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

56 and slavish. But we had succeeded, and success is everything in this life. When the work was examined and approved of, the master, with good sense and generosity, pa d us for our labour, and also remunerated us for our ingenuity; which va> as it ought to be. But how often are the suggestions of the working man taken hold of, without it ever being known that the ideas emanated from such a source. In this way I per- severed week after week, bringing eveiy energy into full play, anxious to earn money by any' means, and volunteered to work over the end of each week, whatever the work, or wherever I might be wanted; such was my position and the family demand for my exertions at the time. On a sudden, however, I received my quietus again, which forced me out of the coal mines, my native element, where I had done so much to improve the system of ventilation, and render the mine safe. Thus situated, I left the coal mines in disgust and commenced business as a Licensed Victualler for my future livelihood. But my heart still clung to the mines ; I was frequently told, moreover, that it was a pity that the coal trade was deprived of my services. You will excuse me, when I tell you I could not resist the appeal to my conscience, when listening to the sad wailings of widows and orphan children, anxiously looking on the stranger for sympathy and help. Thus did I stand, in my own esti- mation, a traitor to my country, a guilty culprit to humanity, in the village of Burradon. 1 there vowed to myself, “ I will do the best I can to impart to others the knowledge I have acquired by experience, being deprived of the opportunity of doing so by practical instructions in the mine; and I have made the attempt to write this little work, which I dedicate to you, the miners in general of the United Kingdom. Con- scious I am, that many of you can and will acquire tlie requisite know- ledge, if you have but the opportunity to exercise the talent nature has endowed you with. But my dear followers in the passage of Hfe, without opportunity no man can learn the true system of mining, nor discover those great principles, the operations of nature in the mine. Let me impress this truth upon your minds, as a stimulant to your perseverance, inasmuch, as all the evils that haunt the coal mines is brought upon them by imperfect laws and defective administration. I will go back to a time when I, like unto some, perhaps many of you, had no knowledge whatever of the importance of ventilating truly the workings of a mine: to an explosion of hydrogen gas, which occurred at Coxlodge Colliery, in 1823. The accident happened about half-past three o’clock a.m,, just as the night shifters were leaving their work, and the fore deputy and first of the hewers were arriving at the crane. I was then 22 years’ old, and a hard coal hewer. My rnarrah (mate) and I had got about 600 yards from the shaft, when we met the air only of the explosive blast, which upset us topsy turvy, scattering picks, lamps, and us in various directions. Yet, we were not injured, and gathering ourselves together, we made our way to the lamp cabin where we got lights. We then went in search of our lamps and picks. The picks we laid out of the way, and went back to the cabin and got our lamps trimmed afresh. Observing the air in its regular course, we set off in-bye to tender what assistance we could to any that might re-