Edward Dyson

“ Run, you fool! Number Two's gone to pieces, and Fred Baker is caught in the fall!
Say, hello! there below — any hope, boys, any chances of saving his life?"
"Heave away!" says the knocker. "They've started. God be praised, he's no youngsters or wife!" ”

“ Down the drive, and they rushed for the ladders, and they went up the shaft with a run,
For they knew the weak spot in the workings, and they guessed there was graft to be done.
Number Two was pitch dark, and they scrambled to the plat and they made for the face,
But the roof bad come down fifty yards in, and the reef was all over the place.
Fresher men from the surface replace them, and they're hauled up on top for a blow;
When a life and death job is in doing there's room only for workers below. ”

“ And the stern men, grown gentle, support her at the mouth of the shaft, till at last
With a rush the cage springs to the landing, and her son's arms encircle her fast.
She has cursed the old mine for its murders, for the victims its drives have ensnared,
Now she cries a great blessing upon it for the one precious life it has spared.
This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. ”