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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 20, 1910
“The Beginning of Life” by M. Helen Schloss
From The Black Hills Daily Register of July 15, 1910
-Official Organ of Western Federation of Miners, District 2:
I sat looking out in the cold, dark, dreary night listening to the roaring winds and the gruesome sounds of the elements. Everything seemed to whisper mournful tales and all different sounds were telling me of the life that is to come when the soul awakens.
Lost in these thoughts, I suddenly came upon a large tract of land. On this tract of land stood two huge scales with iron chains. At one scale stood men, and at the other women and children. The men were pulling leisurely; they would look up now and then and pause to rest, while the women and children never stopped to look up or rest. Their bodies were bent to the ground, and their faces were old and haggard. The children would drop like flies from exhaustion, but there were others to take their places, while the women would never take the time to look after them.
I walked up to a woman and asked why they were living in such darkness, and why they were pulling so hard, and she gave me a vacant stare. I walked up to a man and asked him the same question, and he said: “They were pulling for life.” I asked why the women were pulling so hard, while they were pulling so easy. He answered: “When we were called out of our houses to pull the women became frightened of these men on the top and they have never dared to look up. If they would stop and look up they would not have to pull so hard, but they fear.”
Sometimes the men would shake their fists at the men on top, and then the chains would grow lighter and the scale would lower a few inches. But the scale of the women would never lower. Some fell to the ground with blood on their hands and faces. The groans from the people below and the sneering laughter from those above filled the air with unearthly sounds.
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