they had to clamber, Flashley's guide informing
him that it would save a mile of circuitous
path. Arriving at the top, they soon came to
a narrow door, somewhat higher than any
they had yet seen. It opened by a long iron
latch, and they entered the ' mine stables.'

A strong hot steam and most oppressive
odour of horses, many of whom were asleep
and snoring, was the first impression. The
second, was a sepulchral Davy-lamp hanging
from the roof, whose dull gleam just managed
to display the uplifting of a head and inquiring
ears in one place, the contemptuous whisking
of a tail in another, and a large eye-ball
gleaming through the darkness, in another!
The stalls were like a succession of narrow
black dens, at each side of a pathway of broken
brick and sand. In this way sixty or seventy
horses were ' stabled.'

' This is a prince of a mine! ' said the guide;
' we have seven hundred people down here,
and a hundred and fifty horses.'

They emerged at the opposite end, which
led up another steep path towards a shaft (for
the mine now had four or five) which was
used for the ascent and descent of horses.
They were just in time to witness the arrival
of a new-comer,—a horse who had never before
been in a mine.

The animal's eyes and ears became more
frightfully expressive, as with restless
anticipatory limbs and quivering flesh he swung
round in his descending approach to the
earth. When his hoofs touched, he made
a plunge. But though the band and chain
confined him, he appeared yet more restrained
by the appalling blackness. He made a second
plunge, but with the same result. He then
stood stock-still, glared round at the black
walls and the black faces and figures that
surrounded him, and instantly fainted.

The body of the horse was speedily dragged
off on a sort of sledge, by a tackle. The
business of the mine could not wait for his
recovery. He was taken to be 'fanned.'
Flashley of course understood this as a mine
joke; but it was not entirely so. A great iron
wheel, with broad fans, was often worked
rapidly in a certain place, to create a current of
air and to drive it on towards the fire in the
up-cast shaft, assisting by this means the
ventilation of the mine; and thither, or at all
events, in that direction, the poor horse was
dragged, amidst the laughter and jokes of the
miners and the shouts and whistles of the boys.

How silent the place became after they
were gone! Flashley stepped forwards
towards the spot immediately beneath the
shaft. It was much nearer to the surface
than any of the other shafts, and the
daylight from above-ground just managed to
reach the bottom. Under the shaft was
a very faint circle of sad-coloured and
uncertain light. The palest ghost might have
stood in the middle of it and felt ' at home.'

The ' streets' of the mine appeared to be com-
posed of a series of horse-ways having square
entrances to ' workings ' at intervals on either
side, and leading to narrow side-lane workings.
Up one of these his guide now
compelled Flashley to advance; in order to do
which they were both obliged to stoop very
low; and, before long, to kneel down and
crawl on all-fours. While moving forward in
this way upon the coal-dust slush, where no
horse could draw a waggon, a poor beast of
another kind was descried approaching with
his load. It was in the shape of a human
being, but not in the natural position—in
fact, it was a boy degraded to a beast, who
with a girdle and chain was dragging a small
coal-waggon after him. A strap was round
his forehead, in front of which, in a tin socket,
a lighted candle was stuck. His face was
close to the ground. He never looked up as
he passed.*

These narrow side-lane passages from the
horse-road, varied in length from a few
fathoms, to half-a-mile and upwards; and
the one in which Flashley was now crawling,
being among the longest, his impression of
the extent of these underground streets and
by-ways, was sufficiently painful, especially as
he had no notion of what period he was
doomed to wander through them. Besides,
the difficulty of respiration, the crouching
attitude, the heated mist, the heavy sense of
gloomy monotony, pressed upon him as they
continued to make their way along this dismal
burrow.

From this latter feeling, however, he was
roused by a sudden and loud explosion. It
proceeded from some remote part of the
trench in which they were struggling, and in
front of them. The arrival of a new sort of
mist convinced them of this. It was so
impregnated with sulphur, that Flashley felt
nearly suffocated, and was obliged to lie down
with his face almost touching the coal-slush
beneath him, for half-a-minute, before he
could recover himself. Onward, however, he
was obliged to go, urged by his gruff
companion behind; and in this way they
continued to crawl till a dim light became visible
at the farther end. The light came forwards.
It proceeded from a candle stuck in the front
of the head of a boy, harnessed to a little
narrow waggon, who pulled in front, while
another boy pushed with his head behind. A
side-cutting, into which Flashley and his
companion squeezed themselves, enabled the
waggon to pass. The hindermost boy, stopping to
exchange a word with his companion, Flashley
observed that the boy's head had a bald patch
in the hair, owing to the peculiar nature of
his head-work behind the waggon. They
passed, and now another distant light was
visible; but this remained stationary.

As they approached it, the narrow passage
widened into a gap, and a rugged chamber
appeared hewn out in the coal. The sides

* Young women and girls were also used in this way till
the Report of the Children's Employment Commission
caused it to be forbidden by Act of Parliament.