The work was not only hard, but it was dangerous.

There was always the danger of being blown to pieces by a premature explosion of powder, or of being crushed by falling slate.

Accidents from one or the other of these causes were frequently occurring, and this kept me in constant fear.

Many children of the tenderest years were compelled then, as is now true I fear, in most coal-mining districts, to spend a large part of their lives in these coal-mines, with little opportunity to get an education; and, what is worse, I have often noted that, as a rule, young boys who begin life in a coal-mine are often physically and mentally dwarfed.

They soon lose ambition to do anything else than to continue as a coal-miner.
In those days, and later as a young man, I used to try to picture in my imagination the feelings and ambitions of a white boy with absolutely no limit placed upon his aspirations and activities.