… shortly after the invention of the wheel, children – many of them, at least – were told that if they weren't very good they might get, instead of toys or candy, a lump of coal in their stockings for Christmas. I thought of that the other day when I was – yes, it's true – hanging up my own stocking (this year it is 71 candy canes old) and wondered, how many of us are left who have actually ever seen a lump of coal? I remember when houses were heated by coal and coal-fired locomotives pulled the trains.
Some 40% of the electricity used in the United States is generated by burning coal and virtually all of is produced in the U. S. (at great environmental cost). So there's still a lot of it around. Not too many people outside certain industries or certain parts of the country have ever seen it now, so if you're trying to scare your kids you'd better think of something else.
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