The Iron Boys in the Mines

too much with the foreign element. Let them alone and you will find they will do the same with you. Pay strict attention to duty, be punctual and work, and you will get along. Our discipline is strict, but we have the interests of our men at heart. In so far as they will let us, we make their well-being our first care. Here is a copy of the rules governing the conduct of men in all departments. Study it well to-day and come back here to-morrow morning at the hour named."

Briefly thanking the superintendent, Steve left the mine office at Iron Mountain and proceeded to the boarding house. There he was assigned to a room in which were cots for two men. The place was neat and clean, though extremely plain. There were no evidences of luxury in the furnishings, and when he sat down to his first meal there he found the food plain but wholesome; the miners mostly silent and in a great hurry to have done with their meal. Considering how they bolted their food, Steve did not understand how any of them managed to