After a while Henry said, "you must have experienced much that is wonderful since then, I hope you have never repented your selection of a mode of life. Be kind enough to tell us how you have employed yourself since, and why you are now travelling. You must have looked farther into the world, and I am certain that you are now something more than a common miner."
"I take great pleasure," said the old man, "in the recollection of past times, in which I find cause to bless the divine mercy and goodness. Fate has led me through a joyful and serene life, and not a day has passed, at the close of which I could not retire to rest with a thankful heart. I have always been fortunate in my undertakings, and our common Father in Heaven has guarded me from evil, and brought me to a gray old age with honor. Next to him I must thank my old master for all these blessings, who long since was gathered to his fathers, and of whom I never can think without tears. He was a man of the old school, after God's own heart. He was gifted with deep penetration, yet childlike and humble in every action. Through his means mining has become in high repute, and has helped the duke of Bohemia to immense treasures. The whole region has become by its influence settled and prosperous, and is now a blooming land. All the miners honored him as a father, and as long as Eula stands, his name will be mentioned with emotion and gratitude. His name was Werner, and he was a Lausatian by birth. His only daughter was a mere child when I came to his house. My industry, faithfulness, and devoted attachment daily won his affection. He gave me his name and adopted me as his son. The little girl grew to be an open-hearted, merry creature, whose countenance was as beautifully clear and pure as her own mind. The old man, when he saw that she was attached to me, that I loved to play with her, and that I could never cease gazing at her eyes, which were as blue and open as heaven and glittering as crystal, often told me that when I became a worthy miner, he would not refuse her to me. He kept his word. The day I became hewer he laid his hands upon us, blessed us as bride and bridegroom, and a few weeks afterward I called her my wife. Early on that day, although a mere apprentice, I struck upon a rich vein. The Duke sent me a golden chain, with his likeness engraven on a large medallion, and promised me the office of my father-in-law. How happy was I when on my marriage day I hung the chain around the neck of my bride, and the eyes of all were turned upon her. Our old father lived to see some merry grand-children, and his declining years were more joyous than he had ever anticipated. With joy could he finish his task, and fare forth from the dark mine of this world, to rest in peace, and await the final day.
"Sir," said the old man, as he turned his gaze upon Henry, and wiped some tears from his eyes, "it must be that mining is blessed by God; for there is no art, which renders those who are occupied in it happier and nobler, which awakens a deeper faith in divine wisdom and guidance, or which preserves the innocence and childlike simplicity of the heart more freshly. Poor is the miner born, and poor he departs again. He is satisfied with knowing where metallic riches are found, and with bringing them to light; but their dazzling glare has no power over his simple heart. Untouched by the perilous delirium, he is more pleased in examining their wonderful formation, and the peculiarities of their origin and primitive situation, than in calling himself their possessor. When changed into property, they have no longer any charm for him, and he prefers to seek them amid a thousand dangers and travails, in the fastnesses of the earth, rather than to follow their vocation in the world, or aspire after them on the earth's surface, with cunning and deceitful arts. These severe labors keep his heart fresh and his mind strong; he enjoys his scanty pay with inward thankfulness, and comes forth every day from the dark tombs of his calling, with new-born enjoyment of life. He now appreciates the pleasure of light and of rest, the charms of the free air and prospect; his food and drink are right refreshing to one, who enjoys them as devoutly as if at the Lord's Supper; and with what a warm and tender heart he joins his friends, or embraces his wife and children, and thankfully shares the delights of heart-felt intercourse."
"His lonely occupation cuts off a great part of his life from day and the society of man. Still he does not harden himself in dull indifference as to these deep-meaning matters of the upper world; and he retains a childlike simplicity, which recognises the interior essence, and the manifold, primitive energies of all things. Nature will never be the possession of any single individual. In the form of property it becomes a terrible poison, which destroys rest, excites the ruinous desire of drawing everything within the reach of its possessor, and carries with it a train of wild passions and endless sorrows. Thus it undermines secretly the ground of the owner, buries him in the abyss which breaks beneath him, and so passes into the hands of another, thus gradually satisfying its tendency to belong to all.
"How quietly, on the contrary, the poor miner labors in his deep solitudes, far from the restless turmoil of day, animated solely by a thirst for knowledge and a love of harmony. In his solitude he tenderly thinks of his friends and family, and his sense of their value and relationship is continually renewed. His calling teaches indefatigable patience, and forbids his attention to be diverted by useless thoughts. He deals with a strange, hard, and unwieldly power, which will yield only to persevering industry and continual care. But what a glorious flower blooms for him in these awful depths,--a firm confidence in his heavenly Father, whose hand and care are every day visible to him in signs not easily mistaken! How often have I sat down, and by the light of my lamp gazed upon the plain crucifix with the most heart-felt devotion! Then for the first time I clearly understood the holy meaning of this mysterious image, and struck upon a heart-vein of the richest golden ore, and which has yielded me an everlasting reward."
After a pause the old man continued:--
"Truly must he have been divine, who first taught men the noble art of mining, and who has hidden in the bosom of the rock this sober emblem of human life. In one place the veins are large, easily broken, but poor; in another a wretched and insignificant cleft of rock confines it; and here the best ores are to be found. It often splits before the miner's face into a thousand atoms, but the patient one is not terrified; he quietly pursues his course, and soon sees his zeal rewarded, whilst working it open in a new and more promising direction.
"A specious lump often entices him from the true direction; but he soon discovers that the way is false, and breaks his way by main strength across the grain of the rock, until he has found the true path that leads to the ore. How thoroughly acquainted does the miner here become with all the humors of chance, and how assured that energy and constancy are the only sure means of overcoming them and of raising the hidden treasure."
"Certainly you are not without cheering songs," said Henry. "I should think that your calling would involuntarily inspire you with music, and that songs would be your welcome companions."
"There you have spoken the truth," said the old man. "The song and the guitar belong to the miner's life, and no occupation can retain their charm with more zest than ours. Music and dancing are the pleasures of the miner; like a joyful prayer are they, and the remembrance and hope of them help to lighten weary labor and shorten long solitude.