AMERICA'S UNDERGROUND WORKERS 17 



In brief this is tho story of the ^nowth of the iiiiniiif; in- 

 dustry hi this country. The fi^^ures tell some of the results 

 of the work of the men who toil in the never ending darkness 

 of the underground world, adding pound by pound, bit by 

 bit, to them. 



The life of a miner, surrounded by all the perils that his 

 position is fraught with, is pretty much the same and simple 

 indeed, except in the salt mines, where, as will be explained 

 later, the workers are the aristocrats of the miners' world. 

 They live, the men who work in mines, almost within sight, 

 sometimes actually so, of the mouth of the shaft of the mine 

 where they are employed, with their little families, the male 

 members of which entertain no greater amijition than to follow 

 in their ancestors' footprints and wrest their living from the 

 bowels of the earth. Their houses, as a rule, are dirty and 

 grime streaked from the dust of the mines, for the miner cares 

 little for pleasing effects, and his home — to him — is but a 

 place where meals are served and where he sleeps. 



He has little time for his family. In the summer he 

 is up with the first streaks of daylight ; in the winter he leaves 

 his bed before dawn, for his work requires his presence in the 

 mine before seven o'clock. Early as he arises, though, his 

 wife is up before him and his breakfast, a heart}^ one, for 

 these men eat heavily, is ready when he is dressed. Break- 

 fast consists of meat or fish with hot potatoes, and coffee 

 and bread and butter. Dressing consists of slipping on a 

 hea\y flannel or woolen shirt, woolen drawers and socks, 

 and woolen or hea\n^^ duck trousers. His shoes are heavy 

 and hobnailed and his hat is an affair resembling a small 

 helmet with an oil lamp fixed in front. 



The start for the mine is made immediatel}' after break- 

 fast. If the day be cold he wears a short, heavy jacket or 

 reefer. 



Shoulders bent and head drooping, his habitual attitude 

 in the mine, the worker sets off with long strides and, without 

 a backward glance, pushes on to the mine. 



The shaft through which he enters to his work may be 



a straight one, sunk perpendicularh' into the ground, or a 



sloping run. In the former case the worker, with his com- 

 voi. 6-a 



