Pit Pony

Nellie wrestles with a tough decision after Ned lands a position on the mine face with higher pay and risk. Mrs. MacTavish tells Nellie a cautionary tale about Flora MacClure, a woman whose husband was killed in a mining accident.

When wealthy Aunt Rose visits the MacLean family to attend Nellie's wedding, she makes no secret about her distaste for minors and her low expectation for Nellie's future happiness. Meanwhile, Ned's work affects the wedding plans.

Ned tries to rally the other workers in the mine to confront their bosses about the poor safety conditions. In the meantime, Spider dares Willie, Mollie and Angus to spend the night inside a haunted house.

A funeral is held for Allen, who perished in a mining accident that nearly claimed Ned's life as well. Ned wants the mine shut down completely for repairs, but Mr. Crowe is only willing to close a small section.

After tensions come to a head between Ned and Mr. Frawley, Ned is fired and Aunt Rose offers to take the children back to Halifax. However Nellie and Willie refuse to leave town, and Willie tries to get Ned rehired.

Aunt Rose grabs the attentions of a suitor by the name of John Scottie MacNeil, who happens to be a famous traveling violinist. When the townspeople learn, the MacLean family gets the cold shoulder.

When Willie spots what he believes to be a ghost pirate ship, he enlists Mollie and Angus to help him hunt for buried treasure. However, Spider stumbles upon the cursed cache first. Elsewhere, Ned works with a greenhorn.

When his horse, Sable, disappears, Willie is convinced someone stole him. Disguising himself as a pit boy minor, Willie infiltrates the mine, and Ned helps him search. Meanwhile, Ben Fawley tries to adapt to life in the pit.

Ben backs up Ned's claim that sable belongs to Willie when the horse is found working as pit pony. Meanwhile, Willie suspects a connection between some stolen explosives and the pirate treasure.

Glace Bay enters a new age when a public telephone is installed in the train station. Willie writes a letter to Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor invites Willie and his teacher, Anne Harper, to visit him and discuss new ideas.

While experimenting with the new camera Alexander Graham Bell gave him, Willie snaps a few pictures of the Borso house. Intrigued by the house

After Miss Harper submits Willie's photograph to a contest, the image gains notoriety for exposing the poor working conditions of the coals mines. Investigative journalist L.B. Collins arrives in town to walk to Willie.

When Ned loses his job temporarily, Nellie wants to find work to help supplement their income. But, with his pride wounded, Ned objects to the idea. Meanwhile, Miss Harper tries to raise the literacy level of the boys in the pit.

Amid preparations for Willie's 13th birthday Nellie feels for the first time how destitute they are in comparison to their relatives. Meanwhile, Ned struggles with being housebound after the mind fire.

Aunt Rose offers to purchase a large farmhouse as a gift for Nellie and Ned. Unfortunately, Rose's generosity comes at a cost, since she insists on decorating the home to her own taste and accepts no one else's input.

Mine owner Wendell Crowe disapproves of Miss Harper's attempt to educate the pit boys and makes Mr. Frawley close down her school. Ned, however, persuades Miss Harper to stand up for herself and her students.

After Nellie's laundry business takes off, Willie gets swamped with his responsibilities at school, his deliveries and helping Nellie. Wendell Crowe ups the pressure on Miss Harper and threatens to revoke her teaching license.

Ned faces off against Jack Doyle when both run for president of the workers' union. In the run-up to the election, Doyle discovers a plan Crowe and Frawley to replace some of the miners with machines.

After Spider

Nellie gives Mollie a makeover to help her appear more feminine. Meanwhile, Spider conceals his gratitude to Willie from the other pit boys, afraid that showing his appreciation will destroy his tough reputation.

After Nellie's laundry machine breaks down, she works briefly as Miss Harper's teaching assistant, only to learn that the school can't afford to pay her. Mrs. MacTavish holds an auction to raise the necessary funds.

Mr. Frawley gives Spider a promotion, but it doesn't come with the pay hike he was expecting. Meanwhile, Maggie MacLean comes back to town to learn what's happened in Nellie, Willie, and Ned's Lives while she was gone.

Charley has visions of a ghost of a friend who perished in a tragic accident more than 30 years ago. Meanwhile, Jack Doyle's insensitive management style breeds resentment among the pit workers.

Hope blooms when Nellie things she might be pregnant, and Willie and Maggie take over her teaching duties. Helen Borso, however, believes Nellie's condition might be something else. Elsewhere, Stringy is injured during a cave-in.

Nellie is an invalid now, confined to bed after being diagnosed with consumption. Mrs. MacTavish contacts Nellie's relatives to apprise them of the situation as her conditions worsen. Meanwhile, Willie braves the mines to help Ned.