Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-11
About the Docks.

About the Docks
 How These IncIpIent Summer Resorts
 are ThrivIng-NOtes Blue Fishing
 and Toll Rates.
 The many docks and wharves that line New Haven harbor, in all their unattractive- ness, with their grimy coal-dust beds, their fishy odors and general aspect of decay, have perhaps few attractions to one seeking the reviving salt sea breezes and fresh, cool air that the city does not afford. Yet on every summer day many wander down thitherward to see the shipping in the harbor and in search of health. Especially on Sundays are the wharves the scene of many small family parties, composed of people who must get down to the side of the waves and who have not the means to buy out livery stable, as the high prices really compel one to do if he wishes to take ride on the Sabbath. The view down the harbor being pretty one, and the air being cool and invigorating, 1t IS not strange that people who are weary with 8 long weeks labor and confinement in narrow tenement houses go out to the docks, hang their feet over, and simply gaze out upon the surface of the water in sublime contentment The sun may pour down it's hottest rays, burning the neck and face, and yet the breeze is there and the soft sounds of the splashiHg waves Hull the nearer into forget fulness of the heat. Flies and bugs abound and yet are not needed in the general un- mindfuIness of the disagreeable features of the scene. A remarkable story is told of 8 man who sat on Sewer dock from nine o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon doing nothing and scarcely changing his po- sition. At this time of the year there is very little activity in the harbor. After the ex- cursion boats go out freighted with their loads of pleasure seekers only an occasional sailboat from t'Chappy'' Whites or tug go- ing up through the draw at Iomlinson s bridge and coming out again with some craft in tow disturbs the mild surface of the water. A school of blue6sh comes near the surface occasionally and hurries the water as the fish sport and gambol about. The fish at this season are small. They fur nish sport for any number of small boys who line the docks at the best places and fish and l fish and fish. One of them came along yes terClay at Belle Dock, "Been fishing, John nie ?" says 8 professional lounger with dull, sunburned features and kind of too-lazy-to- stir air about him.
 ''Yes, sir, ever since mornin'," replies the lad, and he produces cigar box which con- tains the proceeds of his labor several clans, five little bluefsh and 8 curious look ing fish shaped like the abdominal portions of a veteran Dutch saloon keeper
 Well, yer shouldn't catch them little feI- lows and yer ought ter put yer bait on tother way" drawled out the old sea-phiIosopher examining the hook of the boys line, 'tfish like their food tail first"
 And then this sage departed, slowly shift ing his quid from one side of his mouth to the other and giving hitch to his brown overalls, and the boy shifted his bait and ap- piled himself to the pursuit of the bluefsh with renewed hope.
 ''Yes, the bluefish aren't very large here, J said the tollman. The large ones don't run in here. Why, I remember one time when I was fishing for 'bony fish that a swarm of 'em got after the little bE6efish and then the porpoises gave chase after the sbony fish, and, sir, them little blue fish were heaped up along the shore in winrows, bush els of lem. You see the bluefsh were afraid the 'bony fish would eat lem, though they really wouldn't Now if them fellers would put down their seine they would catch barrels of them over there,' ,'' and he pointed to spot where the little fish were upturning the placid surface of the water in thousands. And after a few more sage observations about the immense quantity of water that pigeons drink in day, and the annoyance that the Shore Line road whistles at night give to the people along the line of the road in New Haven and Fair Haven east-a trouble which in his opinion would eventually drive the road down across Tom linson's bridge-the talzer of tolls went into his little shop and fshed up some cookies from carefully kept jar, which he alternate ly munched and threw to the pigeons
 The old bridge is certainly a dilapidated old structure. A pile of lumber stands at one end which is sometime going to be used in repairing the span, but when it will be done is a problem whose solution is difficult It has done good service for fifty years and has seen great deal of money pass into the hands of it's owners. The business is not as good as it was before the bridge at East Chapel street was put in, but still the people come and go in large numbers with their teams and dogs and fish poles. It is more or less of relic, perhaps less. and is to New Haven what the Brooklyn bridge is to New York, a connecting link between two op- posite banks of dividing stream. Its toll rates are generally higher than at Brooklyn. Whether the Brooklyn bridge makes a dis tinction between buggies that have tops and those that are topless is not known with certainty, but there are good grounds for believing that New Haven is ahead in this important metaphysical distinction. Another point to settle, which it is said two aged and learned Yale professors debated from Mon day morning to Saturday night at six o'clock, with proper intermissions for rest and scientific recuperation, is whether a horse led behind a team should be charged the same as the horse in front, making in reality two-horse team, or if the carriage was drawn by two horses the same as three-horse team, or whether the extra horse should be charged as passenger, or what should be done with him anyhow. When the debate ended the professors were exhausted and so were the arguments pro and con. But the right and wrong of the question has never been settled and the pub Iic go on in blissful ignorance of the grave wrong that is being done them by the pres ent arrangement.