36 Memoir of Tom Smith. 



and Mr. Gibbons, the owner of one of the 

 deepest in the neighbourhood, formed a party 

 for the purpose, and accompanied them him- 

 self. When they arrived at the bottom, some 

 hundreds of feet below the surface, a light 

 was placed in the hand of each, and they pro- 

 ceeded along the passages. At length Mr. 

 Smith noticed a dark hole some three or four 

 feet wide above his head, and he was in the 

 act of raising his lamp to see more clearly 

 what it was, Y,dien he received a severe blow 

 on the arm, which brought both hand and 

 lamp to the ground, accompanied by a frantic 

 exclamation, ^' Oh ! heavens I" His consterna- 

 tion may be imagined when he was told that 

 the hole was filled with gas, which the raising 

 of his lamp otAj a few inches higher would 

 have ignited, when the destruction of the pit 

 and all in it would have been the Avork of a 

 moment. 



Another danger which Mr." Smith has 

 escaped is the danger of debt ; and he is ever 



