What Were The Hardships That Breaker Men In The Coalmines?

ANNALYN M. BAPTISTA
III/ BSED- EN

Level 1. Knowledge
The photo was taken in Woodward coal mines, Pennsylvania in 1900.
Level 2. Comprehension
There are two lunch boxes on the ground and in the photo, it’s not dark yet so I suppose it is taken at noon, so I think the boys just had their lunch break, and having a rest for a while before they go back to work. Another thing is that they have cigar pipes in their mouth which I think is a sign that they just had their lunch, smokers usually have their cigarettes after having their meals. According to my research they are treated as adults, so I think they have learned using cigarettes from their adult co- workers.
They are dressed like that because they work in coalmines. They break coal and
Interviewer: What were the difficulties or the hardships that breaker boys experienced as in the coalmine?
Breaker boy: There are lots of terrible conditions we have in the coalmine. We work in a room which is surrounded with clouds of coal dust. We inhale coal dust all day and because of this, we suffer from asthma and other respiratory conditions. We suffer from hearing impairments because of the noise coming from the grinding machine. We are not allowed to wear gloves because our boss thinks that we could better handle slick materials and so we could work faster. The slates that we remove are very sharp so we often have our fingers cut. If we were caught wearing gloves or did not do our job right our boss would beat us, smack us with a club or throw rocks at our finger. Some of us would have their fingers amputated by the fast moving belts. The new ones would develop blood finger tips. We also suffer from red tips. This is caused by sulfuric acid from the coal. The most brutal one is when we breaker boys move among the machinery, some boys became caught under the conveyor belts which makes some boys lose their feet, hands arms, or legs and even such accidents happens the production continues even if someone is crashed to death. The bodies will be only retrieved at the end of the workday. Sometimes, a boy would fall
There are some who attend night schooling after their work, but in my case, because of tiring long day of work I would end up falling asleep in the class so I decided to just drop out from it.
Interviewer: Having this situation right now, not being able to go to school, and working as breaker boy getting a very small amount of salary, how do you see your future?
Breaker boy: Having this situation, I would probably have a difficult life. With my hazardous and dangerous environment in my work which I might get some ailments, I am worried about my health in the future. Getting this very small amount of money won’t get me to a reputable hospitals to cure me or prolong my life and this won’t be enough to save money for my future when I start with my own family.
Interviewer: What advice can you share to the youngsters, especially to the students?
Breaker boy: Be thankful of what you have, if you are studying right now, be grateful for it. Value the things that you have, even the smallest things. There are kids out there hoping to have what you have. Whatever you are going through right now, there are always some people out there going through hell situations which are worse than yours. When you have struggles in school, take it as a blessing because those challenges are preparing you to be a better one. Everything happens for a reason they say, so seek for the hidden blessing in every hardships