New-York tribune. [volume], April 17, 1904, Page 6, Image 36

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

v
A TYPICAL FISHER BOAT OF BRITTANY.
©r;e tc-i.h\s. t*i r.ty-one Cleigyinen and lucre
tb.in ;i thousand soldiers ari<l sailors.
rcea two a.iJ three hundred ia<is make
'.♦■ r Immim In the Chatham Bquare !«•
douse every night. As th. y die Into the ao
■etnbly hall, in the h.i!f boar before 6 o'ekx k.
e;K it reports to the mperintendent If a '.•"'
1? w > ti.ir.fr, he hanJ.s l.">, Uo or 25 cent* to the
i .!-■!!•] lit fur thr. c brass i !i. < ka and :i U- ] .
1 •••iks fur breakfast am! supper cost only
a nickel apiece, and the bed cl ■ ■
5 t« 15 cents. The mlnlmnm smount for a
w - board and l '■■•■ gls $1 06.
r the raperini ndent's desk, as if I
i tentioo of every one that enl<
low, black lux, the t. p < I which
* rows of ilots, each labelled with :i Dumb r.
As the lads pass by nearly every one goes down
Into his pocket :!ii<l drops a few coins Into a
certain slut. Whenever a lad wants bis
In^-s, Mr. I' the I ink, '. i limps
he t.-ik'-.s out ss much as •*•"". tn the last year
138 depositors saved 150074. Not Infrequentl)
the mom y is tran f. rred t<> s nai Ings t. ink, and
Mr H< i^ has ft:-- bankbook in ]iU !•■ :ion
which has just reached t he thousand dollar
■Bark.
Cleanliness is one of the first rales of the
lodging home. After registering, the lads go
to the washrooms, which have Just been
•quipped with an elaborate new set of bowls,
tul>s ami shower baths. At the supper tables the
"Waldorf Clang" dines on a perfect equality
with the "Five Cent Blokes."
In every way the boys are made to understand
that the lodging house la not an Institution of
charity. They pay or work for all they get.
If a lad comes in penniless he Is put to work
cleaning windows or scrubbing floors. But his
pride soon drives him to get employment The
lads earning money rail him a "bum." and he
■Jumps at the first Job which Is offered to him.
He seed) not wait long. Every day some one
applies for a boy.
There are many gifts of clothes to the lodg-
Inp hfus.se, but the boys who want a new erat
or pair of trousers must pay for them, ever
though it Is a nominal price. The other day a
frit nd of the Children's Aid Society sent In fifty
suits from a Broadway clothier. They were of
fered for ?1 a suit There was then a run on
the savings banks, and the suits were soon dls
trlhiit< <1, and on the following Sunday, as "Col
lars," the Chesterfield of the "Waldorf Gang,"
expressed it: "Dere wus the sweliest bunch
of guys as ever et lodgln* house grub." Several
of the boys had been fascinated with summer
suits of rather startling hues for the sombre
days of early spring. One youth, for instance,
appeared ' n » sult ° r "c nt straw color, with a
bizarre check, and, costumed as if for the race
track in midsummer, he sauntered up the Bow
ery, totally oblivious to such catcalls from his
aasodatM as: "Hello, dere, Regrle from I'aris!"
"Can't chcr hear dose clothes?" "Say, is dat
«u;t made of asbustus?"
On rainy days, when the street crowds are
too busy struggling with the storm to buy pa
per*, the newsboy finds the lodging house a
■Mil sills haven. Here he may obtain a dry and
sheltered corner, and In the evening when his
legs ache from tramping the pavements he eaa
pla> checkers or pool or listen to comrades as
th«-> Fing to the accompaniment of the big,
square piano. And if "Paddy the rug," the
leader of the lodging house chorus, lifts his
voice, as he can -when he wants to, till It sounds
as clear and sweet as that of a vested chorister,
and sings that favorite of all newsboy songs,
"Tttt Man Behind." he will Join in the refrain.
