Coal River
Page 35
After Mr. Flint’s confession at the trial, the state constable had arrested him and his henchmen, including Frank, and taken them to a Scranton jail. The honest mine bosses and miners had run Uncle Otis, Aunt Ida, and the other crooked bosses out of town.
Clayton had taken over the Bleak Mountain Mining Company, and after a few months of repairs, the mine opened up again. The majority of Hazard Flint’s money was in the company’s name, so Clayton used it to replace dangerous equipment, build emergency exits, and install proper ventilation systems. He handpicked the new supervisors and foremen, gave all the miners a fair wage, and replaced the breaker boys with men. He gave money to the miners to raise barns, and brought in livestock to help them become more self-sufficient. He renamed the Company Store Albert & Michael’s General Store, lowered the prices, and gave the miners the choice to shop where they wanted.
Before moving into the mansion, Clayton sold the paintings, rugs, and furniture at a Scranton auction to raise money for the miners’ families and the orphans of Coal River. Now simple furniture and handmade rugs—purchased from the miners’ wives and other poor Pennsylvania craftsmen—filled the house. Everything was going better than Emma could have dreamed.
She let the curtain drop, her stomach filled with nervous butterflies. What if today didn’t work out the way she’d hoped?
The double ballroom doors opened, and Clayton entered, wringing his hands.
“Do we have enough desks?” he said.
She made her way toward him, moving between the rows of wooden benches and desks. “I hope so!”
“What about the chalkboard?” he said. “Is it big enough?”
She turned to look at the freestanding chalkboard he had ordered. “Yes, it’s perfect.”
“Is there anything else you need?” he said. “Do you have enough chalk? Enough books? Enough rulers?”
“Yes!” she said. “Yes! Stop worrying, will you? You’ve gotten more than enough supplies for us.” She bit the edge of her lip. “I just wonder how many will show up. I mean, I know Sawyer, Jack, Edith, Sadie, and Violet will be here. After all, they live right upstairs, but . . .”
Clayton took her in his arms. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Nash. You’ve earned the trust of so many of the miners and their families. The rest will catch on when they see the other children doing so well. Besides, how could all those boys not come to school when they’re going to have such a beautiful teacher?” He kissed her long and hard on the mouth.
Someone knocked on the open door. It was her cousin, Percy.
“Emma?” he said. “There’s someone here to see you.”
“Oh,” she said. She lifted the hem of her skirt and made her way toward him.
“No,” Percy said. He pointed to the doors that led out to the balcony. “They’re waiting for you out there.”
Puzzled, she turned toward the balcony. Her mind raced, going over the speech she had prepared to welcome the students to their new school. She rehearsed the rules and how she was going to get the kids excited about learning. She hadn’t decided if she should begin by reading a story or asking everyone to stand and introduce themselves. More than anything, she wanted the students to like her so they would come back. She grabbed the balcony door handles and hesitated, suddenly afraid the miners’ wives had come to tell her they didn’t want their children attending school when they could be helping out at home.
Taking a deep breath, Emma swung open the double doors and stepped out onto the sun-filled terrace. She stopped short and put her fingers over her trembling lips. Her eyes grew misty. Clayton came out and stood beside her, grinning as he looked out over the railing. Before them, filling the manicured lawn, stood dozens of young girls and former breaker boys, waiting to attend their first day of school in Coal River. Behind the children, near the wading pool in the center of the front lawn, Michael stood with one hand raised. For the first time ever, he was smiling. Emma never found out how he knew about Albert, or if her brother really was trying to communicate from beyond the grave. But for now she would have to accept that maybe there was no answer. Today, she was looking toward the future.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
During the writing of Coal River I relied on the following books: Early Coal Mining in the Anthracite Region, by John Stuart Richards; Growing Up in Coal Country, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; and Historical Account of the Mollie Maguires, by A. Monroe Aurand Jr. It is important to note that for the purpose of plot, the date of the article in the Scranton Times was changed from 1902 to 1912. By the time of my story, Johnny Mitchell had retired as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). It is also important to note that Lewis Hines was a real person who, through his photography, exposed child labor in coal mines, cotton mills, factories, the newspaper industry, seafood ports, agriculture, and retail sales. The town of Coal River, Pennsylvania, is fictitious, and should not be confused with any actual place.
Please turn the page
for a very special Q&A
with Ellen Marie Wiseman!
What was the inspiration for Coal River?
I’ve always been fascinated by coal mining, and the fact that men risked their lives every day to make a living by going deep in the earth despite the danger of cave-ins and explosions. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been. When I found out young boys were used to sort coal until their fingers bled, and realized other people hadn’t heard of the breaker boys either, I knew it was a story that needed to be told. I also wanted to write about the boys who worked as nippers, spraggers, and mule drivers.
How did researching the breaker boys make you feel?
It was heartbreaking to read about young boys working ten hours a day in extremely dangerous conditions, knowing they never really had a childhood, and that there were so many injured and killed. Although public disapproval of the employment of children as breaker boys existed by the mid-1880s, the practice did not end until the 1920s. For ten hours a day, six days a week, breaker boys sat on wooden seats, perched over the chutes and conveyor belts, picking slate and other impurities out of the coal. They would stop the coal by pushing their boots into the stream of coal flowing beneath them, pick out the impurities, and then let the coal pass on to the next breaker boy for further processing.
