Thanks for all your replies. I checked out AbeBooks and posted the text from the page and got a response saying that it may be from a book about Booker T Washington, since he has a brother named John and he had worked in the mines. I also looked on google books, but didn't find anything that related to the text. Here is the text. It may not be exact, but it should be very close. Some of the words were not easily made out and some I couldn't make out at all. Thanks again for all your replies. "Please" John begged, "Let me stay and help my brother. He works hard. Honest, he does. I'll stay late tonight to make up for the time we lost. Please." "Get your pick and come with us" the boss ordered. "But he'll get lost trying to find us. He doesn't know his way in the mines yet. I have to look out for him." John pleaded. The mine boss pushed John ahead of him. "Booker you join us when you are finished here." Booker was left alone. He began digging as fast as .....cant read this part..... lift the pick and bring it back down again. Banging his pick against a big lump of coal. Booker whispered, "I hate this mine. I hate ....cant read this...... Tears of frustration choked his voice. And then Bookers ....cant read this.... in the stubborn way it always did when he made up his mind to do something. "I'm going to leave this old mine one day and go to school.", he said aloud "And after I go to school. I'll be a teacher. I'll teach everybody, even the old folks. I'll build ma a fine home and she won't have to work so hard and -". Booker brought his mind back to his work. He finished digging a pile of coal and set out to find John and the other miners. He carefully adjusted his miners lamp so he could see better. Booker then put his pick on his shoulder and started off in the direction the miners had taken. He walked for a while then stopped. Now, he wondered which way he should turn? He listened for the sound of voices or the clank of picks. There was only silence. Booker turned and walked for a time in the opposite direction. Still he could hear no sounds. He cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled "Hello! Hello!". No sounds. Booker feared that he was lost. The more he walked, the more he seemed to be going around in circles. And being lost in the mines was like being lost in a huge dark forest. He became frightened.

That is really nice that the landfill has a section for "too good to throw away." Nothing like that here. They won't let you take anything...of course, it is all mixed up with household garbage, so pretty nasty. Lots of good things are thrown away all the time. I am not at all hesitant to stop and pick up something off the curb or even snatch something out of a dumpster. Often people will sit out good, useable items to the side of the dumpster, or put it out the day before trash pickup. I got a nice french door, an antique trunk, a couple of side tables and old wooden shutters not too long ago. I couldn't believe they were throwing it away, so I went to the door and knocked...and the lady said they cleaned out the garage, and she was glad I was going to take it. I gave the trunk and one table and shutters to my friend, and kept the french door and one of the side tables. Going to use the door in the house. It had all the hardware and everything. Perfect condition.

Oh, yes, I re-read all the time. The ones I re-read the most are Jane Austen's novels, the "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon, "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy (one of my favorite books ever), and "Far From the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy. I've re-read "To Kill a Mockingbird," too, but only 3-4 times.:)

I looked to see if there was a name for this disorder, but couldn't come up with one. Did come up with these though, which I found to be interesting: * Amylophagia - consumption of starch * Coprophagia - consumption of feces (euuuw) * Geophagy - consumption of soil, clay or chalk * Hyalophagia - consumption of glass * Mucophagia - consumption of mucus * Odawa - consumption of soft stones by pregnant women in Kenya * Pagophagia - Pathological consumption of ice * Trichophagia -consumption of hair or wool * Urophagia - consumption of urine * Vampirism - consumption of blood * Xylophagia - consumption of wood Pica is the overall name for the disorder characterized by an appetite for substances largely non-nutritive (soap, clay, etc). To be considered a medical disorder, it must last more than one month at an age where eating such objects is considered developmentally inappropriate. Comes from the Latin word for "magpie", a bird reputed to eat almost anything. (Taken from Wikipedia.)