Scenes And Incidents From The Life Of A Practical Miner
With A Treatise On The Ventilation Of Coal Mines

25 timid; I could not induce them to believe in their safety until I had exposed wherever they supposed any danger to exist. As the work went on, their fears abated, and their confidence increased, and on the Tuesday morning when the under-viewer came in to see how we were getting on, they expressed their assurance of safety, I left them at four o’clock in the afternoon, for the first time since Sunday at four o’clock—after being forty-eight hours in the pit, amidst clanger and difficulty, filled with anxious care—promising them to be back at four o’clock on the Wednesday morning; thus did we persevere until we had got the drift all finally built, and solidly stowed as it is to this day. I then left, with the work- men's thanks and nothing more. Now, fellow workmen in the mines, who best can appreciate the merits of a man so situated; and ye discerning public, whose sympathy I now seek, let me ask you now, how should a man be remunerated foi* services such as these? You have read that the chief agent selected me from the vast number employed on the colliery, and took me from my own occu- pation to be in charge of this hazardous, dangerous, and most difficult undertaking. My ordinary wages were regulated by the deputies, and at this time were 3s. 6d. per day, for eight hours’ work; so that you see in this case 1 had six times eight hours to claim as my due. Do you think I got it? No! That same chief agent thought the one-half quite sufficient to reward me for doing what others could not do, according to his own views. Thus, I performed a difficult operation, and exposed my life to the most imminent danger, during forty-eight hours, for 10s. 6d. This statement can be corroborated by living witnesses; and those witnesses will glory in reading this account; for they knew I did everything carefully and conscientiously, and never neglected my duty, although I was not sufficiently remunerated foi* it. No, my object was to learn as well as live; always doing my best to keep everything safe, and provide a healthy atmosphere for the workmen. And thus were my energies wasted in the meridian, of life. Nevertheless, I was always buoyed up by the hope of bettering my condition in another quarter, and in a similar sphere. Yet in all my applications I was disappointed, and I am sorry to tell you that I am doubly so now, as you will learn by-and-by. With all my pretentions on ventilation, I may tell you that I am, and have been this five years, involved in an atmosphere of the most offensive and pernicious description that I have met with in my passage through life:—L—A—AV is the name of,this noxious gas; it has accumulated into a volume of unmanageable bulk; and not having been a native of the mine, I was ignorant of its effect, until it was visibly floating on the ruins of a respectable tradesman, with no means at hand to avert the calamity. However, having given you a descriptive view of the last dangerous undertaking brought to a successful issue, I may say, that at that period of time all operations of this kind, where difficulty and danger prevailed, devolved upon me, whether in or out of the pit. ' In old or new, I was in- variably selected to take charge of the process of labour necessary to re- establish safety. We had a very extensive field to practise in—a field where such a variety of experience could be gained, that any man with an intelli- i>