Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-08-21
TRIALS OF B0ARDERS.
PHASES ~ THE LIFE OF THE
METROPOLITAN BOARDER
The Rnmclessnc>~ of New lork-LivinE
in Wells-lfow Boardtr> Escape
from Their Prisons-Eouad
for Life.

is TIN. dark room. Th,Se dreadful places.
without light. air or fire are inhabited
usually by women. delicate women, who
toll overmuch and need the Most hygienic
surroundings.
| knew two women, luxuriou-iy reared,
who lived i'll well all last winter. 1t
wasn't a well dug in the ground. to be sure;
it was in the interior of family no i. other
wise a large private boarding Ia lie. This
well had absolutely no outlet, save a door,
Not - much AS portfolio was there i'll any
of its walls. They burned gas day and night,
and i'll order to keep from snotherins TO
death We're compelled to leave the door partly
open, fastened b. a chain when they slept.
For the privilege of destroying their health
in this unnatural dwelling they paid SO
week. Couldn't they have done better else
whore for that amount of money. Yes, by
going ont some distance either east or west,
but circumstances made i necessary for them
to stay in that oCaiitv. Ec:h were SO near
dead by tn, first f ,.arch that nothing but
complete change and the best of medical
treatment saved their lives.
| Anything in TIE nature of space hemmed
in by four walls is called a room here and is
rented. Tine worst rooms fall t. women, of
course, because they are the chcalcs.. They
are always ill able to endure Ike in them, and
frequently i'll able to pay for anything bet
ter.
There is no privacy in boarding house.
Almost all the rooms have doors that open
into other rooms. To inhabit one IS to hear
all that goes on on the other side of the door.
You may not know your neighbor, even by
sight, but you know when he retires and
when he rises, when he comes and when he
goes, and, worse than ALL whit he says The
door that separates him from your sight is u
perfect sounding board, emphasizing all his
movements 1t is almost equivalent to his
having n corner of your room fenced off by
| screen. 1t is strong case of walls having
ears. All this cultivates great reticence on
the part of the boarder. He learns to refrain
from revealing his innermost soul and its
cavortings to his chums. He becomes self
contained and cautious, and goes about with
no end of heavy secrets within him. He cul-
tivates repression to the point of madness.
English folk are often amazed at the prices
of plain living in New York. In London a
suite of rooms with meals and attendance
can he rented for less than the cost of an in
ferior hall room here. remember the home
sickness Of a Young Engiishman who had
come over here with enough money, as he
thought, 70 live respectfully during the win
terond enjoy the advantages of New York
without feeling q amped tina. tally. He was
distressed and detected when he found that
L.
grave, was the most luxurious apartment he
could afford. This fact very materially
clipped the wings Of his gayety, and he de-
clared often that his home enjoyments We're
no higher than those of a convict
The winter is the season of the landladys
content. 1t is made glorious summer by an
influx Of boarders Every corner of the house
is full; but summer will weed them out with
ruthless hand. That is the direful season.
The profits Of the winter must go to carrying
the empty house through the warm and dull
interval. So great is the terror Of empty
rooms in any season, that not infrequently
boarders find it more difficult to get away
from house than from penitentiary. If
the landlady be of the bullying order she will
demand payment to the end Of the week or
month"; perhaps, and will behave in such an
aggressive and alarming manner that only
the most courageous will be able to cope
with her. A friend sent me the following
note after she and her husband had had a
brief but severe and high-priced experience
in boarding houses in this city:
1--WE moved yesterday to No. -. l don't
like the place. We have the back parlor with
| I'LL kIaA hat l,nnl-
slant visio1 of washing days, cats strolling
leisurely along fence tops by day and bowling
vigorously thereon by night, smell Of kitchen
underneath, etc. Our room is about the
size of Madison square, with enormous mir
rors, and pictures with broken frames faded
furniture, and all the tr,lmpery usually found
in these New York houses which once be-
longed to the aristocracy and are now in a
state of decay. IsuppOse it was nee consider
ed magnificent, but is now depressing wreck.
! am utterly sick of New York The way one
Is Obliged to live here is maddening. l for
one am ready to take to the woods. We had
an awful time getting away from the last
place, and see already that can't stand it
here. broke down this morning and had a
good cry. I honestly believe l cannot live
long if stay in this awful gloomy room and
look out on cats and clothes lines. Yet for
these grim pleasures, with nothing to speak
of that is palatable in the way Of food, we
pay $40 week Pray for u.s."
In some instances the landladies will not
even permit death to interfere with boarder
fulfilling his contract. If he says he has
taken a room for the season landladies of
this persistenttype will insist upon his paying
for it until spring, sick or well. at home or
away, living or dead. / don't think the law
will uphold them in thus expressing the poor
, wretches within their power, but the law is
, not always on hand. Life under the reign
of this order Of landlady, even a few weeks
} Of it, usually so reduces his self-confidence
that he dares not raise a recalcitrant foot
when the day of reckoning comes.
heard Of one case Of peculiar atrocity. A
husband, wife and their little daughter occu-
boarding house. They had said when they
took the apartment, when asked if they would
/ be permanent, that they hoped to be, and
certainly would be if they were suited. They
had only been there a few weeks when the
. child sickened and died. The mother was so
heartbroken that she could not remain where
she had suffered such q loss. But lo when
they spoke Of leaving the irate landlady as
sured them that they could not 60. Having
|
right to map out their own destiny. They
were prisoners at SO a week. She assured
! them that there was but one condition on
which they could depart, and that was to OBJ
ligate themselves to pay for the rooms the
.ntire season. Dreadful as the alternative
was they accepted it and made their escape,
but regularly sent the human cormorant q
: check for the price of the rooms and their
i board until spring. exactly as though they
had occupied them.
) The boarding house industry here is largely
, operated by women. It is, without doubt,
the largest field of money making in this big
money making centre. Yet it is doubtful if
the thousands Of women who are in charge
Of it are put down in the census as contribut-
ing in any way to the commercial interests
Of the metropolis. They really hold the bal
ance of power. They are the married and
the widowed, the old maids and the old ma
irons. The married ones have the worst
, time of it. Often the lordly creatures who
fill the office Of husbands do tho dictotipy nd