Burnham Breaker — Text and Context

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In Category - Young Readers Enchanted Adventures

Authors: Greene, Homer, 1853-1940 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2003 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Foundlings -- Juvenile fiction; Coal mines and mining -- Juvenile fiction; Scranton (Pa.) -- Juvenile fiction Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 107,774

Reading time 469 min

Text sections 10

Before opening Burnham Breaker — Text and Context, the edition data offers a quick orientation: 107,774 words, 7 hr 49 min estimated reading time, and 10 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 16.1 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Boys -- Juvenile fiction,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #10449

Homer Greene's 1887 novel follows orphaned boy Ralph as he works in a Pennsylvania coal breaker, entangled in a legal battle over his identity and fortune. The excerpts reveal detailed descriptions of mining machinery, a courtroom scheme, and a hymn-singing moment, but the catalog subjects of 'foundlings' and 'coal mines' only partially capture the book's focus on legal maneuvering and moral choices.

Editorial Edition Score 4.8/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

How this score is calculated

Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg10449

Read the Text

I. A SURPRISE IN THE SCREEN-ROOM

II. A STRANGE VISITOR

III. A BRILLIANT SCHEME

IV. A SET OF RESOLUTIONS

V. IN SEARCH OF A MOTHER

VI. BREAKING THE NEWS

VIII. A FRIEND IN NEED

X. AT THE BAR OF THE COURT

XI. THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE

XII. AT THE GATES OF PARADISE

XIII. THE PURCHASE OF A LIE

XIV. THE ANGEL WITH THE SWORD

XV. AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY

XVI. A BLOCK IN THE WHEEL

XVII. GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY

XVIII. A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

XIX. BACK TO THE BREAKER

XX. THE FIRE IN THE SHAFT

XXI. A PERILOUS PASSAGE

XXII. IN THE POWER OF DARKNESS

XXIII. A STROKE OF LIGHTNING

XXIV. AT THE DAWN OF DAY

A SURPRISE IN THE SCREEN-ROOM.

The city of Scranton lies in the centre of the Lackawanna coal-field, in the State of Pennsylvania. Year by year the suburbs of the city creep up the sides of the surrounding hills, like the waters of a rising lake.

Standing at any point on this shore line of human habitations, you can look out across the wide landscape and count a score of coal-breakers within the limits of your first glance. These breakers are huge, dark buildings that remind you of castles of the olden time. They are many-winged and many-windowed, and their shaft-towers rise high up toward the clouds and the stars. About the feet of those in the valley the waves of the out-reaching city beat and break, and out on the hill-sides they stand like mighty fortresses built to guard the lives and fortunes of the multitudes who toil beneath them. But they are not long-lived. Like human beings, they rise, they flourish, they die and are forgotten. Not one in hundreds of the people who walk the streets of Scranton to-day, or who dig the coal from its surrounding hills, can tell you where Burnham Breaker stood a quarter of a century ago. Yet there are men still living, and boys who have grown to manhood, scores of them, who toiled for years in the black dust breathed out from its throats of iron, and listened to the thunder of its grinding jaws from dawn to dark of many and many a day.

These will surely tell you where the breaker stood. They are proud to have labored there in other years. They will speak to you of that time with pleasant memories. It was thought to be a stroke of fortune to obtain work at Burnham Breaker. It was just beyond the suburbs of the city as they then were, and near to the homes of all the workmen. The vein of coal at this point was of more than ordinary thickness, and of excellent quality, and these were matters of much moment to the miners who worked there. Then, the wages were always paid according to the highest rate, promptly and in full.

But there was something more, and more important than all this, to be considered. Robert Burnham, the chief power in the company, and the manager of its interests, was a man whose energetic business qualities and methods did not interfere with his concern for the welfare of his employees. He was not only just, but liberal and kind. He held not only the confidence but the good-will, even the affection, of those who labored under him. There were never any strikes at the Burnham mines. The men would have considered it high treason in any one to advocate a strike against the interests of Robert Burnham.

Yet it was no place for idling. There were, no laggards there. Men had to work, and work hard too, for the wages that bought their daily bread. Even the boys in the screen-room were held as closely to their tasks as care and vigilance could hold them. Theirs were no light tasks, either. They sat all day on their little benches, high up in the great black building, with their eyes fixed always on the shallow streams of broken coal passing down the iron-sheathed chutes, and falling out of sight below them; and it was their duty to pick the particles of slate and stone from out these moving masses, bending constantly above them as they worked. It was not the physical exertion that made their task a hard one; there was not much straining of the joints or muscles, not even in the constant bending of the body to that one position.

