Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1860-02-16
WORK AND wORKuEN nv INDIA
gY J. N. TBoBURN.


count Of all that pertains TO the working
! man in India. ! must conine myself nerel,
to what ] hsve learned by few weeks ex.
perlence in dealing with this class of com.
munity. Since coming TO this place (Nynee
Lai,) have had share in the management
OF the bpildiDg Of stone Chapel and School
House, where my opportunities for obserys-
ton have been pretty favorable, so far 20
this kind Of work is concerned.
When came here the masonry was near
ly oil done, but with the exception Of the
bare walls. scarcely anything else had been
touched, aud the whole work. had been sus
pended for some months. The wood was
lying where il had been cut some three
miles distant, and our first care in recon-
menciDg work. YVES to get IL on the ground.
As we have no roads in these mountains, all
the wood had TO be carried on coolies
shoulders or heads, according to the taste ef
the workmen. Accordingly, we hired a set
Of cuolies' and sent them of, bat this was
the last We heard of them. We hired another
oct and started them, hut they also cleared
out. This was repeated again and again.
Unless some one goes with your workmen
they are almost sure to run away. Indeed ,
am almost led TO think that they would rather
run off penniless than get good Ssgss for
doing nothing. At last having secured some
wood, we hired six carpenters and put them
TO work. For some days they did pretty
well, but after wards they began to come so
late that We had to threaten to shorten their
pay, when the whole six, without saying a
word took to their heels. We had psid
them nothing of the last two weeks wages,
but this did not seem 20 give them thought.
They have never come back to say a word
about their pay. Other men were hired, but
like the coolies we would hear no more of
them, SO that it began to seem doubtful
whether we would ever get our building
finished. At last man came and proposed
to take the job He promised to have all
the men we needed on the ground before
night. we engaging to pay a certain sum in
advance. At night. cure enough he came
with some forty men, and we now thought
our trouble al oser. But when we came to
regste; the nsmes Of the workmen, every
man asked about . third more than the
regular rate Of wsges. Al once the whole
trick was apparent They had clubbed
together, with the design OF engaging them.
selves 10 US. and then knowing our extremity,
trying the effects of "strike." The result
was that we dismissed the whole of them.
and gave ourselves up to perplexity again.
At length man came and offered to take
charge of the work, assuring US that he
would find men enough. He Is what Is called
a moonshee in this country, that is. a head
man or overseer, although the term is gen.
orally applied to a native teacher Of Ian.
guages. BY The aid of this man we engaged
twelve masons, twelve carpenters, two saw.
yers and thirty coolies, who actually went
to work. Besides our moonshee we had to
hire mistry or foreman for the mason,
another foi the carpe nters, and a mate or
overseer for the coolies. These men did
little work themselves, their duty being that
of experimenting the men under them. and
acting as their attorney in all difficulties in
which they might be invol lved. The wages
of these men, although considered very good
here, will no doubt look small to Belmont
county workmen. The moonshee and mis-.
tries each received $500 per month. The
carpenters and masons $3.50 per month, and
the coolies Zone half otwhom were women }
$500 per month. ALL. according to the
universal custom in India, boarded them.
selves. II may be wonder to many how
men can live on such small:psy, but | can
assure any one ho doubts the fact, that
they not only liue, but they actually savs
money out of their small wages. The pour
fellows have tut lew: wants to supply, and
as general rule. they care very little ho,r
their wants, are supplied. 49,.
The carpenters began work by masking
rafters and preparing boards for the ceiling.
Their principal tovls are clumsy kind of
adzs and small saw about twenty inches
long and Two wlde, with the teeth pointed
backwards. With these tools they can do
ulmoet oil kind of work, provided they get
enough time. With their adse they smooth
boards very neatly, using small plaue only
in finishing them. They also use The, same
tool in ne wing logs of considerable size. but
their progress at this work is exceedingly
slow As they sat fat on the ground bv the
side of the log and picked away with their
clumsy hatchets, they reminded me of wood
peckers tapping old trees for worms. An
American carpenter would be utterly dis
gusted with hia trade, If he only had sight
Of these modern "hewers OF wood" With
their small saws, they were still more
awkward. In saving off the end Of board
or piece of timber, the man sits down OIL the
ground, gets the stick, if not too heavy. on
bis knee, and saws all around it, turning it
orer and over like a ,boy of six or eight
years of age. One American with a good
hand saw. could easily do more work than
the whole twelve of our carpenters. Besides
the adze and saw, they have q few chisels
and places, and a kind Of iron spike which
they call sn soger, although no Ysnkee
would recognize it as q tool Of that name
1t requires two or three men to work il.
The carpenters work, when finished may
be said to be very good, considering the
tools they have and their awkward way OF
using them! -, "a. IS a. q
The two sawyers mentioned above, were
employed in cutting logs into rslters and
other small timbers. To do this. they
raised the log from the ground, 10 that one
a "a A A l.