foreigners moved in large number to
Western Pennsylvania to work in mills
Mid soft coal mines. Those who re
mained in the anthracite regions are
employed for the cheaper class of
labor, aud form now but a small por
tion of the mineworkers.
Manv improvements have been made
in mining methods. Htrict laws gov
erning Tentilation and safety appli
ances are iu force, but there still re
mains oue great permissible crime
robbing pillar. It is a qnestiou of
engineering judgment in which science
is ofteu overpowered by corporation
greed. Weak mines are numerous in
the valley, and the most dangeroud of
all are the abandoned workiugs that
have been robbed of every pound tbey
would stand. When they cave, death
and destruction ore spread to the work
ing vein. This was the case in the
Gay lord mine, at Plymouth. Years of
natural chippiug aud weariug away of
pillars left barely strong euongh to
hold up the roof finally caused this to
collapse and nearly ruiued the whole
mine, costing thirteen lives.
3fc.
Mammou doe only a cash business.