St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-02
WOMEN ON The ERIE.
In the Cabins of the Boats
That Navigate the Great
Canal.
Women Who Feel They Are
!. Just as Good as Their Sis
terS on Land.
Neatly Furnished Cabins
How the Women Pass
Their Time.
They Have Their Social Circles
"A Girl Prodigy Of Nine
Years.

watch the long lines of canal boats en-
tering the Erie canal locks at West Troy
that have the faintest idea how the
women aboard these boats live, and
what class of people they are. The pre-
vailing impression seems to be that
none but the toughest of women would
or could live on board such craft, and
that the life and surroundings must be
of the hardest sort.
Bright and early this morning our
artist climbed aboard one of long row
of boats that were awaiting their turn
to pass through the weighing lock at
Green Island, and almost the first step
he took after getting aboard he met an
elderly woman in neat print dress and
white apron, who smiled in a quiet
way when the visitors business was
made known.
$50 you want to see how women live
aboard these boats, and be told about
it. too" she said, as she led the way
back toward the cabin cOmpaniOnway.
well, l, for one, am right glad you
have come, and that what you hear and
see will be printed, for [ realize more
than you do how great prejudice ex-
lists against us as class, and also how
widespread are the false ideas enter
tanned in the public mind relative to our
life along the canal"
She directed the visitor to StOop low
as he began the descent of the cabin
stairs, and the admOnition came none
too soon, for the stairways are low and
steep. with no head room to spare. But
once inside the cabin 1t was quite an
other matter, for considerable portion
OF these big boats is allotted to living
quarters. This cabin was especially
roomy and homelike. for the floor had
been scrubbed and reScrubbed until it
was as white as snow.
In the center of the room a large
square rug left but little of the floor
boards to be seen. 1t was of pretty.
bright pattern, and little white dog
lay fast asleep in the center of one of
the big red roses that graced the pat
tern. Over this several other hair or
carpet mats had been placed at the foot
OF the stairs or by the lounge that stood
of some sort of dainty white stuff fut-
tered with the morning breeze as it
swept softly in over bunch of Glove
entangled" that grew in little flower
pot on the window ledge.
i Pictures were everywhere about the
paneled sides OF the cabiu, and a canary
bird Ill gilded cage sang sweetly in
the windows near the pretty flowers.
The doors of the staterooms stood open
and disclosed pretty picture of snowy
bed spreads and fancy pillow shams,
while the kitchen, with its shining pots
and pans, was an ideal place for good
cook.
I'VE do most of our cooking up on
deck during the warm weather, and the
men put up awnings to shield us from
the sun. 1t keeps the smell of the cook
ing from the cabin, and leaves it in a
much cooler condition." the woman ex-
planned, as she kindly offered cup of
warm coffee to her visitor.
In the course of ten minutes CONVEX
sation she succeeded in giving tire
newspaper man most correct picture
of the life of the average women who
must find their homes on the water by
band. During the winter months,
most of the boats tie up in the Erie or
Atlantic basins at New York city, and
through all these long winter days, the
women aboard the 200 or 300 boats go
visiting and give parties and dances
pretty much the same as their sisters
OIL land, whose abiding places have
rather more stability. Through the
summer, of course, there is less oppor-
tunity for social intercourse while the
boats are on the move; but when they
tie up for orders or to load at the princi-
pal points, the women get together and
often organize a party to go off on
picnicS and excursions OIL the land, the
men being busted in loading their car
goes.
When the artist boarded the second
boat a tall, broad-ShOuldered man, EVIL
IDENTIFY the captain of the boat, seemed
to be in especially good humor, for he
laughed over the mission the artist had
stated to him before interviewing the
women at the other end of the boat,
which, as the captain explained, was
their especial stamping ground"
While going up ne stopped the news
paper man suddenly, and after an ill.,
uI1iry as to whether he was married. ex-
daughters in the after cabin, and that
he. would, after discovering that his
caller was single man, have to consult
their mother before he would run the
risk of letting him see them. This he
did in a good-natured way by calling
down the hatch of the cabin: ''Say,
there, Jennie, here's a young dude that
wants to make pictures of how ye live.
Think it's safe to let him down there
among the gals?'
In answer his wife came up the COM
panionway and welcomed the reporter
to the cabin home. with instructions to
make himself "to home" 1t would
have been a most bashful young man,
indeed, who would not have felt at
home among this jolly party. The cap
tain was verbose to the limit. His wife
insisted that her visitor needed a cup Of
warm coffee and some cakes, and coffee
and cakes he must have. The girls,
with their pretty faces, came right up
to the interviewing scratch, and told
everything they knew about canal boat
life, and how they were treated by the
shopping in town, if they asked that
their purchases be delivered on a canal
boat.
! .Why, Exclaimed the youngest of the
9tWo, ''those clerks were all just too nice
to US for any use until they discovered,
as we were paying our bills and giving
orders for delivery of goods, that we
were living on canal boat. 1t was just
too rich to see how their jaws fell when
they thought how nice they had been to
ordinary canal people,"
+; The gestures and tone of voice which
accompanied this little bit of informa-
ton were Imaginable. Then the two
came over to where the artist sat
sketching the cabin, and while they
watched the drawing grow they each in
turn gave him the full story of how
they had spent last winter in the Erie
sBasin-of the dances and parties and
weddings and the fun they had had
roaming over the 800 boats. And when
he clambered over the side they called
after him: Nov, mind, and send us
each paper with the pictures in, for
you know women OH canal boats can
read"
AT the entrance to the cabin of the
third boat sharp-eyed, stern-featured
matron stood guard over two pretty
girls that were peeping from over the
companionway to get a Look at the
stranger just then engagedin the rather
ungraceful act of climbing over the
side. A dog at the matron's feet as
serted his right to stop the strangers
advance, until the stern-faced Cerberus
babe him ''lie down." 1t was ''ironing
day. on board this boat. Here. as on
the other boats, everything was neat