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Homer Greene's Burnham Breaker opens with a detailed description of Scranton's coal breakers as 'huge, dark buildings that remind you of castles of the olden time,' a simile that sets the tone for a story where industrial machinery and human lives are closely intertwined. The narrator notes that 'not one in hundreds of the people who walk the streets of Scranton to-day... can tell you where Burnham Breaker stood a quarter of a century ago,' immediately framing the narrative as a recollection of a vanished place and community.

The catalog subjects list 'Boys -- Juvenile fiction' and 'Coal mines and mining -- Juvenile fiction,' but the excerpts show that the book is equally concerned with legal strategy and moral persuasion. In one scene, lawyer Sharpman plans to manipulate young Ralph's perception of his guardian, aiming to 'work into the boy's mind a theory that he had been as well treated... as circumstances would permit.' This calculated deception suggests a story that tests the boundaries of honesty and loyalty.

The Breaker as a Character

The opening chapter devotes several paragraphs to the physical presence of the coal breaker, describing it as 'many-winged and many-windowed' with 'shaft-towers rise high up toward the clouds and the stars.' This is not mere scene-setting; the breaker is given a life cycle: 'Like human beings, they rise, they flourish, they die and are forgotten.' The narrator insists that former workers 'are proud to have labored there' and 'will speak to you of that time with pleasant memories,' indicating that the building itself holds emotional weight for the community.

This personification of the breaker contrasts with the catalog subject 'Coal mines and mining,' which suggests a focus on the labor process. Instead, the excerpts emphasize the breaker as a landmark and a source of identity. The detailed geography—'just beyond the suburbs of the city as they then were'—anchors the story in a specific, changing landscape. Readers should note how the physical setting is not just a backdrop but a repository of memory and pride.

Legal Maneuvering and Moral Ambiguity

Chapter XIII, 'The Purchase of a Lie,' reveals a courtroom drama that the catalog subjects do not anticipate. Lawyer Sharpman sits 'meditating on his success in the Burnham suit and planning to avert the dangers that still lay in his path.' His scheme involves persuading Ralph that his guardian, Simon Craft, acted with 'purest generosity,' despite evidence to the contrary. Sharpman's internal monologue—'Of what use was it to establish the boy's identity if he could not control the boy's fortune?'—exposes a coldly pragmatic view of justice.

The arrival of a stranger, 'L. Joseph Cheekerton, Philadelphia. "Rhyming Joe,"' introduces a subplot of attempted swindling. The visitor's 'carefully concocted lie' targets 'the sharpest lawyer in Scranton,' suggesting a contest of wits. These elements shift the story from a simple orphan tale to a narrative about legal ethics and the manipulation of truth. The catalog's 'Foundlings -- Juvenile fiction' only hints at the identity dispute; the excerpts show that the legal battle is central.

Moments of Lyricism and Inner Life

Amid the industrial and legal conflicts, the excerpts include a moment of quiet introspection. Ralph hears a hymn: 'O Paradise! O Paradise! Who doth not crave for rest?' The music makes him feel 'all so beautiful! so peaceful! so calm and holy!' and he concludes that 'there was nothing in the whole world now... that he could think to ask for.' This lyrical passage, with its references to 'loyal hearts and true' standing 'ever in the light,' provides a counterpoint to the earlier scenes of ambition and deceit.

The catalog subjects do not prepare readers for this spiritual dimension. The hymn is not merely decorative; it functions as a moment of emotional resolution for Ralph, who seems to find contentment despite his uncertain circumstances. The narrator's description of 'the quiet stars' and 'perfumed air' suggests a Romantic sensibility that values inner peace over external fortune. This section hints that the novel may explore themes of faith and gratitude alongside its plot-driven conflicts.

The excerpts from Burnham Breaker reveal a work that blends industrial realism with legal intrigue and moments of lyrical reflection. Readers should pay attention to how Greene balances the physical world of the coal breaker with the psychological world of his characters, particularly Ralph's evolving understanding of trust and integrity. The catalog subjects accurately identify the setting and the orphan protagonist, but the story's moral complexity and its attention to the nuances of persuasion and belief are equally significant. Approach the novel as a study of how place, law, and personal conviction intersect.

Reading Burnham Breaker — the hymn-singing amid the coal dust, that child so certain of his own story — I found myself drifting to how small creatures keep faith in their place in the world. It made me think of The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad — Themes and Context, where stubbornness is a kind of quiet courage, too.