New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-01-07
London Mechanics.

English mechanic sinks ipimeasurably below
the American. True Independence is not often
exhibited by the English operative, and if he
have inventive genius, he oftener uses it to enrich
his master than himself
The spare hours Of too many of the London
mechanics are passed in gin palaces and low
theatres or discussion rooms. Their homes are
not houses bat rooms, and in these, usually
termed apartments, their families dwell The
furniture Of such palaces is extremely meagre,
and, If there be a carpet at all, it is of the
coarsest description. The mother of o family
usually has sorry life of it, and her pleasure
is very often the gin bottle. One half, at least,
Of the customers Of the London gin palaces are
women, and they not only go there and get the
liquor, but they frequently drink it raw and di-
luted at the bar. OF these females, many are
mechanics wives, and the majority are of the
working classes. The use of beer by this por-
tion of the English people is almost universal,
and that beverage takes the place, very often,
at their tables, Of coffee and tea. 1t is given
to children unhesitatingly, and nothing thought
of the custom. By beer, mean porter
"Sunday dinner" is phrase an American
may not exactly understand To our ears the
term is likely to convey the idea that he who
talks about a :. Sunday dinner gets no dinner
during the week And that is its legitimate
definition. The poor workmen Of this city, and
in fact OF all the larger towns Of England. buy
on Saturday night, if they can a Joint and some
vegetables, and have them prepared for a Sum-
day dinner" That day is the mechanics feast,
and the mug goes then once at least to the beer
shop The meal is about the only hot one en-
1oysd by the man during the week, and he
| makes the most Of it.
:, y ith sach people there are but few comforts.
iney appear to De content with their position,
ana seldom make an exertion to rise above it,
Their rooms are cheerless, and to decorate er
improve them never enters TIER heads In fact
they act as IT they think they have no right to
| improve their condition, and many of them real
| ly do think so, If they have pictures they are
of q coarse, unmeaning character, and in frames
| of wood Attempts to embellish their ahodes
| are few and tasteiess, and they live as their
| fathers lived. in too many instances. satisfied
! with their lot, or careless to improve it, To
| mold permanent situation is their aim Once
| in such place. they are content desire to
| rise rarely distinguishes one, and the conduct
of the majority except in extreme cases. is that
of servility to the :. masters as all employ
ers are very improperly, but commonly called
The custom OF living in rooms is productive
| of evil The house is not under such rules az
are in force in Paris, where q porter is at the
gate to watch and keep the stairways and en-
| tries cleanly. One Of the tenants is principal
| renter, and he sub.lets the apartments so az
| often to get his own quarters free His lodrers
| pay their rents as may be agreed upon, weekly,
| monthly or quarterly; and IL they fail to meet
| their engagements to the day, and cannot give
| good excuse for so doing, he elects them in q
| very short time. Turn-outs Of this kind are
| frequent. Many families have but two rooms.
| In these they cook, eat and sleep, and often
| times work. Thus, what they call home is a
mere lodging, and their living is only an exist
ence devoid of enjoyment or the solace of re-
| tirement and repose.
Nearly all the TODD Of this class is purchased
| in small quantities. A few cents worth of tea,
butter, bread, bacon or -four, constitutes the
| heaviest purchase in the way of provisions. IF
family OF this caste were to get a barrel of
| flour it would be trumpeted throughout the
neighborhood q piece of unheard-o good
| luck or extravaganza. What they use of that
article is bought in very small quantities. Their
| meals are necessarily limited as to variety and
| even quantity. Breakfast is always made with
| out meat, and go, also, is the evening meal
Coarse bread, coffee, or cup Of beer with
herring, or something equally trifiing consti-
tutes one or both of these in the majority of
| cases.
| This may be considered fair sketch of the
| condition and mode of living Of the mass of
| English artisans That there are exceptions to
4 the rule cannot be denied, and where they oo-
cur, they are honorable. The well informed
mechanic is generally a gentleman, and his
house is comfortable, but he is very rare.
The miserable state in which the masses live is
quite as chargeable Co the master as to the man,
for the reason that the employer makes it .
point to keep his workmen in dread of him, and
inculcates, as far as possible, the doctrine that
workman has no business to attempt to better
his condition, it being his place to be content
with his lot, be it what it may. He must honor
his superiors, fear God, and worship and dread
wealth and the king. [Philadelphia Register
AMERICAN HABITs.-Bunn in his new book
thus alludes to the habits of our people:
We have no intention to write a diatribs on
costume, nor to play punster by talking of GUS
| tomary habits as ordinary clothes, or of aban-
doned habits as cast off clothes, and such like
ribaldly; neither do we purpose making any
reference to the organization of society, or the
general phases it presents We herein only re-
fer to the existence of certain peeuiiarities. as
we have met with them, whether they relate to
habit as dress, or habit as custom There are
no beings under the sun who are more the erea-
lures of habit than the Americans; and in see-
ing one, you may say, in many respects, you
see them all. To appearance, they are one and
the same person; they dress upon the same
principle and after the same fashion. especially
in the same style of hat, which they wear in the
same manner. They all smoke, they are all in
dustrious, and yet, (eurious anomaly y they are
! all indolent to the last degree; they peter the
same ylands and wines, and have all the same
mode Of eating and drinking them; THAR CAR
riages, horses and harness are alike, and they
all loll about in rocking chairs, the men using
extra ones to put their feet upon; and, as fur.
ther oddity (Which may enable them to do this
| with greater comfort, the women wear no stays,
and the men wear no braces, generally speak
| ing. They know one another in every town, in
every State of the Union they all disparage
one another, but allow no one else to disparags
them; they are all "posted up as they term
it, in every thing concerning their own country,
and are all of opinion that it is the first III the
world. There is no earthly reason why they
should not, for, upon the same principle that
| "eyery crow thinks its own the blackest,'s the
people of every other think their own the
| greatest. We only mention these bare facts
not doubling, for moment, that the americans
can trace an equal amount of popularity in
us, to that we cannot avoid detecting in them.
/ INDUSTRY IS TALENT. We often hear persons
| explaining how man succeeds, while another
fails in the same pursuit, by attributing to one
talent for his business, but refusing il to the
other. Yet, without denying that some indiyd-
uals have greater aptitude for particular avo-
cations than others have, we think that the prob
lem in question could be easier solved, by saying
that the suceessul man was industrious, Whilo
| the other was not
Bulwer, for example, is considered man Of
the highest abilities novelist. Yet when
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