Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-11-14
"GOOSETOWN'S" POLAKS.
THE HEBREW CITY WHICH LIES
WITHIN THE METROPOLIS.

A Home Life That Borders on the Hor-
ribIe-Living Upon the Cheapest and
Poorest Food in tho Marketable Po-
lak's Characteristic.
Home life among the Polaks is a hor-
TOR. A family will occupy al apartment
Of three rooms, and in the largest will
board and lodge from five to ten guests.
These are supplied with a heavy padded
~coverlet for a mattress and a wooden
footrest for a bolster. The pillow is the
guests coat and vest rolled up. In the
morning he receives q bowl Of coffee
made from coffee refuse and a chunk OF
coarse rye bread. For these accommoda-
tons he pays 81 a week. II he desires
milk, sugar and butter he pays extra or
supplies himself. The latter course is
pursued by tailors and cObblers, who
keep these food accessories in battered
tin ans or cracked jars, beneath their
bolster and coverlet.
An aristocratic boarding mouse in
Goosetown consists of q flat Of four
rooms. In one the landlords family
sleep; a second is kitchen, dining room
and sitting room combined; the third and
fourth are guests rooms, and accommo-
date from ten to twenty boarders. The
rates are 50 a week. For this sum the
guest has a princely bed, consisting of a
thin straw mattress, q coverlet and a
footrest pillow. His breakfast is coffee
and either bread or a roll. His dinner,
soup, boiled beef and potatoes, bread and
stewed dried apples or stewed spoiled
fruit. When the Polaks are new corners
the rooms are generally filthy and foul
smelling. When they have been here a
number Of years they generally learn the
beauty of cleanliness and keep their
apartments as neat and clean as the
average tenement householder.
OTHER Dbl OF LIVING.
Another mode Of living might be styled
club life. A number of Polaks hire a
room from q householder, who acts as
landlord, ianitor and Waterman. They
supply their own sleeping conveniences,
a secondhand stove and a few kitchen
utensils. When night comes each mem
Der of the club cooks his meal in his own
pan The odors that arise from the mix
ture Of fish, chicken fat, beef. goose
grease, onion, garlic and Limburger
cheese may be imagined but can not be
described.
In their eating the Mosaic law is obeyed
to the very letter. The eel, clam, oyster,
scallop, crab and lobster are anathema.
So is the hog in every shape. The taboo
extends to n food fried in lard, to fish
chowder in which bacon is used as Il
flavor, and even to pies and pastry where
lard has been used to Tighten the dough.
AS a substitute for lard they use chicken
fat, goose grease, beef drippings and
ol~eOmargarine. The last named article
had grown unpopular since the best but
ter substitutes contained neutral lard"
The foods are the cheapest and poorest
that can be bought in the market. The
shank and neck Of the animal are favor
ties. These are boiled till the bones are
ready to drop out The latter are re-
moved, cracked and thrown back into
the pot. The meat is removed, put under
a heavy stone to be compressed and al
lowed to cool. When cold it becomes
solid and is cut and served in long slices.
Freshness is a matter of little account,
c~heapness is everything. Spoiled meat
and putrid fish find multitudes of buyers
in Goosetown when offered for sale at
less than 5 cents n pound. The board OF
health makes seizures of these foods
every week, but the supply continues
nevertheless.
DESTRUCTIVE OF DECEECY.
The crowding is utterly destructive Of
! modesty, decency and the family ties.
The boarders dress and undress before
each other and before the landlords fam
lily. 1t is not uncommon for n half dozen
families to occupy one apartment and TO
I-.1 .....l,n ,,,..;,l ny,1 giVr1n N.n,,nn
and old. As n result vice is very preva
lent. Young men learn how easy it is to
get along alone, and start lives of de-
bauchery.
Capt. Williams, of the New York police,
estimates that in the past ten years Goose
town has added 1000 to the countless
roll Of lost women.
The avarice of the Polak is monument
tai. He will make his family herd like
beasts, work with him sixteen hours Of
the twenty-fOur, live upon the cheapest
fare and dress in the poorest cast of
! clothing long after he has accumulated a
fortune. No greater surprise can be eX-
perienced than to see the wife and dauGh-
tiers of one Of them issue from their vile
tenement OH q holiday. The night pre-
vious they were in rags, slipshOd and
frowSy. Now they are attired in the
heaviest Lyons silk and sparkling with
iewelry and diamonds. There are proba-
bly, 1000 wives in GOOsctOwn who own
more han s., 900 worth of jewelry apiece.
This is regarded not as u luxury or as os-
t~entation, but as a wise and safe invest
mcnt of SO much money.
The Polak is ~litigious and vindictive.
When his wrath is once aroused he dis
plays a power of deviltry truly surpass-
ing. The records Of the police courts show
rlch curious freaks Of malice as squirt
ipbt Hit 10. lfrom a housetop upon linen
81 tput to dry, putting live cells in a
deNUut Jews bedroom, filling a lock and
keyhOle with tinfoil when the occupant
was in bed, painting the head Of n sleep
ing foe with pitch or red paint, setting
fire to a mans apartments and having
him arrested for arson, and issuing cards
advertising an enemy's home as a house
of i'll fame. Incidents like these are OF
daily occurrence and swell the business
of the TOmbs and other tribunals to a
great extent.
The Polak is grateful. He remembers
a friend or an act Of friendship through
his life. He is also hospitable. To friend
or stranger who enters his gates he is
courteous and offers what he has. They
hre afTectionate, and within their religion
Charitable.-W. f. S. Fales in Kansas
City Times.