Son Philip | Page 8

of this
mine."
"Ay, and a nice pass too, for a set o' boys to be put over us, ordering
men about as if they was bairns," growled the big miner.
"And that my orders here are to be strictly obeyed," continued Philip,
ignoring the great ruffian's presence. "Why did you men stand by and
see that fool--I can call him nothing else--I say, why did you, a set of
experienced men, stand by, and see that fellow deliberately break the
most important rule in the mine, and not interfere?"
"S'pose men are going to wuck here through a night shift and not want
a pipe o' 'bacco?" said one of them fiercely.
"I suppose that when you work for a company of proprietors, and

receive their money, you are going to obey their regulations, and are
going to avoid damaging their property, if you will not even take care
not to risk your own lives."
"Bah! Stoof!" exclaimed one of the party. "Theer's no danger."
"No danger!" cried Philip, pointing to the other lamps, "why, you see
for yourselves that the mine is terribly fiery to-night. Shame upon you!
Look how the gas keeps flashing inside the lamps. You know there is
danger. I told you there was danger before you came to work."
"And how did you know?" cried Ebenezer Parks insolently.
"By study, brute!" cried Philip passionately; "by making use of the
brains with which I have been blessed, and not going through life
willing to risk the lives of my fellow-men for the sake of a little
self-indulgence."
"Don't see much self-indulgence, as thou calls it, in having a pipe o'
'bacco."
"Ay! how wouldst thou like to wuck all neet on the neet shift?" cried
another.
"Sithee," cried Ebenezer, spitting in his great black hands and thrusting
his head forward, "thou ca'st me a fool, lad."
"Stand back!" cried Philip, so sternly that the great fellow flinched.
"You are worse than a pack of children," he continued. "Shame on you!
learn to give up your self-indulgence sooner than run such risks."
"Ay, it's easy enew to talk," growled one of the men; "but don't you
think you are coming to lord it over us. S'pose we don't know when
she's safe and when she isn't?"
"If I'm to judge from what I've seen to-night," cried Philip, "I'm sure
you do not know, and that you are not fit to be trusted. Because you
work in a seam and it is safe to-day, do you suppose it follows that it

will be safe to-morrow? I tell you men that you are always working on
the very edge of death through your own folly."
"And I tell 'ee," cried Ebenezer Parks, "that thou knows nowt about it."
"Silence, sir!" cried Philip, whose blood was up; and in a puzzled way,
as if he could not half understand it, the big miner shook his head, and
shrank back astonished that this boy, as he called him, should master
him as he did.
For the big miner had yet to learn that knowledge is power--a power of
ten thousand times greater force than the stoutest muscles ever owned
by man.
"I have never spoken to you before as I am speaking now," cried Philip.
"You force me to it, and I tell you that, while I have the management
here, the regulations shall be strictly carried out to the very letter; there
shall be no evasions--no more of these contemptible tricks. How did
you open that Davy-lamp, sir?" he cried, turning sharply upon
Ebenezer.
There was no answer, and the big fellow actually shrank as Philip made
a sharp movement forward.
But it was not to strike a blow, only to pick up something lying shining
amongst the pieces of coal.
"Just as I thought," said the young man, holding out the nail; "a
contemptible pick-lock, to open the lamps that are locked up, by a wise
rule, for your safety; and you--you great mass of bone and muscle, you
call yourself a man! Shame upon you, shame!"
Without another word, Philip picked up the extinct lamp just as the
overman came up in search of him, placed it under his arm, signed to
the new-comer to lead on, and followed, hot, flushed, and angry, along
the dark galleries, and out of the pit.
"Yah!" growled Ebenezer Parks, breaking the silence that lasted some

few minutes after Philip's steps had died away; "he's nobbut a boy."
"Nobbut a boy, eh?" said one of the men who had held him; "well, all I
can say is, as I hope my bairn'll grow up just like un."
"He was man enew to tackle thee, Eben," said another.
"Ay, he's a plucked un," said another. "I like the lad, that I do."
"Like him!" growled