The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1890-05-16
RANCAING OUT WEST,
PUPILS ON THE fkRm WHO PAY FOR
THE PRIVILEGE OF WORKING.

Come to America 60 Learn How to
Drive n Piow and n Bargain-winding
Up as Hotel Dishwashers.
In some of the northwestern cities like
st. Paul, Minneapolis and Winnipeg, it
is an every day sight to see a young Brit
Usher land from the train, with one eye
glass screwed into his face lin order that
he may not see more than he can com
prehend, some one has been unkind
enough TO say, corduroy suit of blouse
sed knickerbockers, bright yellow leath-
er CATERS buttoned up to the knee,
fore and aft cap, two guns, that he may
shoot all the buffalo he expects TO find
Just outside the town. a dog and about
500 pounds of baggage. He has come to
learn farming. He is gentleman's son,
accustomed to comparative luxury and
ease all his life
Arrangements have been made for
him by some English firm. of whom
there are good many in this business
to do "chores" for his board, and TO pay
e100 down to "learn far1ning"-that is,
to master the mysteries of harnessing
horse, to milk q COW, to drive a sully
DlOW, W NlTlN6 u b6tOtI, W ullNc a lllON-
or, to drive a harvester and, possibly, to
drive bargain. AS soon as he has mas
tered the last accomplishment, he gen
orally sees that he has been duped, leaves
his teacher and strikes out for himself.
THEY WANT TO GO HOME.
The coarse food of the farmers table
and the rough society of his hired help,
who get good wages, while he gets moth
ing, generally disgust him, however,
long before he reaches the stage of edu-
cation last mentioned, and the young
man starts for the nearest town, hoping
to find more congenial employment. He
goes to the hotel, and by the time he has
discovered that there is no demand for
any class of unskilled labor, save on the
farm, he is in debt to the landlord, and
in a great many cases brings up in the
hotel kitchen as waiter or dishwasher,
or even stable boy.
One of the peculiar things about this
class of young fellows is the longing all
of them have to go home again and their
evident inability to crafty that wish,
although most of them receive sums Of
money from their friends in the old
country at regular, intervals The fact
seems to be that they are not wanted at
home Their parents seem glad, or at
least willing, to have their boys undergo
considerable hardship, with dangers to
morals and health, rather than to have
them meet the inevitable evils Of idle
ness in England For the prejudice
against any form of trade or business,
outside the professions, is strong there
yet, and many an English gentleman
would rather have his boy washing
| dishes in America than standing behind
counter in England OF course it is
not heralded from the housetops that
dear Reginald is washing dishes in
| America; oh. no, he is "ranching it in
| the west"
81 remember the case of two young
lads" said Dakota lawyer, 'fresh from
famous boys college in England. What
struck me particularly when first l saw
them was their cheerfulness and theil
boots.
| "Their boots were amazing. The boys
were short for their ages, Is and 10, but
the boots would have reached half way
above the knees Of the tallest man in til,
settlement, and were big in the feet il
proportion. Walking was difficult il
them. The boys almost seemed to tax,
one step up into the toes first, and thel
pull the rest of the boots along aftel
them at the second stride. In answer tt
questions about the reason for sucl
roominess, they replied that they haC
been led to believe that the cold was s,
intense in the northwest that it was Gus
tomary for people to wear all the sock
they had at the same time.
"'Boots' we christened the boys, indis
criminately.
"Then they produced their shoes fron
their trunks. Splendid shoes they were
but the heels were shod with great plate
Of iron, and the soles were full of bras
pegs with protruding heads as big as peas
The shoes must have weighed five pound
EACH Extra hob nailed, the lads Gale
them, and useful they would be no dout
on the stony, finty English roads an
fields, but on the soft loamy prairie land
of the west, where you could not fin
one stone to throw at a bird in ten acr
lot, they were about as retarding to Il
comotion as the suction boots of thos
artists who walk on the ceiling.
"Well, they went out to the teacher
who had secured them and lost sigl
of them for while. One day cam
across such thin, sorry, disgusted lit
chap, sitting ON the back steps of a hote
that barely recognized him as one {
the rosy, smiling boys had laughed q
few months before.
Whats the matter, old manT | sait
| what are YOU doing hereY
Making the beds and washing IL
dishes he replied sorrowfully, III
boots" now with "a vengeance he ad,
ed, with a flickering smile.
Didn't they treat you wellY aske,
"'Oh, they did all they az ed TO dc
he answered; but it was not what v
expected, you know. wish had II
hundred pounds back.
where's your brother, and what
he doingY
"'Cooking for a lot of English fellow
that have camp out at the Forks.
HAS he, too, thrown over his teach
and his comfortable home, with pla
but substantial fare" as the circul
saidr asked.
"'Yes, said the lad, i think he'd Ill
to go back, though, but the farmer w
not have him. We broke the contra
and left him, and suppose he can refu
TO renew it, He has our money safe, ,
you seer
81 saw, but what could | do?'-Ne
York Tribune.
Charged with Robbing tho Mails.
The people of Buffalo n. Y, received
| disaRreeable surprise the other day wh