THE MENTOR 1918.05.01, No. 154,
The Story of Coal
LEARN ONE THING
EVERY DAY
MAY 1 1918
SERIAL NO. 154
THE
MENTOR
THE STORY OF COAL
By
CHARLES FITZHUGH TALMAN
Editorial Writer for the
Scientific American
DEPARTMENT OF
SCIENCE
VOLUME 6
NUMBER 6
TWENTY CENTS A COPY
THE MINER
By BERTON BRALEY
Grimy, and caked with dust of coal he stands,
Grasping his pick within his mighty hands;
The arbiter of destiny and fate,
Greater by far than king or potentate.
Shops may not run except at his behest,
At forge and blast his strength is manifest.
The rolls that rumble and the shears that scream
And all the million miracles of steam
Depend on him for fuel that will turn
The wheels that urge them and the belts that churn.
Guns that will shatter fortresses of steel,
Ships that will plow the waves on steady keel
Bearing munitions for an army’s need
Must wait the miner’s orders and take heed
That he who toils within the coal mine’s murk
Gives them the coal with which they do their work.
Behind the men who battle in the trench
There stand the workmen at the lathe and bench,
But back of them and master of them all
The miner stands and holds the world in thrall.
Not soon again shall any man forget
How much the world is in the miner’s debt,
For we shall read upon fame’s honor roll
“He won the war—his labor gave us coal!”
Reprinted by courtesy of Publishers of “Coal Age.”
COURTESY U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
FOSSIL FERN FROM COAL MINE
THE STORY OF COAL
The Origin of Coal
ONE
While the vegetable origin of coal is beyond question,two rival views are current among geologists toaccount for the deposit of ancient plant materi
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