a little!' Minutiæ in these cases make or mar us. 'If I am building
a mountain,' said Confucius, 'and stop before the last basketful of
earth is placed on the summit, I have failed.' The examination is lost
by half a mark. One neck nearer and the race would have been won. The
slightest additional effort would have turned the tide of war. 'Thou
art not far from the kingdom of God,' were solemn words, marking the
terrible difference between almost and altogether.
A MASONIC INCIDENT.
When the Territory of Kansas applied to the government at Washington
for the privilege of adding another star to the national flag--now
nearly twenty-five years ago--conflicting interests were involved in
the very important question as to whether she should enter the Union
as a free or a slave state. Some of the foremost abolitionists of the
North were determined that no territory should be added to the Union
as a slave state; Southerners were equally resolute that the limits
of slavery should no longer be circumscribed; while others, affecting
a more moderate temper, offered to leave the settlement of the matter
to the people themselves who sought the more extended national
relationship. At this time the public mind was in a highly excited
condition. The effect of the iniquitous 'Fugitive Slave Law'--passed in
a spirit of conciliation towards the South, and for assisting which,
by his vote, the illustrious Daniel Webster sacrificed much of his
well-earned reputation--had not died away when, in 1852, the statute
was suddenly put into practical operation in the city of Boston, and
a scene was there enacted which is without a parallel in American
history. A negro named Burns having escaped from bondage, settled in
Boston, and for some years had earned an honest living as a waiter at
hotels and in sundry other occupations in which men of his race were
accustomed to be engaged. The Fugitive Slave Law empowered slaveholders
to follow runaways into free states and remove them therefrom; and
Burns' owner having discovered the fugitive's whereabouts, resolved
on the exercise of his newly-acquired rights. Burns was arrested
and lodged in jail. The news spread with the speed and effect of an
electric shock. The whole city was moved. With youthful ardour many of
the students of Harvard College (located at the neighbouring suburb of
Cambridge) assailed the prison, with a view to the forcible liberation
of the captive. So quickly had the riot assumed a portentous aspect,
that a large force of police and soldiery was called into requisition
to quell the disturbance. The representatives of the law succeeded in
at once restoring peace and in placing in custody many of the students
and other citizens who had attempted, though in vain, to render a
humane service to an oppressed fellow-creature.
The quiet of the following day--Sunday--failed to allay the excitement
which had seized the public mind. As the people issued from the various
places of worship the proceedings of the previous day formed the
general theme of conversation; groups of eager citizens were to be seen
here and there discussing the outrage which had been perpetrated in the
very 'cradle of liberty' itself.
Those who had been placed under arrest were, however, liberated
shortly afterwards; and so soon as the necessary legal preliminaries
were settled, arrangements were made for the transfer of the negro to
his owner. Early on the morning of his removal, the streets in the
neighbourhood of the jail were strictly closed against all traffic, by
ropes, guarded by police, traversing their approaches. A cannon was
placed in position on the court-house steps; and, still further to
secure the captive against any probable attempt at rescue on the part
of the populace, the police, supported by cavalry in the rear with
drawn sabres, lined the thoroughfares through which he had to walk to
the harbour, where a vessel was in readiness to convey him southwards.
To add significance to this extraordinary scene, a coffin was suspended
in mid-air on ropes running diagonally from the upper windows of the
four corners of Washington Street, where it is intersected by School
Street on the west and State Street on the east--the avenues through
which Burns would pass--and most of the buildings in this locality
were draped in mourning. Such space as was available for spectators
was filled to overflowing with expectant citizens. The surging masses
swayed to and fro with excitement; and when the slave appeared in
charge of the officials, the murmured execrations of an indignant but
law-observing multitude arose as incense. The ship lying in the harbour
received him on board, and a fair wind soon wafted him beyond the reach
of any manifestation of Northern sympathy.