MfiW-YOKK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
Thfn hr forgets all about the Bghl he had In
a hack street an hour ago, and the blow that
made bis t< mple bleed.
He knows the wmils of "The Man hind,"
and he loves the song, not so inu< h for its mel
ody as the worldly truthfulness of its lines.
The lav; stanza ii, parti, ul;ir appeals to him:
There** the man behind tin cl '.'. behind the uni
form in blu< ,
|!>')iir,(i him are thl warda* !: and '(:• wisp old
roundsmen, too.
Th. .-.tit. un Ibej report to i- behind the lanu>s of
!■•• ■ n,
But Ibe man who y,' Is the monej Is tl.e man be
hind (hi gn en.
And be Joins the refrain by ainglng:
The man behind the .....
11. ■ ih< v ■ «l in. ii It al you will <\<-i Sad.
At r. tin in. r* ■■ h.ts la ii ed
Hi '• it. man hli .1 th* graft,
Bo tlwaya tr\ to 1., the man behind.
At the lodging bouse til* "newirte" is safe
from gambling resorts, which have ■< particular
charm f<r him. In Broome-St., llenry-st., at
Sixth-a\<*. and Twi ntj >ighth-s1 . Forty-second
st. and Third-aye.. Fifty-ninth-st and Tl.ir.i
ave., and many oth«r plai •■- near the besi news
paper routes, then are places where the news
boy may buy polk*) tickets, shool craps or play
poker. There are pool tables at a cent a me,
where the lads Del live cents or more on each
game, and where in a few hours a hoy who has
earned $1 In the daj nay lose everything he
has. And when su< h a laid ')■ es not Bad a pool*
room convenient he uses the sidewalk for a
gambling place He rail all the necessary
paraphernalia for a crap game in his pocket,
arid it takes only a minute to summon the
"bunch" around the corner into a less fre
quented street, where the dice are soon rattling
over the asphalt.
There is a certain pmfr sskMiol pride in the
newsboy of this city. He realizes that he lives
In the bsggCSt and wealthiest community of the
New World, and that he must use his brains to
get ahead.
"De New-York newsboy," said one of them.
VIEW OF CONCAENEAU, A TYPICAL FISHING TOWN OF BRITTANY.
"is the keenest ever, but he ain't got t'e edica
tlon fat the Boston kils lias. I wuz up t*>r fe
Hub not long n.^r>, study In* t'e organization
dere. Df-y's got a bans up union in Boaosst; an',
say, de grammar dose bloats use j u-..u1il put
out yer lamps. W'y, dey can spiel otf srards as
crooked as Pearl-st. an' as lont; a.-« Broadway,
an* w'en yer «et ter t'e < i.'i ol 'ess yow'rs Wowed
to know were yer started in :tt."
In order to succeed the newsboy must be a
PERILS OF BRETON FISHERFOLK.
Amid the Fogs and Iccfltjcs on Newfoundland Brinks Maun Lives
Have Been Lost.
Three fishers went Falling out into th«» West.
Out into the West as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who loved him th«?
best:
And the children stood watching th. m out of the
town;
For men must work. Bad women must wrep.
Anil there's little to earn and man> t-> ke'P.
Though the harbor t»:r be moaning.
The conclusion of the Anglo-flench treaty,
which, among other things changes th«» status
of Fr. h fishermen on the coast of Newfound
land that has prevailed for nearly two centuries,
serves to draw attention to the perils which the
pursuit of this Industry Involves. For more
than two centuries the hardy, primitive and
superstitious Inhabitants of the austere province
of Brittany have annually sent fleets •cross th..
stormy North Atlantic into the thick fogs and
among the Icefloes and Icebergs of the New
foundland Bank 3 to lake fish. Fraught with
WATCHING THE FISHEI FLEET OF BRITTAM DEPAstI It* NEW
FOUNDLAND.
peril, these voyares have fitted the Celtic Bre
tons for service In tines c.f peace on the French
merchantmen and in Usaes of war on the pri
vateers, arid to become the chief resource of the
French navy in secwrtnsj sailors to man Its
fleets. These simple Breton homes in the cen
turies have been robbed many times of their
breadwinners by the insatiable Jaws of the sea.
