Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-10
Annual Moving in New FORKS
Business and Flat Districts.
THE ARAB AND HIS TENT oUTDoNE.
Elegant Furniture Always Stands Longest
on the Sidewalks.
FINANCES OF THE SECONDHAND MEN
toonrrsroxDescs OF THE p1spATcH.I

story window in the night preceding tht
great annual moving day. Nevertheless
there isNsufficient picturesqueness in this
moving mania to interest almost anybody
not to the manner born. Think OF folding
up your 1,000.pound safe in the night and
silently stealing away. The Arab would
| give it up.
Those Arabs and Ishmaelites and Xiii
tites who infsst the nine-story beehives oi
the lower city can tell you something abou:
this annual move that would make your
ify the evil by changing leases so they will
expire in the fall instead Of in the spring has
been but partially successful. It was the
offspring OF the fiat craze, rather than the
result of recos nIzed beastiy Inconvenience,
the fat landlords realizing the importance
of claiming their tenants down to New
York during the summer.
Storing for the Hot Months.
If the leases expired IN October the
chances of renewals were greatly improved.
At present it is habit with this class Of
tenants TO pull up May 1, store furniture for
the hot mouths and return to fiat life in the
fall. Perhaps the habit would be. more COM
mon were it not rendered so disagreeable and
expensive. Still, proportion of about one
in ten families 60 through this process every
year.
They rip up carpets that will never fit any
other possible combination ct rooms, pay $40
load for transportation Of their household
goods from the fat to the storage warehouse,
pay $40 month for storage, pay % load
to have stuff sent to new fat in the fall,
hn or q nj oA
and pay literally for repairs of furniture In
jured on account of handling. Amy frugal
woman who has a family can readily see
that this is an expensive and vexatious
process. That ignis fatuus country board"
leads them ON and on until they founder in
the quicksands of domestic misery. But
the same party never, or rarely, makes the
same mistake twice.
What Happens on Stairways.
When the ripping-up and moving fever
fastens upon two or more families of the
same tenement at the same time it is dread
full. This combination is not unusual on
the first day Of May. Everybody
knows what working one pair OF
dark and winding stairs with furniture
means. When the third floor tenant Of an
eight room fat is coming down with his
household goods and the fifth floor and the
fourth floor joins him with their worldly
possessions, you can bet there is enough to
make Rome howl. Perhaps there are two or
three other tenants out in the street with
loaded vans waiting to get in.
This aggfavates matters to such an extent
that some women faint at the very idea Of
such combination of circumstances, and
before coming face to face with them. There
are usually from two to four able-bodied
rufians with each van, and they bear about
the same relation to each other as the Old
volunteer fire companies bore toward each
other at fire. If they don't break the
furniture over each others heads the owners
are lucky. If the janitor gets boiling drunk
on that particular day, and stalks up ard
down the pavement bowling like King
Richard III after somebody's gore, who can
blame him?
Must Go Through 1t TwIcs.
Add to the scene, if you please, seven to
ten children who couldn't be kept out of the
way with club, and two or three half crazv
servants and there you are. Multiply all of
this by two. for there is rising Of the sun
and going down thereof; these people m ust
settle down somewhere else before dark.
Speaking about darkne brings me back
to the curious social phenomenon of night
rowing. There are several reasons that
might be given for moving in the night
one that it is cheaper to move than to
pay rent; another that vans and men are
less dear; and another, that it hides the poy-
erty Of ones possessions. The latter reason
is strong one. Nobody likes to have his |
kitchen table or parlor carpet criticised.
Some people put couple of theusand'dol- |
ars' worth of furniture and things into |
la. where the next door neighbor across the |
lall had about $50 worth OF stuff, all told. |
Il Is noticeable that the costly material is |
always moved with great elaboration. the
most elegant portion being allowed to stand |
,ther things are fixed; again, the other fell |
ow goes in and comes out under cover of |
darkness. This tender diffidence is enough |
o make one blush. It is the weakness OF
he much loved and considerably abused
ef. No matter-nobody else understands as |
hey understand how women size up their
leighbors by swift, sweeping Inventory of
heir furniture.
One Of the Luxuries Money Brings.
Altogether different is moving day in the
nore aristocratic quarters of the town.
those who live in the elegant and costly
'rivate residences rarely move. When
hey do the goods usually 60 to the dealers.
'he family take no part in the proceedings,
nd the male servants attend to the details.
I ia the business, or Office part OF the town,
Therc things are made to hustle on the 1st
{ May.
While the leases expire and begin some
7here else on the same day, it is recognized
y everybody as impossible for people
, change places in one short "a hours As
rule the process Of getting ready begins two
r three DAYS previously. For three or four
avs, therefore. the halls will be blocked with
flee furniture. safes. books, etc. Dangling
rom windows In every direction for week
lay be seen. black cubes OF hurgiar-preof
fetal. The red Tin sign Danger" is So COM
ION along the walks that few people notice it
{ ALL and those who dp generally 20 right
long under the swinging sales without the
-embling of an syelasii. and wholly regardless
such thing as luck. At long intervals one !
I these safes breaks loose and smashes down
,oin a top story to the sidewalk, but as Ion. as |
oDody Is killed New Workers don't mind ii.
Harvests for Second -Eand Men.
II You overlook the secondhand furniture
lops at this season Of the year you make a |
rent mistake. Heavens! what pile Of house.
Did goods goes into the fnsatiable nav of the
fddie man-aBd for mere song. Downtown
IL Office furniture of every conceivable char
cter. When rptten corporation starts out 1t |
ust show mp we'll in furniture. 1t must be |
,ick and span new and the best quality
'hon that stuff gaes to the second-band |
fdleT III tsio Cnui 20 VI Snupfe Pt Ito1 hS VT !
/, III it brings % per cent OF cost the creditors
70 doing well. The next day the stuff in the
snlerS hands advances to somewhere near 80 |
,r cent OF 75per re,.t Of original cost.
You can SELL one of those dealers SIS worth of |
tchen stuff for So IN you strike one short on
lat line; or. you can pay carriage and let him | ,
cse it out as job lot On 10 per cent ciiminis-
on. He will bay everything IN a has as it 1
ands at firm 20 to 70 per cent OF original essi,
il he in good.conditoi. and rip IL up and cart |
of in two hours. He will sell some OF That |
uif for more than 1t cost direct from the fur
ture store. Such Is the uncertainty Of auc-