Show connecticut CHARCOAL CHAn COAL BURNERS aw tw they lif LIT 16 and ad rokon 4 0 or the th bounty of nature 1 there to aoe cullar people living be cwern the connecticut river and the western boundary of middlesex and mutt nor new haven counties they are coal burner burners noil and of their habile habits mutt modes of life comparatively little is 1 known by the outside world they are ignorant to a degree ditlef approximate I 1 roxi mates to that of the poor whites tp a fn in the south nod this Igno ignorance maco la Is per petua ted from ono one generation to an other without visible signs ot of the or binary improvement which li marked the progress pro gross of affairs in most new england towns these people inhabit the wildest and roost most VIly wooded part p rt of tho the state R vast area in the northern part of tho the town towns of clinton madison Bladis oct and guilford Gut lford which extends ea cast t nearly to ho the connecticut river 71 it 1 s a country little travelled except by the coal men themselves or by en on sports sportsmen mou in quest of gains or trout right in iho the heart of this section is tho the village of killingworth and the hamlet of black park made famous sonic year years ago ut y being the home of mary stannard tt a girl who was reputed to ha haze a beep beer murdered by the ROT rev herbert hayden ayden II the charcoal burner is a peculiar ort sort of fellow follow and although ho he b belongs eon to tho the caucasian race bis his own f family IF would not recognize him unless an I 1 e hs h features were hidden beneath a coat ing log of coal dust which in time be cornel comes so 0 o firmly embedded in the pores of the akin skin hat that nothing trill will remove it these men man are as a rule physical giant and posse constitutions which withstand Itha tand all sons of privation fiLlon and hardship most bloat of them are the descendants acen dauts ants of pitmen pit men and havo have no idea of earning money in any other manner than by burning coal their education edy cation is extremely limited and thair knowledge of arithmetic doca not go beyond thi power of being befog able to keep an acco account nt of the number of bushels of coal placed in a crib or curt cart by b making a mark oa ott a board with A bk bit of cbs coal for every bushel dea deposited posited these marke marks are always in blocks blocks of fire four beien made vertically and the fifth running across uie oie four evera burner has a sort of into illon that a stick tick placed crosswise cross wino in thi bottom of a basket aids amazi amazingly nall la in filling the basket another curious fact about these people is that they always calculate their business on the ba batin tin of pf al aine pence oad cerer to figure in dollars and cents thero there aa several trays ways in which coal is a burned but it I 1 generally done on shares arranged with the owner of a tract of woodland either the burner cuts the wood sets up the pit andl burns it and deirks cars the coal to etke marker or bo he simply seta sets up vp chapt aba p and buras I 1 U fsr it I 1 it t is considered an art coset to ec b pit and burn it successfully success full in modern e rn way is to set up a astl atako mb b t twelve leet feet high in A cleared around this the wood Is set up end wise until the pile baa has a alame diameter er 0 4 from twenty five to forty feet top toli Is rounded off kith small chun chunks kaL of wood and the whole mass covered wath sod and leaves the bur burlind nind continues from two to four weeks and during this time the pit has to be watched and day for fear the fire within should get wet t too 00 u NO abd th abu adla t 1 ff J nt he avidity atthe of ibe burr itagia eats at the bottom of the atio p 1 which g are constantly changed so expert do thesa charcoal burners b a ula I 1 able by the color of t the feriole 0 jiing Mi I 1 ing from the pit to tell the exact condition ot tho themire fare within il it As a class the charcoal burners are ar called honesty honest the th love iter liquor and the successful u 0 ja pit is an excuse to got 19 drunk most of them are jhb m mith ith a gun un or rifle and all allot of them are pot funt bunters game abounds awls in jib kr 1 territory and they neade I 1 an opportunity P k r to secilie secure it ma ano adm am in mer months the wi the charcoal bur burners a le gala a livelihood velt hood b ries is picking and rhile in the va fr the hiding biding places of broo broods of I 1 PA partridges rt r often the birdah hird a are r e fed t to 0 deop k eap them near P ac es and just i before the open a en season the th a entire a oca is trapped they hey are not over scrupulous in their methods of bunting the sound of a huud following a warm track neat thir pit is a signal to quit work and it I 1 poe aible hoot the fox foi i and ier bound hound secures the do dog after it his hs run into the coal di district strick ha he m self lucky 1 0 L 4 most of the coal burned in connecticut C ec t finds a matilia iv p and merlan Meri Merl and sells la 10 w 94 wholesale 1 r v f 4 |