My father-in-law was an old time coal miner - he actually started working in the mines when he was a kid - working as a breaker boy - picking the slate out of the coal as it passed on a conveyor belt - he's been gone a long time now but he was one of a kind - I always got a kick out of the way he acted around his house - he was the king - no bones about it - my mother-in-law tended to him like a baby - when he wanted to take a bath she would fill the tube up for him and lay out the towels - then when he was done he would leave the bathroom and she would empty the tube and clean up - whenever I visited he would always tell his wife Helen to get me a beer - she would always ask him what he wanted to eat and go overboard to give him what he wanted -
After the mines closed down he got a job in NJ near where I was living at the time - one time I was heading home to Pa so I waited after work to give him a ride home - after waiting a couple hours he finally shows up - half under the weather - well anyway we ride home to Pa - half way there he wants to stop in a gin mill - he calls his wife up -its around midnight - he tells her he wants some pork chops when he gets home - we get to his house around 2am and sure enough there are pork chops waiting for us
Now you might say that the old boy was terrible - but you know something - that's how things were in those days - that was pretty much average in the coal fields - the guys worked very hard and drank very dark and were very strict with their families - the men were the kings in the house - the poor wife had to settle on being the queen -
The old boy drank like a fish and was a heavy smoker - but you know something - he lived to be 84 - I often wonder where he is now -
