This picture, stripped of its moral overtones and exaggeration, is an essentially accurate portrayal of the modally different work motivations of miners and surfacemen.
The interests of the surfacemen seem to lie on the side of throwing in their lot with the underground workers.
He was a surfaceman in the mine and got arsenical poisoning while clearing out the flues after the firing.
He worked as a surfaceman at a colliery near Barnsley and supplemented his income by writing verse.
Money meant something different to miners than it did to surfacemen.