from Hilda Mleczko, War Bride
Hilda Mleczko:
His brother got buried under a pile of stone and coal. They wrapped the wires to stop the rake-that's the train-the rake-pit term for train. They knew that there had been a man trapped under coal, on the coal floor. And of course Henry ran, and he saw his brother's squashed lunch can and his pit cap, and he knew it was his brother.
So he dug and he dug and he dug. And he held most of the weight-while they were scratching their heads and saying, "How are we going to take him out?"-he sort of burrowed underneath and took the weight of a big slab of stone that was digging into him here, and took the weight on his own back. Because he said that the hardest thing he ever had to do was go and tell his sister-in-law-because he had to take Eddie's clothes home-the hardest thing he ever had to do was to tell his sister-in-law. Because she thought Henry was telling her that her husband was dead. But he wasn't, he was injured. Ooo, poor man.... But he was all right.
But anyway, that night when Henry came home, I put my arms around him in bed like I always did. And he moved away from me. I asked him if he was mad or something. He said, "No." I said, "Well, what's wrong?" "Well, I'll show you, but it's not very nice." He took his pyjama top off, and he showed me his back. And where the rocks had ground into him, it was like huge tiger claws all down his back, where he'd taken this weight of the rock off his brother. He's still got those scars today. But when they were fresh you could have played Oughts and Crosses [X's and O's] on them.
And then another time he said, a fellow worker got caught-his pants leg, or part of his clothing, was caught in the wheel, the wheel used for hoisting the cage to the top. The cage was the elevator that took the men from the deeps up to the top. And he got caught-it was working. And by the time they stopped it, it had ground into his leg and ground it to bits.
And he's screaming, "Cut it off! Cut it off!" And by the time a workmate got the axe and severed it with one blow, it was only hanging on by a strip of flesh.
But you see - the next day they had to go to work just as if nothing had happened. They were like soldiers....
They had a rule, to say, "Don't ever get out of the rake"-the train-until it came to a full stop. Because sometimes it would get an extra surge in power. And if you happened to be standing in front of that rake, you'd go underneath the wheels, or on the side.
And Henry was with a young fellow-he hadn't been married very long. And he was in an all-fired hurry to get out of the rake. And he jumped out before it stopped, and it spurted up again. And Henry was holding onto his jacket saying, "No!" And he was left holding his jacket when he saw his mate's body go under the wheels until it was ground up like hamburger. And that's when he got all upset. He came home and he kept saying to me, "If only I didn't see him." He was walking the floor all night. "If only I didn't see him. If only I didn't see him." He never ate. But the next shift, he's down there again, walking over the same spot where it happened. He had to go to work.
Like I said, like in the war....
When I was getting married to Henry, we had six months waiting period-unless you happened to be very pregnant, and then of course, they wanted you to get married. Of course, I wasn't.... We had six months wait. And in that six months time, I can honestly say that it was probably the worst time of my life for decisions. Here I was, weighing my dilemma-love for the man, and love for my country. You know, even today-it's a very painful thing to go through. And to this day I'm still more or less split down the middle. I have two loyalties. I still love England. And I love this country. It's a beautiful, magnificent country. But I had this feeling, well, if I get married to Henry, I'll have to leave the country I love. And the very thought of it was tearing the heart out of me. I was very English, very English. I thought there was no place on earth like England.
So, we talked about it. And Henry even said, "Well," he said, "if I had my way, I'd like to have a chicken farm." He'd love to raise chickens and sell eggs.... But he said, "I know I won't be able to. So," he said, "I'll be in the pit, because Dad knows he can get me a job." So I knew I was marrying a coal miner. I knew.
But he said to me, "Well," he said, "I've got a piece of land all picked out, where I'd like to take you. And," he said, "I'll promise you two things"-and he kept his promise-"while I've got these two hands, you'll never go hungry. And I'll build you a house where you'll see the sea from every window." Can't get a man better than that. He kept his promise.
Hilda Mleczko's story appeared in Issue 54 of Cape Breton's Magazine (out of print.) It is now available in the book Cape Breton Works.
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