About Coal
“DOWN in a coal mine underneath the ground,
Where a ray of sunshine never can be found,
Digging dusky diamonds all the year around
Down in a coal mine underneath the ground,”
sang the boy named Billy as he put more coal on Somebody’s fire.
“Where did you dig up that old coal-miner’s chantey, Billy Boy?” asked Somebody.
“Bob White’s great-grandfather sings it sometimes in the funniest quivery old voice ever—” said the boy named Billy. “He used to be a foreman in a coal-mine in Pennsylvania when he was young, so Bob says. What’s a Chantey, please? I thought it was just a funny old song.”