Such, then, was the state of public or, rather, Northern feeling when
Kansas, as already stated, applied for admission into the Union. The
slaveholders of the South, and all in sympathy with them, adopted
measures for influencing and, indeed, of controlling public opinion
in Kansas on this great question; and to achieve this end, mercenary
agents were employed to foster such 'slave' proclivities as might be
apparent, and to instil them into the minds of the people, if their
political sentiments were found to be tinged with 'free' tendencies.
Not only was this virtually acknowledged, but it was discovered that
preparations had been made for the exercise of physical force if need
be. The Northerners, and more especially the abolitionists of the New
England States, impelled by a righteous impulse to neutralise, as far
as lay in their power, every unscrupulous endeavour to extend slave
territory, sent arms to the inhabitants, to enable them to meet force
with force. Jealousy of political ascendency culminated in aggressive
measures being adopted by the pro-slavery party. Espionage, with
its attendant evils, was organised: men were tarred and feathered,
and ridden on a rail or lynched, until the 'border warfare' was an
acknowledged fact.
At this juncture, a literary gentleman named S----, strongly imbued
with Northern zeal, but lacking the discretion which should accompany
every important and worthy undertaking, decided on venturing into the
midst of the disturbance, for the purpose of advocating anti-slavery
principles by establishing an 'abolition' newspaper. He took a
printing-press, type, paper, and such appliances as were required.
His wife, not deterred by the length of the journey or the dangers
which attended it, insisted on accompanying him on his perilous
enterprise. After a journey of about one thousand five hundred miles,
he settled near Fort Leavenworth, not far from the Missouri river, and
soon completed his arrangements for starting his paper. Considering
his surroundings, it was not likely that any great length of time
would elapse before he acquired a reputation as a dangerous political
intruder. His first issue startled the people immensely; but whether
his anti-slavery vagaries, as they were considered, should be resented,
or laughed at as an evidence of playful temerity, was for the moment
a moot-point. The times, however, were not laughing times, and he was
speedily a marked man. Intimations were conveyed to him by the process
known as 'underground' that he had better relinquish his undertaking
and hurry home to the east; and that in the event of his non-compliance
with these hints, he would be waited upon by certain parties who made
such matters their special vocation. In spite of these warnings, he
continued to publish his unsavoury journal.
Amongst those who assumed the surveillance and guardianship of the
public weal, political _and moral_, was one Dick M----. Dick was
reputed to have been of respectable parentage, and to have spent his
early days in peaceful circles; but the allurements of a desperado's
life charmed him away to the sphere of action in which he was now
engaged. His belt was amply supplied with the means of offence or
defence, just as his 'appurtenances' might be required; and whether
accompanied in his inquisitorial migrations by his followers or not,
never failed to make his presence felt. In short, Dick was one of the
most daring and blood-thirsty ruffians that could be encountered, and
wherever he presented himself, dismay was widespread.
Very early one morning, as S---- was printing his paper preparatory
to its distribution, his office door was opened and several men
entered. The ceremony of a formal introduction was dispensed with; his
printing-press was smashed, his property destroyed, and the office
itself quickly demolished. Dick--for it was he--and his comrades
arrested S----; but his wife was permitted to take leave of her husband
on promising to return eastward without delay. The parting, under such
circumstances, may readily be imagined; but in the absence of efficient
protection to life and property, no reasonable alternative was left;
the separation must be.
S---- was speedily marched by his ignominious escort towards the
Missouri. It was usual in such cases to 'string up' the delinquent
to the first tree the parties met with; but on this occasion it was
intended to convey the prisoner to such a place as might enable them
to invest their proceedings with more than the customary spectacular
effect. Such desperadoes considered it beneath their manly dignity to
travel far without refreshment; they therefore soon stopped at a tavern
to satisfy their conventional thirst. S---- was placed in an arm-chair
at the end of the saloon, while the masters of the situation lounged
around the bar. Presently, Dick sauntered up to his captive and entered
into conversation with him.
'Wal, stranger,' said Dick, 'I reckon you had better ha' stayed at New
York, instead of coming to Kansas with them abolition notions o' yourn;
we don't want no abolition out at Kansas.'
