So much for the fuel; but God meant something else besides
fuel when he packed this closet for his children. At first they only
understood this simplest and plainest value of the coal. But there were
some things that troubled the miners very much: one was gas that would
take fire from their lamps, and burn, making it dangerous for men to go
into the passages where they were likely to meet it. But by and by the
wise men thought about it, and said to themselves, We must find out what
useful purpose God made the gas for: we know that he does not make any
thing for harm only. The thought came to them that it might be prepared
from coal, and conducted through pipes to our houses to take the place
of lamps or candles, which until that time had been the only light. But,
after making the gas, there was a thick, pitchy substance left from the
coal, called coal-tar. It was only a trouble to the gas-makers, who had
no use for it, and even threw it away, until some one, more thoughtful
than the others, found out that water would not pass through it. And so
it began to be used to cover roofs of buildings, and, mixed with some
other substances, made a pavement for streets; and being spread over
iron-work it protected it from rust. Don't you see how many uses we have
found for this refuse coal-tar? And the finest of all is yet to come;
for the chemists got hold of it, and distilled and refined it, until
they prepared from the black, dirty pitch lovely emerald-colored
crystals which had the property of dying silk and cotton and wool in
beautiful colors,--violet, magenta, purple, or green.
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