Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-08-25
rRE NERHATaN FlggwIvgg.

Moot picturesque Of ali the figures 20
be seen in Edinburgh are the Newhayen
fshwives. With short, full, blue cloth
petticoats, reaching barely to their ankles
white blouses and gay kerchiefs big,
lone.sleeved cloaks of the same blue
cloth. fastened at the throat, bat flying
loose, sleeves and all, as if thrown on in
haste the girls bsreheaded; the married
women with white caps, standing mp
stiff and straight IN a point on the top
OF the head two big wicker work creels,
one above the other, full Of fish, packed
securely, on their broad shoulders, and
held in place by a stout leather strap
passing round their foreheads, they pull
along st steady, striding gait, up Mill
and down, carrying weights that it Gaxes
mans strength merely 70 lift. In fact, 1t is
q tighWifs's boast that she viii run with q
weight which it takes two men TO put Oh
her back. By reason OF this great strength
on the part Of the women, and their i'm
memorial habit Of exercising it; perhaps
also from other causes far back in the
sarly days of Jutlaud, where these curious
Newhaven fishing folk are said to have
originated, it has come about that the
Newhaven men are a singularly doclle and
su 5missiye race. The wives keep all the
money which they receive for the iish, and
the husbands take whsS il given them--a
single reversion Of the situation in most
communities. / did not believe this when
it was told me- so / stopped three fish
wives one day, and, without minoing mat
ters. put the question direct to them. Two
Of them were young, one old. The young
women laughed sauoily, and the ole woman
smiled, but they al replied unbesitatingly,
that they mad the spending Of sll the
money.
"It's a spent i the hoos, said one,
anxious not to be thought too selfsh-'it's
a. spent i the hoos. The men, they cam
home an tsk their sleep. an then they'll
1T I'D never do for the husbands to
stoop in tha city, an be sptndin' 3 the
money, added the old woman, with Sc
we're emphasis.
Whoever would see the Newhaven fish
wives AZ their best must be on the New
/ haven wharf by o'clock IN the morning,
on day when the trawleFs come IN and
the FISH is sold. The scene is a study for
painter.
The 6ah are in long, narrow boxes, or
the wharf, ranged az the base of the sea
wall some sorted out, in piles, each kind
by itself; skates, with their long tails,
which look vicious, as if they could kick,
bake. witches, brill, sole, founders, huge
catfish, cray fish, and behring's by the ton.
The wall Is crowded with men, Edinburgh
6shmongsrs, come Co buy cheap on the
spob. The wall is not over two feet
wide, and here they stand, lean
over, iostle, slip by to right and left OF
each other, and run up and down
in their eager haste to catch the eye OF one
auctioneer, or to get first speech with an
other. The wharf ia crowded with wo-
men-an army in blue, two hundred, three
hundred, at time white caps bobbing,
elbows thrusting, shrill voices crying, fiery
blue eyes shining-it is a sight worth
going to Scotland for. II one has had an
/ affection for Christie tombstone, 1t Is de-
| lightfuI return Of his old admiration for
her a dozen faces which might be Chris
ties own are flashing up from the crowd +;
one understands on the instant how that
best Of good stories came to be written.
A man with eyes in his head and pen in
his hand could not have done less. Such
FIRE, such honesty, such splendor OF vial.
I ity. kindle the women's faces. TIC spend a
few days among them would be to sec
Christie tombstone dramatized on al aides.
III, H., in September Atlantic.