The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-10-12
A DANGEROUS SERVANT.
ELECTRICITY WORKS MISCHIEF WITH
THE BOSTON FlREMEN.

ELECTRICITY WORKS MISCHIEF WITH
THE BOSTON FlREMEN.
Sketches ON the Streets Of the Hub-A
Waters Lot Not . Happy One-Bass
Ball and Other Calamities.
From Our Special Correspondent.)
Boston, Oct. O.
The danger to life from electric light wires
became fully apparent to our aremen the
other night.
They have had few accidents from this
cause hitherto, but in a fire on Atlantic
avenue they had to raise ladders to the front
Of a building which was covered with maze
Of telegraph, telephone and electric light
wires. The men on one ladder thought them
solves clear Of the obstruction, when suddenly
the whole mass was pushed violently toward
them. Another ladder being raised had
fallen against the wires, and driven
one Of the most dangerous upon the
neck Of hoseman, giving him .
severe shock. Had it been an alternating
current it would have killed him. As 1t was
. continuous current, II merely made him re-
lax his grip on the ladder. He was caught
by one OF the men below him, and was sent
TO the hospital, where he may recover. The
water streaming down the ladders carried
such powerful current of electricity that 1t
gave shocks to the men handling them, and
hey had to put on rubber mittens to get the
ladders in position.
The difficulty of working about these wires
gave the flames great start and cost thou
sands of dollars before the current was shut
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The kind of savage who fourishes in the
part of Boston just north Of the Quincy
market region was illustrated accurately the
other evening One Of the fierce providers
who overawe well-meaning people thereabout
is cripple named Eugene Mccarthy. foot
and hand are nearly useless, but he is
known as a ferocious fighter with his
crltches. He was recently compelled to
work for the county at Deer island for three
months for some offense, and for this he
blamed dissolute girl Of his neighborhood.
He swore to get even with her, and coming
upon her on the street chased her with
another girl into their natural refuge, q
Merrimac street saloon. Two bartenders
undertook to protect the girls; there was a
lively scrimmage in which crutches and bot
ties were weapons; chandeliers and glasses
were smashed, and soon Mccarthy was lying
on the sidewalk with his skull splintered.
He may live to fight again
-.
There is something queer about either Bos
ton walters or Boston women. The walters
testify that they would rather serve women
than men because the women are not in such
q hurry, are not so cranky about their food
and fee higher.
r. canvass were taken Of the opinions Of
men who have "been around" they would
probably ridicule by large majority the
notion that women remember the attendants
more generously, but waiter has said it.
Those women who fee spend less money
than men of similar wealth do, because they
do not order so many things that they don't
want
OF course it is only in the high
class dining places that the walters
look for fees. 1t is better to be a meek
and lowly hash-slinger in an unpretentious
steak-house, on living salary, with
plenty of broken victuals to sustain the cour-
age than to personally conduct pate de fois
gras to customers in dress-suit establish
ment For here the waiter must overawe
some people and toady others to get fees, and
is often sustained only by the remembrance
of misfit steak eaten before dawn and the
hope of another in the afternoon or after
midnight, and is inwardly trembling lest his
Sc salary shall be cancelled by fines at the
end of the week, or lest soup served too hot
or coffee to cold may madden a dyspeptic
customer and cause the loss of
fee and perhaps place.
The waiter at large hotel has to provide
himself with dress suit costing about $50,
and to pay about $3.50 a week for the laun-
dering of his linen. The wages never 20
above $25 month and are often as low as
GEL. The fees vary from "a to IS week.
The working time runs from twelve to
eighteen hours day. The waiter is locked
for tardiness in arriving; he is locked much
more than the material is worth for break
age, even sometimes when it is the customers
fault. The waiter is held responsible for the
meals served, and if man walks out without
settling with the cashier the waiter has to
pay the bill. If the cook is slow or careless
the waiter gets the cursing from the head
waiter, to whom the subordinate has to
toady.
Southern negroes take most kindly to this
sort of work Those who have become used
to northern air prefer to black boots or
whitewash.
As the Concord school of philosophy has
shown tendency to wander farther and
deeper in the realms of the unknowable and
unget-there-able it may some time take up
for investigation the workings of the hotel
keepers mind, with particular reference to
the mixture of French and Volapuk language
used in making out bill of fare
The Boston broker knows or thing two
about stocks and lambs, but he founders and
catches crabs with his tongue when he is COM
PEELED to call for saddle of spring lamb under
the name of ''selle d'agneau de printemps,n
or for oyster crabs under the title of 'sbou-
chees de crab d'huitre."
A hungry man who is SO unfortunate as to
know the French pronunciation of the vari-
Gus names of potages, legumes, roti and
entremets sucres will become ravenous if he
tries to call for the dishes in the French man.
ner, The waiter is likely to be sensibly
English in his pronunciation, and he won't
know what you mean unless you call a
.saute' a "sawtee"
A young man who had been abroad and
wanted every one to know it aired his new
requirements in a French restaurant the other
evening, while entertaining two friends. He
had heard some Frenchman order s'trois cafe