'I did not come out here,' S---- mildly answered, 'for the purpose of
creating discord, for it already existed; but simply and honestly to
promulgate views which, in my conscience, I believe to be right; and I
did it _because it is right_.'
'Wal,' blustered Dick, 'that kind of talk may do away at New York, but
I cal'late it won't amount to nothin' out here. I can't believe any man
would be sech a fool as to do sech a thing 'cause he believes it right.
I don't believe you, nohow.'
'Well,' replied S----, 'if you were a member of a society I belong to,
you would believe me.'
'What do you mean, stranger?' asked Dick with an air of wonderment.
S----, conscious of the hopelessness of his position, and fearing
almost momentarily to be put to death, ventured: 'If you were a
mason'--accompanying the remark with a certain sign usual in such
emergencies--' you would believe me.'
To his utter amazement and infinite satisfaction, this chief of
villains proved to be a freemason, having joined the fraternity in
his reputable days, and fortunately for S----, still respected his
obligations.
'Wal, brother, this is a kind o' awkward,' said Dick, in an altered
and friendly tone; 'but I reckon I must save you. The boys will be
mighty ugly though, when they see how things is. Now, when you hear
the steamer whistle as she comes down the river, keep close to me, and
follow me on board. I'll lock you in a cabin on deck, and as I know the
cap'n, I'll make it all right. But look alive when she comes.'
They had not to wait many minutes before a shrill whistle announced the
steamer's arrival. All left the tavern together, Dick marching ahead,
and holding S---- by the arm, as if leading an unwilling captive.
As these two stepped on the plank thrown out for passengers to walk
on from bank to deck, the 'boys' intuitively perceived the state of
things, and made a rush towards the plank. Dick was equal to the
occasion.
'Now, boys, make tracks!' said he in a tone and manner that made
obedience other than impossible. They accordingly withdrew, muttering
threats of vengeance at the loss of their prey.
Dick hurried S---- into a deck cabin, and without waiting for any
expression of thanks for the service he had rendered, locked the door,
and hastened to make all right with the 'cap'n,' according to promise.
In a few moments the engines moved, the paddles revolved, and the
steamer was under weigh for St Louis. Here S---- disembarked; and again
taking steamer for Alton, and thence cars to Cincinnati, was not long
in meeting his wife in New York.
S----'s anti-slavery sentiments continued to the last as strong as in
his early days, though, having an ever vivid recollection of his visit
to the south-west, his utterance on this particular theme grew somewhat
feeble. There was one topic, however, on which he waxed eloquent, and
that was his gratitude to freemasonry for having, under Providence,
preserved him from certain death.
FIGHTING FOR LIFE.
A STORY OF A WELSH COAL-MINE.
In all parts of the habitable globe wherever the English language is
spoken, a thrill of admiration must have passed through every English
heart at the brave deed which was, in the earlier part of this year,
accomplished in the Welsh coal-pit at Troedyrhiw.
There are times when a display of national pride is not only
justifiable but necessary; and it is a splendid victory gained for
humanity when we see a whole nation, heedless of every other event
which is taking place around her, hanging breathlessly and with
anxious face over the mouth of a pit in which a few poor miners are
engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle with Death; tortured with doubts
as to whether the imprisoned miners in the Troedyrhiw Colliery would
endure their fearful hardships long enough to enable themselves to be
snatched from a living grave. Happily, they did so, and _were_ saved
by the indomitable bravery of their fellow-miners. The whole story is
one more splendid instance of the noble qualities which are innate in
the breasts of those who form the sinew and the backbone of Britain;
qualities that have won for her undying glory in war or peace, and by
flood and field. How bravely death can be faced, and how bravely fought
even in moments of doubt and despair, and at the risk of terrible
perils deliberately encountered, is shewn by this story.
A miner's life is at all times a subject for grave study, for he must
by mere necessity be a brave man, knowing as he does that every time he
descends the shaft he literally carries his life with him in his hands.
