Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/121

 former of these mines Thomas Burt, M.P., commenced work as a "trapper" on his tenth birthday. His schooling had necessarily been of an irregular kind; and though not without—

Burt entered the Inferno of Haswell Colliery without having exhibited any conspicuous talent; and, to all appearance, the gates of night closed remorselessly behind him.

It may be of interest to those, if there be any such, who still believe in the luxurious miner of the newspaper legend, with his curious taste in champagne, pianos, and greyhounds, to know something of the honorable member's underground experiences; and these, I may premise, were by no means exceptional. He commenced as a "trapper," at twenty cents per day of twelve hours. A "trapper" is a doorkeeper who sat, or sits, in utter darkness, peering wistfully into the "palpable obscure" for the approach of any mortal with a lamp. Such occupation might suit a notorious criminal of a philosophical turn of mind, but none other. Promotion, however, soon came Mr. Burt's way. He became a subterranean "donkey-driver," and his wages rose eight cents per diem. Then followed "management of an inclined plane" at Sherburn House Pit, between Durham and Thornley, wages from thirty-two to thirty-six cents; and, later, two years' "putting," or pony-driving, at Dalton Colliery, wages from thirty-six to fifty cents per diem. In 1851 the