New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-01-06
AN ISLAND OF PRETTY WOMEN.
JERSEY. IT'S People AND TRADITIONS.


the bleak autumn in this little sea-encircled para
disc Thore are hundreds of beautiful lanes wind
ing among the valleys and hllsides with trees
on either side growing so close together that no
sunshine can ever penetrate through the lnteraeine
boughs to the hard. smooth, beaten track benca'n'
miles of white shingly beach on which the sanu Is
as fine as sifted flour and is left by the recedlng
tides ms hard as cement; quaint little farn-houses
empowered in sweet smelling shrubbery and howers'
and acres of moor-land that is carpeted the year
round with heliotropes, petunias and margherues.
A blue-gray sea rises and falls aronud the lslahu
fortv-two feet Sweet little jersey" Dear old
ST. Hchcr's." is the affectonate way in which the
people here speak of their island home and its chief
town of 81 900 souls st. llelier's is queer old
place. It's streets are narrow and crowded. Mass
i've earthworks aud miles of masonry crown the
hills about and render the place apparently impreg-
nable against the foe.
The Channel Islands, and particularly Jersey,
possess much of interest for the stranger put
the crowning glory of jersey is the beauty OF her
women. For general comclinesS they would readily
be awarded prize i'll any competition OF feminine
grace Rare creamy compilations that would put
the bloom on the peach to blush, figures made
graceful and sinewy by bodily toll, with rather
strongly cut features eyes like slOes and lustrous
dark hair the girls met on the streets of ST. eliers
independence, beauty and maidenly reserve. The
soft white mists that warp the island every night
from shutdown to sunrise give them their carnation
checks. The toll that brings with it the active,
healthy body is due TO causes which will enlist on
the side of these women the sympathies of true
manhood 1t is because of the wOtul dearth Oh
mon in Jersey that the women do all the WORK
Where you meet one man in these tortuous streets
of st. Helier's you meet ten women. Out
among the green farms this dlsproportlon OF
the sexes is even more painfully apparent
The heavy, unganly carts on the country roads
are almost without exception driven by women,
and handsome women too. Groups of cherry-cheeKeu
girls may be seen in the way-side orchards, some
picking apples from the trees Others straining athe
rude cider-prcsscs The little fields with their lux
uriant gpowth of turnips cabbages and rutabagas,
are all tended by women. while the blooming flow
ers in the house yards show i'll their rich variety
the evidence of woman's care and attention. None
but women are TO be seen in the big public market
of St. Helier's-women buying and women selling.
What men YOU see are either too young or TOO old
and decrcpit-boys who have not started ont Ill
life OF old sea captains who have come home TO
end their days. smelling of salt cod and full OF
"reminiscences of stormy voyages 10 Buenos Ayres,
to Australia or through the China Seas.
ABSENT BROTHERS.
q shake of the head is that Jersey was too small for
than. that there was not room enough the island,
hardly thirty miles around for the ambition OF its
youth so thev left il and went to seek their fortunes
in foreign lands leaving their sisters at home to TILL
the soil and look after the little jersey cows some
of them man tho fishing smacks that go to New
foundland. Every year they 20 TO the Great Banks
in March and return in October. When they come
baok with their little vessels laden with bales OF
salt cod barrels of codfsh-rOc and boxes OF codhsh
tongues and Goldfish heads there is great rejoicing
among the women that they have escaped the periis
of the sea.
When the first of these smacks appear IN st. Hell
er,s harbor the entire female population leave OIL
their work. desert their fields and go down TO the
ouays to hear the news from Newfoundland. Should
the ships after dropping anchors, slant their spars
the excitement among the watchers on the quays is
intense 1t means that man is dead; or perhaps
more than one volley of questions will greet the
fishermen when they land, Mothers will inquire for
absent sons and sisters for their brothers. There is
waing and cxtravagant expressions OF grlef Should
the tidings be bad. All through October and NO
yember these groups of women waiting on the quays
of St Helier's are a common sight and rarely docs
it happen that the Joy the good news from alb
sent ones does not minge with s0bs for those That
have been lost. Three years ago the season was
frightfully stormy along the Banks, and widows
were thick in Jersey SO general was the grief that
a song commemorative of the lost fishermen was
forbidden from the pulpit to be sung on the island
rs it's touching refrain kept the memory OF the dead
too fresh in the public mind.
OLD SMUGGLING TIMES.
But the time was not always thus that Jersey was
peopled only with pretty women and with decrepit
old men and young children. She had a population
of stslwart men who piled a vigorous and profitable
\ 100 aln u a ~
Helier's but made matters lively for the Govern
ments of France aud England as we'll Twenty
WARS AGO a prodigiomS amount of smuggling was
carried on along tho English, Irish, French and
Holland coasts i'll small. fast craft, that were ntted
out in st. Helier's aud made the Channel Islands
their base of operations. The costly colorcd Quinn
per ware of Brittany, wines from Bordeaux, faces
from Lilo and silks from Lyons, were smuggled
into England; while OH their return voyages these
priyateering sailors would land upon the Norman
coast the steel and woollcn goods OF Birmingham
and Leeds. Thousands of casks OF Old Holland gin
were snuggled by them into Ireland. Along tho
rocky headlands of the western coast of Ireland a
hand of men lived who were to all apl earanceS
fshermen When they sighted a smugger they
would signal to her the movements OF the Coast
Guard They would row out to her and take the
cargo in their boats, return 10 land ana hide tho
casks of gin and brandy i'll caves in the rock, from
whence it was sent all over the country, canseie>a
ruinous competition for the Dublin "Stouts0 Iaus
WHISTLES 10 contend against. Sometimes, when
chased by Government boats, they would throw the
casks into the sea and the precious GIN would be
swept ashore OH the rising tide The small ti]e o.
these smuggling ships enabled them To glide In aud
out Among the dangerous reefs and rocks
that he.st these coasts, and thus escape
easily when pursued by the heavy ships
which England and France at first SCI out to look
after there. - ,..,;., ,to
s.r.nrnns Efforts made to break up. Ii was then
That Jersey homisled and 81. Heliers grew from a
moderate-szed town TO city with $4,000 1nhaOl'
tonts more than one-lalf the Uu.uber Of people on
Inc island jerseys maldcns were given chance,
aud marriages were many while there az nothing