The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-10-17
CASTLE GARDEN.
HUMANITY IN MANY ASPECTS AND
OF MANY Municipalities.
q ship-Load of Emigrants Lovers on
Their Way to Reunion-The Pre-
dominating Topic of Interest
First Impressions.
New York Letfer.1

New York letter.
Castle Gt-.den is one Of those natural
theatres which almost always have some
new drama upon the stage. Visit it at al
most any time and you will find some
unique picture or novel situation in the
tangled skin of human life. The bulk of
the incoming tide of travel is, of course.
commonplace and uninteresting as life in
the lower strata of society is very apt to
be A ship load of immigrants pours into
the gateway, bringing the flavor of some
particular nation with ii, and then pouTS
out again, and goes westward. and in the
100, 600 people there may not be a dozen
who excite ripple of interest in the OBJ
server; but every once in O while there
comes a comet, or a planet, an eccentric
star or a brilliant one, and the attention is
fixed Dig down a little and you find,
not dirt, not chatf, but the golden sand
which makes life something more than a
mere animal eXistence-the material of
the poet the dramatist and the romancer.
Look at that pretty girl with wooden
shoon and golden band about her hair
sitting apart from the rest, with far
away look in her eyes and a faint smile
on her lips as she tucks a rude letter away
against the white bosom behind her quaint
bodice Can you not see the love story
there, the fearful separation years ago, the
struggling farmer in the west. the waiting
maiden in the east, the summons TO come
and the happy reuniting not far off now
Why, it is as plain as print TO an old
Castle Gardener. Every steamer brings
score of lovers on their way to union and
reunion. These old-cOuntry lovers are
more faithful than those of Young
America.
Yonder is a Swedish lass who fairly
makes the Yankee tongue itch TO be able
I'll l., yc1-s vf
down to the knees. Below it are top
boots Above it a snow-white waist
Above that-ahl such Nilsson smile!
What is the romance here? Bless your
heart, young man, isn't that arch little
creature romance in herself2 Where
are your nerves?
1t is a noticeable peculiarly of the
north country people (for Castle Garden)
that they are strikingly clean and neat in
person, intelligent in manners, and they
make themselves quickly at home in
strange place A Swedish girl will tlirt
with a good looking American young
man as freely and naturally as watering
place belle, whereas the representative of
more southern nations land apparently
more dirty ones act more like frightened
animals than intelligent human beings
from the time they leave the ship until
they are domiciled beyond the public eye.
The one predominating topic of interest
in the immigrant mind is money-how 10
make it and how to save it. Suspicious
of everyone who can not talk their partic-
ular language though easily bamboozled
by those who do, they come into the
Garden looking upon cry stranger as
robber and an enemy. Their money.
which may be a greater sum and may be
a less is Sewed away in the lining of their
clothes, or fastened in their coats, or Sc
creted in their stockings, or chained to
their waists by braZen money belts, and
various other apparatus of torture, and to
get it out is much worse than pulling
teeth or coaGing pigs to market. Only a
few DAYS ago an old Swede brought
his wife and 81, 400 in money
over with him, and it was an
hour before he could be persuaded to
get it changed into American money, and
then not until he had been taken inside of
the exchange bureau and the whole thing
explained to him about nine separate
times. Put the same suspicious man in
the hands of a shrewd rascal outside con
versant with Swedish and that money
would change ownership in very short
order 1t is a common saying at the Gar
den that an immigrant knows more when
lie arrives there than he ever does after
ward You can not teach him ANYTHING.
II he is in the tolls of a swindler, and you
try to warn him in time 10 save himself,
he will refuse to believe you. The most
/ sue eSsful swindlers who operate among
the immigrants lay the foundation for
heir work with letters and circulars sent
across the ocean.
What are the immigrants first impress
Sons of this country? Most of them are
very matter offact The pleasing fiction
hat they come here expecting to pick up
money in the streets is a wild romance.
! They do expect to mako money, and they
! have lingering hope that IL will come
without much work They walk out and
view the butt end of the city and 60 back
much disappointed. 1t isn't half so fine
| as they thought it would be, they say.
! and they compare it unfavorably with
Ondpn or Paris or Berlin or whatever
| ty they are familiar with Those who
ny at the Garden long enough to get
! :Cguainted with the sharpers who are
| constantly on the watch there or therea-
| bouts for victims come to believe that
| New York is quite lively town after all
! The Labor Bureau bum is well-known
| haracter. A ticket from the Labor
! bureau gives him entry there every night,
! and he houses himself there as long as he
can scrape up money to buy food Then
| he wants to be sent back to Europe. He
! is a sort of local tramp, with the tramp's
! aversion to real work
Castle Garden is supposed to protect
J immigrants from sharpers and from the
/ III pOSltlOuS OF boarding mouse Keepers
| and railroad runners land SIGH 1t does
| it, more or less. 1t can never do it
! thoroughly so long as it permits a horde
| Of runners to come i'll and grab immi-
grants landing too late TO take the even
! ing trains. If Castle Garden were stu
| atcd on an island in the harbor, and i'm
/ migrants having no business in New York
! were restrained from coming here, it
/ would be much more efficient restraint
! than it is at present
There are some rare old characters
among the staff of employees in Castle
{ arden. Policeman George Miller, who
weeps 20 think he is going on the retired
! list after twenty-five years of work in the
/ bureau, is racy old soul full of gruff
! ness and good humor He can swear
| Eercely in nineteen different languages,
/ and not child will tremble in his pres
/ ence, though his voice is as gruff as q
polar bears. The veteran ticket-taker
| with the wooden leg is another jolly old
! boy, full of his yarns when in humOr to
/ tell them His story of how dude in a
/ street-car assaulted his wooden leg with
play cane because he did not double it
mp and get it out of the way is splitting
enough TO split rails with.
\ New Game b I'd.
The Chinese pheasants turned loose in
! Oregon some time since have interbrcd
with the native grouse, and new game