Next we come into the yard of the colliery, to the pit-mouth itself. These colliers have done their spell of work, and have just come to the surface again, all blackened and grimy with coal dust. Each of them holds a small lamp of a special kind. It is so made that the flame cannot pass out, even though the lamp be upset. The object is to prevent explosions of the coal gas which is often disengaged in the mine. Occasionally the colliers are careless and open the lamps, and as a consequence we sometimes hear of a terrible explosion with great loss of life.
12.
In the Cage.
13.
At work on a four-foot Seam.
14.
Levelling in a Coal Mine.
This is the cage ascending to the surface, bringing miners begrimed with coal dust, and each carrying his lamp and his can of liquid needed for drink in the depths of the earth, because the heat is there great, and there is much perspiration from labour. Next we see the actual working of the mine. The roof is supported by timbers, which are now brought to Britain from foreign countries in great quantity, because Britain is so populous that men cannot afford the space for the forests in which to grow the wood needed for the mines. Note the vertical thickness of the coal. It is to this that the towering forest of former times has been compressed in its ruin. Here with his lamp hung to one of the posts is the miner, stripped to his work, using his pickaxe to detach the lumps of coal. And here, finally, with the seam of coal more plainly visible than in the darker corner we have just left, are miners occupied in levelling, and so guiding the course of the tunnel. The coal is taken in trucks from the face where it is worked to the foot of the shaft, and thence raised to the surface.
We must now consider the uses to which the coal of England is put. We have already seen it exported to drive British ships in foreign seas. We have also noted the chimneys to the houses in Britain, which are warmed by coal fires. But the chief use is in the industries which give employment to so many millions of the British people.
15.
Rope making.
Now, the industries are chiefly textile, or of iron and steel. Men require clothing, and this is mostly woven or textile; and they require tools with which to work, and these are chiefly of iron and steel. Here is the simplest form of textile industry—the manufacture of ropes and mats. All the textiles are made of fibres, which are mostly got either from the stalks and other fibrous parts of plants, or from the wool and hair of animals. In olden times men clothed themselves with skins, and still do in some barbarous lands; but in these days nearly all the world wears clothes that are woven, that is to say, that are made of fibres laid across one another and interlaced so that they form a sheet of material. The roughest fibres are fit for the making of rope. By the weaving of rope, mats of one sort or another are manufactured. Here we have a factory for rope and mat making. The fibres are being laid straight, and side by side, in the machinery. We notice that the machines are driven by endless straps, worked from a long shaft running through the top of the shed. The shaft is rotated by the action of a steam engine, which is, of course, driven by the burning of coal. Now, since the machinery was made with the help of coal-heat, it follows that coal has been utilised twice over in this process—for the making and also for the driving of the machinery. One other thing we notice, the number of women employed to control the machinery. Women used formerly to spin and weave cloth in their own homes. With the introduction of machinery and steam-power they now have to perform the same work in factories.
16.
Linen Spinning Mill.
17.
Dobbie Loom.