He explains in this stanza that he used to hate the coal dust, and hearing the train go by, but now since everything is so desolate, the speaker wishes that everything was back to the way it was. The speaker states that he wishes "the grass would turn to money, and those green backs would fill my pockets once more." He uses this line to express to the reader that he still has hope that he may be able to become wealthy again, but really he just wishes that his family was not quite as poverty stricken as they are now.

(Continued bit)
The last line of this stanza explains that the speakers father now has a face as white as February snow (this is a simile, the fathers face being compared to February snow.) This last line is added in because it is used as a comparison to the first line, and this adds a little more imagery to the stanza.

The speaker states that he used to believe his daddy was a black man, he believed this because the dust from the coal mines dyed his skin; this line in the stanza could be taken as a hyperbole because the speaker is exaggerating how much the coal mining affected his father. The two lines after that state that the speakers father had enough money to buy the company store, or the general store, but since the coal mines have closed he goes into town with no money. The last line of this stanza explains that the speakers father now has a face as white as February snow (this is a simile, the fathers face being compared to February snow.) This last line is added in because it is used as a comparison to the first line, and this adds a little more imagery to the stanza.

The speaker in this stanza, now explains with a metaphor that he lived, and was raised right by the coal mines in his town; he was also used to hearing the going one of the mining, and that now, everything is empty, unused, and broken. He continues to say that the reason that everything is decrepit is because the L and N train does not stop at those coal mines anymore. This will lead the reader/listener to understand that the coal miners lost their jobs, and now the mines are unused, and silent.

Two characters are introduced in the first stanza, the speaker, who is the son of the second character, who is the father. The first two lines show that the speaker is looking at a memory about his father. He explains that his father didn't want him to be a coal miner, and to go to school and become successful instead. I believe that this stanza is a set up for the rest of the song, preparing the listener, or reader for a ballad.