Indeed this thought must cross the mind of the most hardened man; and
when he reaches the pit, the feeling must be intensified, for here his
responsibility increases with every step he takes along the glistening
black galleries of the mine. Not only has he his own life, but also the
lives of others, now in his hands; and the striking of a match may in
an instant consign hundreds of his fellow-creatures to a fearful death
in the bowels of the earth.
It was the writer's privilege, some few years since, to pay a visit to
one of the largest and finest coal-pits in England--the Sheepbridge
Colliery, near Chesterfield; the galleries of which extend in several
directions for a long distance, covering altogether about three miles
of ground, and passing in one place beneath a small lake. The sensation
one experiences on descending the shaft, and seeing the light of day
fading rapidly from view, is almost indescribable; and is only equalled
by the exquisite feeling of relief which pervades the mind on once
again returning to the surface.
An amusing incident occurred during our visit, which, though it was the
cause of much hilarity at the moment, would seem on reflection to be,
perchance, the innocent cause of many great disasters in coal-mines. As
is probably well known, the miners in many pits, especially in those
which are considered free from fire-damp or gas, work by the light of
candles, which are stuck here and there against the walls of coal, a
reserve of candles lying near at hand. These candles, the rats--the
only living companions of the miners--make free use of when they can
get a chance; and while we were watching the digging of some coal, one
of these creatures came stealthily up to the spot and ran off with the
lighted candle in its mouth. A volley of coal and curses flew after the
robber; but it kept on its course until both rat and candle disappeared
from view. But to our story.
It was on the evening of the 11th April, when the miners in the
Troedyrhiw Colliery were leaving their work, that a roar of rushing
waters was heard. The sound is one that is too well known to the ears
of experienced pitmen, and the men at once fled to the shaft and were
raised to the surface; but on arrival at the pit's mouth, fourteen of
their number--men and boys--were seen to be missing. In an instant
and without the slightest hesitation, volunteers nobly stood forward
to undertake the task of rescue, and immediately descended the pit
again, for the purpose, if possible, of bringing their fellow-miners
to the 'bank' in safety. It was found that the water had broken into
the mine through some old abandoned workings, and was flowing into all
the stalls, headings, and galleries into which the mine was divided.
The volunteers found also that all the workings within a few hundred
yards of the bottom of the shaft were filled with water up to the roof,
and it was at first concluded that all the fourteen missing ones were
drowned. A knocking was, however, heard, as if some of the men were
confined behind a wall of coal accessible from the outside; and the
volunteers at once determined to cut through this wall, which they
believed to be about twelve yards thick. The imprisoned men worked from
their side too; and in a few hours the obstruction was so far removed
as to enable the two parties to speak to each other. The tale of the
imprisoned men was, that the water was rapidly gaining on them, and
one of them struck through the coal to escape from the rising water.
But from one peril they immediately passed to another, for a violent
explosion followed, and one poor fellow, Thomas Morgan, was found
jammed to death in the hole which had been cut. This sad accident was
caused by the sudden escape of air which was pent up in the 'stall' in
which they had stood out of the way of the water, and the act of making
the hole through the coal in so sudden a manner was equivalent to
applying a match to a heap of powder or pulling the trigger of a gun.
It was fortunate they were not all killed by the explosion.
After this, knockings were heard farther on in the mine; and it was
soon made evident that the position of the other nine men was worse
than that of the miners just reached. The wall behind which they were
imprisoned was in a heading that was entirely flooded, and they could
only be reached after part of the water had been pumped out. Divers
were here employed, who went boldly into the flood, and gallantly
endeavoured to proceed through the half mile of water which lay between
the shaft and the imprisoned miners; but these were unwillingly
compelled to relinquish the attempt. On Monday, however, four days
after the flooding of the mine, the water was so far reduced as to
allow the work of cutting through the coal to be commenced. And here
we must pause to mention that this was done with a powerful pumping
apparatus, which, with all its appliances, had to be properly and
cautiously fitted up before it could be put into successful operation.
