it-head. Before the shaft could
be cleared and a way opened to the workings, all the poor fellows had
died, overcome by the deadly "choke-damp." Joseph Skipsey, the pitman
poet, in a simple ballad, tells the pathetic story.

"Oh, father! till the shaft is rid,
Close, close beside me keep;
My eyelids are together glued,
And I,--and I,--must sleep."

"Sleep, darling, sleep, and I will keep
Close by--heigh ho."--To keep
Himself awake the father strives.
But he--he, too--must sleep.

"Oh mother dear! wert, wert thou near
Whilst--sleep!" The orphan slept;
And all night long, by the black pit-heap
The mother a dumb watch kept.

From here, northward, the coast is rather dull and uninteresting,
although the sands are fine, until we reach Blyth, at the mouth of the
little river of the same name. This town is growing rapidly in size and
importance; the export of coal has greatly increased since the harbour
was so much improved by Sir Matthew White Ridley, and now totals some
millions of tones a year. The river Wansbeck not far north of the mouth
of the Blyth, in the latter part of its course flows through a district
begrimed by all the necessary accompaniments of the traffic in "black
diamonds," and reaches the sea between the colliery villages of Cambois
and North Seaton.

On the point at the northern curve of Newbiggin Bay stands Newbiggin
Church, and ancient building, whose steeple, "leaning all awry," is a
well-known landmark for sailors. The site of this church is in danger
of being undermined by the waves, and, indeed, part of the churchyard
crumbled away many years ago; but such defences as are possible have
been built up around it,--and the danger averted for a time. Newbiggin
itself is a large fishing village and an increasingly popular holiday
resort, for it possesses not only good sands but a wide moor near at
hand which provides one of the best of golf courses; and, also, a short
distance along the coast, are the attractive Fairy Rocks.

Newbiggin was a town of some importance in Plantagenet days, with a busy
harbour, and a pier; and in the reign of Edward II. it was required to
contribute a vessel towards the naval defence of the Kingdom.

Northward from Newbiggin Point is the magnificent sweep of Druridge Bay,
stretching in a fine curve of ten miles or more to Hauxley Haven. Here,
the sands of a warm golden colour, the wind-swept bents of silvery-grey,
and the vivid green of the g