Within a twelvemonth the perils of the anmsa]
fishing trip have been illustrated.
A year ago, on March 2S, a group of women.
boys, young and old men stood on the rock at
St. Malo, Brittany. There were young women
with sturdy necks and full, rounded cheeks.
fighter. lie must gnard the particular pl*r» of
sidewalk where he sells his "pape?" against itl
comers. "An' dare's only orie way t«r do it," a#
a Park Row "newsie" expressed it. "Tou'se got
ter scrap fer It. If a kid tries t< r butt Inter
your route, you'se got ter hnod 'im out, or hell
knock yer out. Only de womens we don't bother.
Dere'3 a bur., h of womens 'round t'e bridg*
dats been dere since it wuz built; an' d* y can
stay, too. We'se got nothin" oosbbW agiri them.*
middle aged women with anxious fa< ** and old
women with fa< » s v. rinHed and Inroad ton
light chocolate brown hj the 800 lof many
years. All WOTS the dainty. gtajefcad. r< ; I that
add so much quaintntss to th- dress of the
women of Brittany. Tii fMßgatm •-rorted
about the wharf in the bright morning s ;n-hJne;
while the youths looked owl over the ! , with
tagerness in their eyes, and th- <'.'.: a with
the languid glani of those v\h"s. -n : ■-• have
been dullcl ly time an 1 hard work. What tit
old men lacked in en;< Hag v.as rr..uie \:p t y the
women, in the corners «fl the ejrea ff ffaat of
whom a tear giTltrili J in th.- >Un !,.. They
were coirseiy cloth- il. Hal em h had a hssacaai
a s .n cr a sweetheart on the i -.- 1.. • - in the
little circular harbor 1 IMi B 8t Hal I I
Servan, the creukir.^ cf whose blotkd came
drifting In over the water unnaturaK> ftMi D>
the morning air.
The brig was th* Baas S«<uci. On N.r! *«*•
?>>venty-one men of all apes, limited only tj
their physical ability to handle .i fishing line or
pull on a sheet. The v«sscl was Just making
sail, bound for the fishing banks off the coasts
of Newfoundland and Labrador. In company
with many other French sailing vessels, til*
Sons Soucl was to spend the summer th^re tak
ing lobsters and nth. Qsh. In the hold was •
cargo of salt in which to lay them. So :'•■■>■ me*
sailed away on the flood tide out p.ist the light
house and beyond the islets in the mouth of th»
bay Into the open sea, not altogether from
choice, but because -here were mouths' to fin
and bodies to cover. Two weeks later twenty
six other Breton fishermen bade their wives,
children and sweethearts poodby and sailed
away from the same bay for the same foggy
Newfoundland banks or, the brig lie «ie Terr*
Xeuve.
All went well with Tx.th vessels until a day 13
the last week of April, By this time the Sana
Soucl had reached the icy waters of the fishing
ground. A fog so thi. k and damp that it con
densed on the hat brims and dripped from them
obscured the water. The pray white surf -of
a wi<lt spreading Icefloe gradually crystallized in
the fog. The Sans Souci sheered oft Following
along the ragged edge, the master sought a fis
sure through which his vessel might pass. Ths
floe seemed Interminable. Through the long
day the Sans Soucl railed, but no shimmering"
water veined the great drifting field of Ice. •»
the order to tack was given, and the brig pi*
out to sea again.
Two days and nights passed, and the danger
ous field of Ice had been left far behind. Then
the silver line In the tube of the barometer grew
shorter. A storm, which this presaged. tro*»
furiously. Great seas rolled over the bulwark*
upon the deck. The masts threatened to fO
overboard at any moment, and at last the threat
was realized. The aged hull sprang a leak, and
the seas poured into the compartment where the
provisions were stored. These were spoiled. »nd
tha drinking water waa turned to brine by th»
sea. The men were put at the pomps, as 4•■