THE SLOW PROGRESS OF THE BOY WHO STARTS IN A BREAKER, AND ENDS,
AN OLD MAN IN THE BREAKER —AS TOLD BY A MAN WHO WAS ONCE A MINER
BY REV. JOHN McDOWELL "I’m twelve years old, goin' on thirteen,"
said the boy to the boss of the breaker. He didn't look more
than ten, and he was only nine, but the law said he must be
twelve to get a job. He was one of a multitude of the 16,000
youngsters of the mines, who, because miners' families are large
and their pay comparatively small, start in the breaker before
many boys have passed their primary schooling. From the time he
enters the breaker there is a rule of progress that is almost
always followed. Once a miner and twice a breaker boy, the
upward growth of boy to man, breaker boy to miner, the descent
from manhood to old age, from miner to breaker boy: that is the
rule. So the nine-year old boy who is "twelve, goin' on
thirteen," starts in the breaker. He gets from fifty to seventy
cents for ten hours' work. He rises at 5:30 o'clock in the
morning, puts on his working