THE CHILDREN'S CORNER.

Evening Star, Issue 9889, 28 December 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE CHILDREN'S CORNER.

Talks to Young Folks,

BEQUEATHED TO GOD.

[By the Rev. William Birch, D.D.]

' XXXI.—CLIMBING THE COAL-PIT SHAFT. ! "What shall I do next?" exclaims the ; jboy. " Here lam at the bottom of »the old coal-pit,' out of everyone's reach." V He has beard of this pit, and several ■times looked into the awful depth. There < fare two disused shafts. One is the dowo shaft, so called because the air goes down, "and which was used to wind up the coal, the 'other the up shaft, intended for the air to ' escape. Whether he is at the bottom of the i down or the up shaft he cannot tell. He, j however, knows that he is on the other \ side of the river which turns the wateri wheel fpr the corn mill, and that he must '■ have heen carried by the underground <current,"and h*s wandered in the passages ) about two miles from'the Manor House. "He sees no hopo of being *escued t since the pit has n6t been used in his time} and if someone happened to look down he thinks it impossible for them to hear his shout from i six hundred feet dowo below. Besides, the I opening at the top seems only like a star, and he could not tell when anyone happened to be at the top, which he remembers is some distance from the nearest house. "Whatshall I do?" he again askß himself. He does not even dream'of giving up as being hopelessly lost; the only question is what is the wisest course to pursue. He I is very hungry, and from creeping about the | last day without boots his feet are painfully sore. He is in the pitch-dark, but is comforted every time he looks up by seeing the star-mouth of the pit. It is useless, he thinks, to try to find a way of escape along any of the passages, since the explosion has evidently destroyed the underground

Martyrs' Church, and blocked the way to that centre. Besides, he would have to swim up the current to find the cavern where he dropped in. "No," he remarks aloud, "my only chanoe is to climb this shaft somehow or other; if I had only my boots!" ■ Leaning his back against (he side, he continues to look up at "the beautiful Btar," aa he terms the far-off mouth of the shaft—thinking, praying, and trying to remember things he has heard about entombed miners. For a while be closes his eyes in deeper thought, and when he opens them again the beautiful star has disappeared. With almost a shriek of despair, he leaps to his feet, crying: "Am I blind againf Anxiously gazing up, he thinks he sees a fajnt star, and, with an exclamation ofjoyous peace, remarks: " Why, of course, it must be the sun going down and the night coming on. Thank God, lam not blind 1"

He again sits to think. The question is how to hold on while he elimba. He goes around the bottom feeling the side, and finds it hard like brick or wood. If be could find a hammer and chisel and two planks he believes he might climb. He says; "I would make two holes into which to slip the plank, and standing thereon make two_,other holes to hold the other, and so, sft up at a time, I should manage it. Let me see, six hundred feet up means one hundred and twenty plank levels, or two hundred and forty holes, I dare say the wood and brick are almost rotten by this time; if I had only the tools and the planks." He calculates quarter of an hour for each hole, making sixty hourß without stopping, or, with rests, three days and nights. He remarks : "I have no food, so the quicker I do it the better, and I need not lose time in sleep, for if I slept I might fall off the plank. Now, then, to hunt in the dark for the tools and plauks. I hope the old miners have been careless enough to leave some of their things about." , He creeps along the passage, and after a long time discovers a pick used in breaking the rook. Rejoicing, -as he remarks, " like the good shfjphero who found the lost

Bheep,° he hunt* for a.plank, but cannot find anything he can possibly remove, and decides to take instead two pieces of the iron rails on which the coal waggons used to run. The heavy pick enables him to Beparate two rails, and', since lite shaft is round, he believes he can escape. Id. the dark, however, he often hits wide of the mark, but succeeds in making two boles about five feet from the ground, and places an iron rail there. Climbing on it he lifts his hand to feel» soft spot to knock holes for another resting place; when I© his surprisfr he finds what he feels sure is the •broken rung of a ladder. Stretching on toe he touches a step above it, and with a about begins to hammer away until he is able to put in the second rail and climb to the ladder. He now remembers to have heard that the coal-pit engine was only worked during the day, and that the miners ; who wished to work a portion of the night used the upshaffc on a zig-zag ladder, which was fastened from platforms .At certain places where postages led of! to different , levels. In each platform was a bole, through . which the miner went, like that made for . saitors when they climb the mast, to the t hope that the ladders communicate ftp to , the mouth of the pit, Lynn begins the ascent . with singing in his heart, and the pick ; fastened on his back. He climbs slowly, feeling each rung as he moves on. Many are broken or rotten, and aeveral times he pulls himself up by holding on to the Bides of the ladder. He caleulates I Out «w ladders are fortj to sixty feet' '#■■■ '" J "i ■■ '<■'■ '•'■"■''- .' .• .'**''

There ia ttta* to c*j*s along this level,and he «gWi»«»*jrto hfcaUie. There axe no tails along the passage.; and he finds several' tarns, btit keeps in what he believes to be the main tonne}, became of :y '- **- • .- - Still, on hands an! taapfche pushes the pick befow to^tum^Mb&i*^ convinced there is *?#«***. He pushes the llipa torn his arid ie head k "ttte thud it gives a Jong way down balo«r.' atfflHftßMß!& > : j Backing, and lying flatly, he |eels for the, side, and believes he ia op a platform. Oarefully rising, to bis j°J Wels the rung of a ladder, another rang iCtbove ifc, andi? from the sreay rash of air, sniakes sure J\> o%Hgh| he.vooU SS^ibWf^vttp.- ";"/// i«e climba; *ix «plcti|ate> i| within a hundred feet ironrshe top, and looking up aoes two stars, the eight of whkh njrf^hl^ *' \ • $ Dp he s&fh Hwr'3k *' third star, and~ivith joy continues to ><3[inlb,wtojfa the ladder is broken off Therfe is no platform, and' he th*t ne a ' within twenty feet from the month of theehaft, as he remarks, "likeVbear on the top of a pole." HO descends to th/'plal 1 - fOrm, feels dejejotod wd W«,Ty, cannot keep h'is-eyes open, and at' HtHtgA taking off his ; suspenders fastens'hit arm* to the foot of the - bVdder, sayinjr: " I can do no more J I most wait till dayiighti" • (To be ntsiSpmrday.) >