As if sorting coal wasn’t hard enough, the breaker boys were forced to work without gloves so that they could better handle the slick coal. The slate, however, was sharp, and boys would often leave work with their fingers cut and bleeding. Not only that, but coal was often washed to remove impurities, which created sulfuric acid and burned the breaker boys’ hands. Sometimes they had their fingers amputated by the rapidly moving conveyor belts. Others lost feet, hands, arms, and legs as they moved among the equipment and became caught under conveyor belts or in gears. Many were crushed to death, their bodies retrieved from the machinery only at the end of the working day. Others were caught in the rush of coal, and crushed or smothered. Dry coal would kick up so much dust that breaker boys sometimes wore lamps on their heads to see, and asthma and black lung disease were common.
Did you do any on-site research for this book?
Yes, I went inside the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine in Ashland, Pennsylvania, and visited Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, to see the Asa Packer Mansion Museum and the Old Jail Museum, where seven accused Molly Maguires met their death on the gallows inside the cellblock. Ironically, being deep inside the mine didn’t bother me, but being inside the jail was very disturbing. I couldn’t wait to leave!
Your first two novels, The Plum Tree and What She Left Behind, feature young women who refuse to give up hope and are determined to do the right thing. In Coal River, Emma wants to help the breaker boys no matter what it takes. Why do you think you’re drawn to write about strong women?
Probably because I’d like to think that I would strive to do the right thing in those kinds of situations too. I think most people can relate to that.
This is your third novel. Does writing books get any
easier?
I wish! For me, it seems to get harder every time. Partially because I’m not clever enough to come up with new ways of saying things, and partially because every story comes out differently, meaning bits and pieces come to you as you write, and you’re not sure if it’s making sense, if it’s in order, or if what you’re writing is even important to the book. When that happens, it can be scary because it feels like you have no idea what you’re doing! Hopefully, by around the third draft, you find your way and finally see that, thank goodness, there really is a story there. A wise author friend once told me that one thing to remember and accept is that we’re all learning, and that each novel we write will teach us something. I try to remember that, but sometimes it can be hard. The other thing that makes it difficult for me is that I wish I had more time to polish my prose. It’s what I’d like most to improve on.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
COAL RIVER
Ellen Marie Wiseman
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions are included
to enhance your group’s reading of
Ellen Marie Wiseman’s Coal River.
Discussion Questions
1. The use of breaker boys began in the mid-1860s. Their job was to separate impurities from coal by hand inside the coal breaker, ten hours a day, six days a week. Not only were they forced to work without gloves, but the working conditions inside the breaker were extremely dangerous. Had you ever heard of the breaker boys before reading Coal River? Were you surprised to learn that young boys were used in coal mining?
2. Many of the miners’ wives allowed their underage sons to work in the breaker to bring in an extra income, especially if they had other children to feed, or their husbands had been injured or killed. Sometimes parents even lied about their son’s age so he would be hired. If you had been in the same situation, living in poverty and unable to feed your children, what would you have done?
3. Orphaned and penniless, Emma is forced to choose between the poorhouse and going back to Coal River where her brother drowned and her uncle mistreated her. Considering the times, what do you think would have happened to Emma if she had chosen the poorhouse? What would you have done?
4. To help the miners, Emma steals food from her aunt and marks bills paid at the Company Store. She knows stealing is wrong but does it anyway. Why do you think she felt it was okay in this situation? Would you have done the same thing? Why or why not?
5. In the early days of mining, there was a lot of tension between the mine owners, the Coal and Iron Police, and the miners. There was a lot of violence, and sometimes it was hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. In Coal River, did you know right away who was good and bad? Why or why not?
6. How do you think Emma changed over the course of the novel? What were the most important events that facilitated those changes? Why do you think she was so determined to help the breaker boys?
7. How did you feel about Clayton when you first met him? Did you trust him? What about Nally? How were Clayton and Nally the same? How were they different?
8. Emma is doubtful that her dead brother is speaking to her through Michael. In the end she is still not sure. What do you think? Do you believe in channeling and mediums?
9. When Emma and Uncle Otis are arguing up at the mine, they both have different memories of the time her parents were staying in Coal River. Otis thinks they were freeloading, while Emma remembers them helping Aunt Ida by fixing the roof and doing housework. It’s said that people remember history differently, even if it’s a conversation or argument from the day before. Has that ever happened to you? Have you had conflict in your life because someone remembered an incident differently than you did?
10. How did you feel about Percy when you first met him? How about Frank? Did you end up feeling differently about them by the end of the book? Why?
11. What do you think Frank’s motives were when he told Hazard Flint that Emma was becoming friendly with the miners’ wives and children? Why did it backfire?
12. Twice, Emma risked her life to save Frank. Why do you think she did it? Would you risk your life to save someone who had harmed or mistreated you?
13. Even though Pennsylvania child labor laws came into effect in the late 1800s, many mine owners got away with putting underage boys to work in the breakers and mines until the 1920s. Why do you think it was allowed to continue for so long? What could have been done to stop it?
14. At the time of the story, unions were important for helping miners stand up for their rights against powerful mine owners. Why do you think that was? Do you think unions are a good thing or a bad thing? What do you think of unions today?
15. At the end of Coal River, secrets were revealed that changed everything. Which ones surprised you the most? Did you see any of them coming?
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Copyright © 2015 by Ellen Marie Wiseman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
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eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-448-9
eISBN-10: 1-61773-448-9
First Kensington Electronic Edition: December 2015
ISBN: 978-1-6177-3447-2