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BE SAVED

There was no mirror

One door led to the top of the stairs, the other to the front bedrooer and had space for two beds Da and Mao The eldest, Ethel, had now left home, and the other three had died, one froh, and one from diphtheria There had been an older brother, too, who had shared Billy's bed before Gramper caround by a runaway dram, one of the wheeled tubs that carried coal

Billy pulled on his shirt It was the one he had worn to school yesterday Today was Thursday, and he changed his shirt only on Sunday However, he did have a new pair of trousers, his first long ones, made of the thick water-repellent cotton called moleskin They were the symbol of entry into the world ofthe heavy masculine feel of the fabric He put on a thick leather belt and the boots he had inherited from Wesley, then he went downstairs

Most of the ground floor was taken up by the living room, fifteen feet square, with a table in theon the stone floor Da was sitting at the table reading an old copy of the Daily Mail, a pair of spectacles perched on the bridge of his long, sharp nose Ma kettle, kissed Billy's forehead, and said: "How's my little man on his birthday?"

Billy did not reply The "little" ounding, because he was little, and the "man" was just as hurtful because he was not a man He went into the scullery at the back of the house He dipped a tin bowl into the water barrel, washed his face and hands, and poured the water away in the shallow stone sink The scullery had a copper with a fire grate underneath, but it was used only on bath night, which was Saturday

They had been pro water soon, and some of the miners' houses already had it It seeet a cup of cold clear water just by turning the tap, and not have to carry a bucket to the standpipe out in the street But indoor water had not yet coton Rohere the Williamses lived

He returned to the living roo cup of ared She cut two thick slices off a loaf of ho froether, closed his eyes, and said: "Thank you Lord for this food a on his bread

Da's pale blue eyes looked over the top of the paper "Put salt on your bread," he said "You'll sweat underground "

Billy's father was a ent, employed by the South Wales Miners' Federation, which was the strongest trade union in Britain, as he said whenever he got the chance He was known as Dai Union A lot of men were called Dai, pronounced "die," short for David, or Dafydd in Welsh Billy had learned in school that David was popular in Wales because it was the name of the country's patron saint, like Patrick in Ireland All the Dais were distinguished one from another not by their surnames-alan-but by a nickname Real names were rarely used when there was a humorous alternative Billy was William Williaiven their husband's nickname, so that Mam was Mrs Dai Union

Gra his second slice Despite the eather he wore a jacket and waistcoat When he had washed his hands he sat opposite Billy "Don't look so nervous," he said "I went down the pit when I was ten And my father was carried to the pit on his father's back at the age of five, and worked fro He never saw daylight from October to March "

"I'm not nervous," Billy said This was untrue He was scared stiff

However, Gramper was kindly, and he did not press the point Billy liked Gramper Mam treated Billy like a baby, and Da was stern and sarcastic, but Gramper was tolerant and talked to Billy as to an adult

"Listen to this," said Da He would never buy the Mail, a right-wing rag, but he soht home someone else's copy and read the paper aloud in a scornful voice,class "'Lady Diana Manners has been criticized for wearing the sahter of the Duke of Rutland won "best lady's costume" at the Savoy Ball for her off-the-shoulder boned bodice with full hooped skirt, receiving a prize of two hundred and fifty guineas '" He lowered the paper and said: "That's at least five years' wages for you, Billy boy " He resu the sae's Hotel One can have too , people said '" He looked up froe that frock, Manoscenti "

Ma an old broool dress with patched elbows and stains under the armpits "If I had two h