Project Gutenberg 2003-12-01 Public domain in the USA. 132 Greene, Homer 1853 1940 Burnham Breaker E-text prepared by Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, William Flis, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team. Special thanks to Mike Greene and the Little Greene Schoolhouse (http://www.users.nac.net/mgreene/Homer_Greene_Museum.html) for supplying missing pages for this rare book "Burnham Breaker" by Homer Greene is a novel written in the late 19th century. The story unfolds in the backdrop of Scranton, Pennsylvania, a city entrenched in the coal-mining industry, and follows the lives of young boys toiling under harsh conditions, particularly highlighting the character of Ralph. Ralph, who yearns for a sense of belonging and searches for his identity, becomes entwined with Robert Burnham, the compassionate manager, whose kindness touches the lives of those working under him. The opening of "Burnham Breaker" sets up a vivid portrayal of the coal breaker where boys work long hours, picking slate from coal, while dreaming of freedom and a better life outside their prison-like environment. On a significant day, which happens to be circus day, the screen-room boys find their mundane toil interrupted when Burnham rewards their loyalty by granting them time off to visit the circus. This gesture highlights Burnham's compassion and foreshadows the deeper connections that will unravel between him and Ralph, especially as Ralph's past comes to light, revealing his lack of identity and longing for family. The narrative begins to weave themes of identity, loss, and the struggles of the working class in an industrial society. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 80.4 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Boys -- Juvenile fiction Foundlings -- Juvenile fiction Coal mines and mining -- Juvenile fiction Scranton (Pa.) -- Juvenile fiction PZ Text Category: Novels Category: American Literature 661834 2025-07-05T03:37:37.468466 text/html 662029 661671 2024-11-05T04:54:50.307072 2023-10-05T05:47:04.184513 text/html text/html 300352 2025-07-05T03:37:46.149363 application/epub+zip 310099 2025-07-05T03:37:39.419392 application/epub+zip 310099 2025-07-05T03:37:38.238389 application/epub+zip 557174 2025-07-05T03:37:51.260326 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 515603 2025-07-05T03:37:45.298391 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 490364 2022-09-05T08:04:18.330195 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 590480 2025-07-05T03:37:36.948428 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 570498 2024-10-28T17:49:28 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17422 2025-07-05T03:37:51.387306 application/rdf+xml 13625 2025-07-05T03:37:38.728393 image/jpeg 3468 2025-07-05T03:37:38.480396 image/jpeg 296215 2025-07-05T03:37:37.518418 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog