Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-08-11
rae A.,...,e ss..r.xe passage.

A few months ego an article
from the pen of Miss O'Brien, pre-
tending to portray life in the steer
age OF steamer bound from Liv-
erpool to New York, was quite ex-
tensively copied, and furnished
subjects for illustrations to several
Of the New York flash papers.
Miss O'Brien's story, if true, was
one that showed an utter lack OF
regard on the part of steamship
proprietors for the comfort, health
or morals of their poorer patrons,
who are obliged to travel in the
stserage or stay at home. While
corporations may have no con.
sciences, they certainly have
purse-strings, which in the case OF
Atlantic steam navigation COM
panies, are kept In such a state OF
tension by vigorous opposition,
that they vibrste at the slightest
touch of well-founded complaint.
This fact alone was enough to throw
doubt upon the question whether
Mics O'BrIen had told Q true and
unadorned tale.
For the purpose of solving this
doubt, reporter attached to one OF
the leading Eastern daily journals
made . trip from Liverpool to New
York in the capacity OF q steersge
passenger, faring the same as bis
stserage mates, and giving no clue
to his identity or mission. His
report is detailed In several col
umns of his paper, In which he
concludes that the only bad usage
Of which he or his companions had
TO complain was incivility from
the officers and crew Of the
steamer.
Several years ago the wfiter ol
this present article, not from
choice but from the lack of money
enough to pay any other kind Of
passage, was steerage passenger
on the steamer Edinburgh from
Liverpool to New York, on his re.
turn from Europe to America. Be-
sides himself there were some
seven hundred others in the steer
age. There was no good rea'
son why he should receive, and he
did not receive, any fare or treat
ment different from the rest. He
was told at the Office of the conf
pany to provide himself with
whatever bedding he wished, tin
plate and tin pan to receive his
food, q tin CUP for his coffee and
tea, knife and fork, and spoon and
towels. He found one of the nu-
merous stores where such "kits,"
% they are called, can be pur-
chased cheaply, and fitted himself
out. He don't recollect now
the amount they cost him, but is
Satisfied they did not cost over five
dollars. OF course, the bed was not
Of feather or hair, and the blanket
did not surpass the Indian Agency
article in quality, but each one of
the articles OF the "kit' answered
well lis purpose for the trip.
He found the steerage of the
Edinburgh cleanly, and it was
kept so during the voyage, the
dirtiest part of his surroundings
being the bodies and clothing of
many of bis fellow passengers.
One side Of the steerage was occu-
pied exclusively by women, the
other side exclusively by men,
broad aisle between the two.
In spite Of protestations, entreaty
and threats, the inexorable steer
age steward male and female sep
arated he, the bonds of matrimony
even not svailing to set aside the
disquaiifcc. ION of sex. Each side
was divided into compartments
containing about twenty berths.
In the compartment which the
writer occupied the only exception
to the rule of separating the sexes
was made, that exception being in
favor of an old lady about seventy
years of age who seemed heart
broken at the idea of being sep
arated from her son.
The bill of fare consisted of salt
meat, fresh meat about twice
week, coffee, tea, butter, molasses,
rice, potatoes, bread, ships bread
Tor "hard tack,n as lis called), pea
soup once or twice a week, and
sust pudding (the sailors much
loved "duff") on Sundays. These
articles were all of good quality
and were dealt out with 10 mig
gardly hand by the steward, who
passed around with q large pot or
pan and spoon, and deposited in
your tin pan the food and poured In
your tin cup the drink. The cook
ing was fair, better than that of
many private families, and il "good
waited upon Appetite"
these meals we're really enjoyable.