The poor fellows below had been without food for some five days now,
and it thus became a question of patient endurance on the one hand and
of unceasing labour and noble efforts on the other. And never did men
work more nobly than did those who were thus doing all that lay in the
power of man to save the lives of their devoted comrades.
In spite of their indefatigable efforts, however, day after day passed
by without any apparent result, for they had to cut through _forty
yards of solid coal_, and the difficulty increased as the intervening
wall became thinner. The anxiety of all concerned may be imagined when
we remind our readers that this immense block of coal could only be
penetrated at the rate of a yard per hour. But relays of men worked
night and day with unremitting zeal until at length their efforts were
rewarded with success. The imprisoned men were heard, and were able not
only to speak to their deliverers, but also to give directions as to
the course of the cuttings. 'Make haste! make haste!' was the plaintive
cry which now nerved the hands and arms of the heroic workers, for it
was like a voice from the grave which thus reached their ears.
Questioned as to their mode of existence in the mine, the prisoners
said they had eaten absolutely nothing, that they were all very weak,
and two of their number were completely prostrated. There were only
four men and a boy there, the other four having been cut off from
their fellows, and had, as since ascertained, perished. The little boy
piteously implored the workers to make a hole for him to creep through
to his mother. But in spite of their willing hearts, the brave toilers
were compelled to proceed more slowly and cautiously than before, in
order to prevent the recurrence of a second disaster, by the too sudden
escape of the pent-up air. And in addition to this, there was great
danger of themselves being engulfed in the waters or killed by the gas,
which soon began to make its unwelcome presence felt. Food was passed
along a tube to the imprisoned men; but the tube did not work well, and
it was eventually found that they had not received the much-desired
refreshment. At the last moment, when the hole had been made and the
compressed air was let out, a rush of gas took place which put out
all the lamps and compelled the workers to return to the 'bank.' What
must have been the horror of that moment to those poor fellows within
the mine when they heard the retreating footsteps of their anxiously
awaited deliverers!
Gloomy indeed was the prospect at this critical moment, for it had now
become a question of life and death to either party; but were the men
who had been rescued thus far to be left after all to the death which
seemed to hunger for them? Perish the thought! and perish rather every
Englishman who stood at the pit's mouth than that no attempt should be
made to complete and crown the splendid story of those past _eight_
days. The danger of carrying lights in the gas-charged mine being too
great to be ignored, brave men came forward and volunteered to go down
_without lamps_ to the rescue of the five miners whom it was now known
were the only ones who had survived that fearful time. Down they went
into the black pit, carrying food with them, and on making another hole
a gallant collier went into the mine and fed the poor fellows. All
honour to him! It was a greater deed than the capture of an enemy's
colours on the battlefield.
The rescued men and the boy were then brought to the surface, and
placed under the care of experienced doctors, who pronounced favourably
on their condition. For _ten_ long weary days they had languished in
the darkness of what seemed to them a living tomb, yet they murmured
not, but lifted up their united voices in prayer to the great Creator
of all.
The entombment of nine men, five of whom were known to be in a certain
place, and could be saved by cutting through some forty yards of coal,
made the question one of time and dogged perseverance on one side,
and of hunger and patient endurance on the other. It is just on such
occasions as these that the really splendid qualities of the collier
shew themselves in bold relief, and turn a pitman into a hero.
Such a deed as this was certain to attract the sympathy of the
gracious Lady who has ever the welfare of her people at heart; and the
Queen hastened at once to give expression to the national feeling of
admiration for these brave men, by extending the institution of the
Albert Medal for saving life at sea to similar acts performed on land,
and giving directions that these humble Welsh miners should be the
first recipients of the honour.
A national subscription was also opened by the Lord Mayor, and a large
sum collected for the rescued and their rescuers, sufficient to place
them beyond the reach of poverty, and shew the world that England will
not willingly let die the remembrance of as noble and heroic a deed as
ever graced the annals of a Christian people.
QUACK MEDICINE.
Our ably conducted contemporary, _The Queen_, has the following useful
remarks on the use of Quack Medicine: