I know the first verse as:

At The age of sixteen years
I saw my Daddy's blackened tears
And he swore he'd never send another son
To the dark recess of the mine
Where you age before your your time
And the coal dust lies heavy in your lungs.

I may be wrong but I'm sure I read or heard an interview with Rita McNeill in which she said that she sometimes sings different versions of her song, including the verse above, which I prefer to the original with its puzzling allusion to an unspecified quarrel.