Descending The Humboldt Mine

Euteriiu' a woodon bnildinir, yVjp, Bfc n st('.Éi!n-c!) i ii" turniii fan immense druni, (irouiid which is coiled a wire rope. On :i chairaits, wiih each hand on a lever, a briifht,wateliful urineer, his eyca ftxeil on the drum, now nrar!y covered with the coil. In anol.hcr minute, click! the machinery lias Btoppód, nnd out of an opening in front, like Harlequin in a Chriftmaa piuitominw, has come a griniy figure, v. h; stands there Hiuiling at you, with a lamp fixeil on tho front of iiis cap, and lm f?t en the rimofail iron buakr{. lic steps off, t!i-.' bticket is empt:od of the ioad, iiot of' rich ore, hut of V'.tv dirty Water, wliieh k lias brought uu,aud there is an air oí' expectanoy nnong the workineu, nnd in inquiring sinilt' on the face of Mr. Thora ton, tho superintendent. Soinclhiur is cluarly exjiocted of fou, for it is eatablishud thnt yon ure notwliai in cal led a "specimen fiend," or uiimitigated iainploeullectinjf ntilsance, DfJ it ís sumed thnt when yon eunie hi t hor to investigáis yon "iimaut btuiiss." You t;vl3 tiie hint, and iblluvr Mr. Thorotou to i room, whore, amid a goud deal of joking:, you put, on soine clothes - and such clolhü;! Ifyou have onespark of personal vanity, ":ill hope abiihLm, ye who enter here," for even your kind fruido h;isto turu away tohide aeinila when Ue secs yoa in overal li wliich wil! not meet in front, and are pre. cu-ioiisly tied with a rairgod itrinjf. an anuient üanncl shirt, the sleeves of which hang in taütu's around your Wristbands, and a cap which ïnight have coniB over in the Mivilower, and has a sinoky' lamp bookod into its fast doeomposing visor. As yon approdch the mouth of the shai't, the engineer genial ly renmrks th.it thero "ain't much danger," and when tho buoket has come up and boen purtialiy einptiod, tho by-st.indors icpeatedly atlvise you to be careful about getting in, As you cliuii) perilopsly over tho side, youthink of the Frefcchiftün who, starting in tho fox-hunt, cried out: "ïake uoteece, mes ainis, zat I leafe cvery.ing to iny rifel" And whtsn you are crouched down so that Mr. Thornton can stand on the ritu abjve, you do not think at all, but kuow, that you are what Mr. Mantalini cailcd a "dem'd niolat, unpleasant body." Mr. Thornton malees a grim renuuk about it beinL as vrell to havo soms matches in cuse tiie lamp go out, and down you go. Uudertaud that there is just about room for tlio buöket in the shaft, that tiie latter 13 slightly inclined, and that you catch and jar and shake in a nerve-trying way ; and uuderstand, further, that a person should carefully study liis temperament and possibio disauilitics before he takes a conLract to ;o iuto a deep shaft. At a certain dopth - it imy le 500 or 1,010 leet, (in sonie Nevada mines it ïs 2000) - you stop at sida driíts, or woss-cuttiuga in wliich men are at work, and licre you &ee, walled ia by rock, the fissure veil). Same are 'stoping," or cuttingpiecesaway with the piek, others holding the steel wedes, and otheis striking thcni tremendous blows with slede-hammers. TJiey are, way, in the habit of accompanying tliese blows with guttural souiids, the hearing of whicn induced a special correspuiident oí' the gentler sex - ignoring the fact that they receive tnreo dollar pev diem, own chronometer watciies, aud have lino bank accounts, and have silver spoous ou their tables- to write a soul-moving descriptiou of the poor üown-trodden niincr, -imprisoued lar liis lile away for tneenrichment of the bioated aiul pampered capitalista Otner men, again, aro drill ing loadia, and tanip.ng lor tiie ".üiuls," wuioii are to te.tr ti'.e rock in Bioce.i ; sad you Wlil 1'-.V lui.ii; .i pUssiUg - Bgagenielit to "meet a man" at sume ili Lance frotn the mine, and induce Mr. Thornton to ring for that inoist car, and take you up before they ürln ílie