The Penn's Grove record., 1885-01-31

reekOned by ordinary folks more pltlable
than the peripatetic bOaTdmen OF the
London streets. They all look hungry,
| cold and raggedly clad. They work
sufficiently hard to enlist sympathy; but
| 1t is tacitly assumed that no human be-
ings would accept so degrading an &C.
| capation as that of perambulating the
cutters unless they had fallen into des-
titution through idleness or vice.
Those who know the sandwich men,
however, think better of them.
During a season like the present about
| 600 of these men walk about every day,
plying their poor profession. 1t IS esti-
mated that, from one years end to an
other, 10000 beings take the boards
upon their nOulders for longer OF
shorter engagements. ABOUT eight In
the morning. at any Of the three or -four
chief contractors establishments, a
crowd of several hundred may be found,
waiting patiently for the appearance OF
The manage and his assistants. When
this authoritative individual arrives,
noddine TO such among the crowd as he
knows of old, he begins the mornings
work by setting out the boards for the
regular jobs-such as those for the
theatres. All his reg ular employees
yes. he has had many in his constant
paw for twelve or fifteen years-he has
entered in his register by numbers.
He calls out, we will say, Numbers l
to l0.o The men corresponding TO
these numbers come forward; each
takes up his pair of boards; NO. is
made "~ganger" of the others, and Is 10
report about them at night, and then
they set off, a distance of ten feet be-
tween every two. The regular men
and the regular jobs are thus worked
off. Then come the odd jobs-some of
them odd in more senses than one.
| There is a great scramble towards the
end of the proceeding for any boards
lighter than the others. An average
pair of boards weighs six pounds. Four
pound boards are quite a luxury.
| Moulded boards-like those used for
the Savoy TheatTe-aTe to be avoided
if possible; they are heavy. The con-
tractor usually gives them to the
younger men.
After the morning jobs are all dis
posed of some fifty woe-begone fellows
will still hover about the yard on the
chance of a late order coming in. IL
| such an order does come in the men Sc
lected for it, like the laborer In 1.-THE par
able. still receive a full days wages,
but they may be asked to stay out a
little later. The regular hours of patrol
are from fifteen minutes past nine in
the morning to half past five in the af-
ternoon, with an hour for dinner. The
pace adopted is a mile and a half in the
hour. Consequently the days march
represents about ten miles.
The days pay for this kind of work
is one shilling and three pence-seven
shiIlings and SIX pence a week. On this
pay many honest creatures have contri-
we'd to live for fifteen years-their
wives, if they have wives, exc out their
pIttanca witha little charTing. Honesty
is the rule among them. If in the hurry
of pay-t1me six pence too much be
handed to one or these sandwich men,
he is nearly sure to come back with 1t.
Drunkards among them are uncommon
also. They have not funds enough TO
become drunkards. Their exposure in
the open air and their exercise give
them fairly healthy appetites for food.
Their CANCERS, moreover, look after
them, and common drunkenness, If re-
ported at headquarters, promptly de-
stroys a mans chance for further en-
ployment.
Nearly all of the boardmen live in
lo~dging-houses at a cost of two shillings
a week, kitchen fire included. The re-
gular payment is four-pence a night,
and Sunday night Is thrown in if they
stay a week in the same house. Their
dinner is usually made up of stale bread
and buns from the confectioners or two
penny pieces" portions of broken vic
Uua1o frUIu tire restaurants Bread and
onions form a favorite repast. We
know of one sandwich man who Will
eat as many as fourteen onions with
his bread and butter In the course of
the day. '"They warm me up" says
the ~peripatetic philoSopher-one of the
most cheerful creatures in London. In1
food each single man y~digsnenses about
seven .pence mar Rz .opoho19 "SOuO
pday. This will include
a rasher of bacon at night, cooked by
himself before the kitchen fire. Out of
his earnings he has still money for to-
bacco. His clothes indeed appear to
come to him as m~iraculously as the
mama did for the Israelites but the
old hands, at any rate, are supplied
from a small but growing charity de-
voted to their creature comforts, The
| great life trial of the sandwich nan is
boots. The cutters are cold, and they
are e too, and are rough OIL shoe
leather, A pair of boots bought for a
shilling will keep a man going for a
considerable period but at times the
slush and Snow make sad work of his
toes. Most of the sandwich men are
up in life, and the circulation of the
blood is feeble. 1t is rheumatism, with
its allied complaints, that generally ends
their lives. When they come to seven
ty they soon pop off.
AS might be naturally expected, GER
tain of these men are examples of fall
en- fortunes. Some time ago a gentle
man in the south of England made a
bad failure and took refuge, unfriended
in London. Starvation made HIM a
boardman for a week or TWO. Quite
lately he stopped in the street the con-
tracter who employed him and said
"Do you remember my face ?n He
was a well dressed city gentleman, |
The contractor did not recognize his
former employe, who had got his head
quite above the water again. Lets hope
he exhibits some practical charity toEls
quondam associates Of the gutter. The
philosopher who eats fourteen onions a
day Is another strange exemplifcatIon
of strange fortune. He was once a
lieutenant In the navy, knows three
languages, and is the heir to the fortune
OF a female relative in advanced age,
with whom, however, he has quarreled.
The man should write an account of his
experiences In life. That life has not
been without %follies, of course, but the
mans character has a whimsical, Diog-
enes-like humor about it that makes
him quite an original.
A neaO style Of journal box, applied
to one of the line pulleys which carry
the cable of the Brooklyn Bridge, has
attracted the attention of mechanics of
late. 1t has the virtue of not needing
~lubrieating oils, and at the same time
Of not heating. For forty-two days it
has run continually. The journal is a