xt Saturday he received
five shillings, which was as much as she could make by stitching all
day, and sometimes late into the night, by her needle. Simon was well
pleased with Mark, and reported, after he had been some weeks at work,
that no fault had ever been found with him. He was always awake, and
ready to open and close his trap at the proper time. When a little
bigger, he would become a "putter," and have the employment of rolling
the waggons along the tramways.

Coal mines, it should be understood, are worked in various ways, some in
squares, or what is called the panel system. The main roads are like
the frame of a window, the passages like the wood-work dividing the
panes of glass, and the masses of coal which at first remain, may be
represented by the panes themselves. After the various passages have
been cut out, the masses are again cut into, pillars only remaining,
each of which is about twelve feet by twenty-four feet in thickness. At
length these pillars are removed, and props of wood placed instead, and
thus the whole mine is worked out. There are miles and miles of
passages in which tramways are laid down, leading to the shaft, up which
the coal is raised. As the air in the mine has a tendency to get foul
and close, it is necessary to send currents of wind into the passages to
blow it away. The chief object is to make the wind come down one shaft,
and then to bring it along through the passages, and so up by another
shaft. If the wind which came down were allowed to wander about, it
would produce no good effect. The traps or doors, such as the one at
which Mark was stationed, are used to stop it from going through some
passages and make it move along others until the bad air is blown out of
them. To create a powerful current, a large furnace is placed at the
bottom of one of the shafts, which is called the up-cast shaft, and the
foul air is cast up it. Often, notwithstanding this, the heat below is
very great, and the hewer working away with his heavy pick is bathed in
perspiration. Where no bad gas is generated, open lights may be used,
but this cannot often be done with safety, as fire-damp may at any
moment rush out of a hole, and if set alight it would go off like
gunpowder or gas from coal, killing everybody within its influence, and
bringing down the tops and sides of the passages.

In some mines where it is important to have ventilation, there are four
shafts, two up and two down-c