Morning journal and courier., 1880-06-09
Perils of Census Taking.


 The EnumeratOr His. TraveIs-Meet- Ing With DisappOintments-Lab Com quers All Th1ngs-BIanks and Blanks A Hazardous Question-Rapida and Per feet Work-NO BOnanZas.
 Business is lively with the census takers. From early morn to deWy eve they are pere- grinating about from pillar to post, from front door to back door, from kitchen to top loft They frequently find it necessary to call the second time on account of absentees have great deal of travelling but great deal of accurate penmanship to perform. One blank is devoted to the record of names, age, color, sex, occupation, etc. This is the chief document. Then there is the blank for the record of deaths. This is for the record of the deaths in the past year, and all the facts necessary for the national statistics are re- quired. In the case of insanity or of death 1 the cause, if known or supposed, is desired. The most accurate work, both in penmanship and facts is necessary, and the quality of work demanded is superior. The number of questions usually required is not half as for mldable in practical experience as on paper
 The enumerator can satisfy himself generally
 without questions as to the sex, color, whether deaf or dumb, blind or idiotic, of
 the candidate for enumeration before him.
 This relieves both parties. One census man out in Pittsburg, Penn, was rash enough to ask an Irish woman if she was white and was
 soundly thrashed for his presumption, but he thought he was obliged to do so to comply with the strict letter of the law. The emu
 merators after having hastened with the utmost speed consistent with perfect
 work, none but perfect work passing muster and being melted to swift work, as two cents per name does not count very fast with all the multiplicity of entries required-and having been buffeted about by some piratical maid of all work, and driven to desperation
 by the obstinacy of some people to give the desired information, and having been in inn minent danger at some places of seizure by some outrageous mastif totally unapprecia- tive of the importance of censuses-after all this the census taker burneth the mid night oil, and transfers to another sheet some record which has been accidentally plotted or upon which kerosene oil has made ravages through some likewise accidental occurrence. He also makes return each evening of the total number of names secured, and dispatches 1t to the census supervisor at Bridgeport. At first the census taker appalled, by the ex- tent of territory before him to traverse, and dismayed at the slow progress made on the first day or two, which was owing to vexa- tious mishaps, Interruptions and other cir cumstances, and began to grow certain that with full head of steam on, and working at concert pitch the whole time he could not make speed enough to finish the work in the required twelve days. With the alarming state
 of things before him, and the pay not large
 enough to suffer martyrdom for, the census
 man began to grow indifferent to his fate and resolved to do his duty and fear not This is the state of the case to-day.
 One census taker, while busy taking names at the back door of residence, was sudden ly checked in his work. gust of wind swept through the passage way and whisked finished blank with 200 names upon it, the fruits of days labor, out of his open book and down an area, where it landed in hogs head of rain water. The names on that blank did not have to be retaken, however, as they were legible after their baptism, and two or three hours of extra work in copying by lamp light repaired the mischief.