The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-02-12
IN UNBEATEN PATHS.
How Some Persons Gain a Livelihood in
New York.
Especial Correspondence.l


How Some Persons Gain Livelihood in
New York.
Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, Feb. 4.-That one-half Of
the world does not know how the other
halt lives is truism aptly illustrated in
this great metropolis Go anywhere you
may and you are sure to run against a
class of busy workers, who in one ca
pacity or another are solving the prob
lem of how to keep body and soul to-
gether and yet are apart from the com
petition encountered in the leading
industries of life. H.
Strangely enough, in this field of labor
women play no unilnportant part. They
may be ladies who have met with mis-
fortune, but too proud to become men
ials and too honorable to yield to the
gross temptations of life; these employ
their education, taste and experience for
the benefit of others who have been less
favored Visit the stores during the
holidays and you will find their handi
work in the manufacture of dainty brio
a-brac, in the painting of Christmas.
NOW Cdt ttiO laO40 Sd4oo iA oiAC
adornment of wedding cake and bonbon
boxes and the transfer of exquisite de-
signs to screens, ribbons and the panels
of dresses. Their pay is small in con-
trast with the price the merchants
charge at retail, but it serves to keep
the wolf from the door.
Possibly in these same establishments
you will run against some richly dressed
woman accompanied by lady COM
panion" who has been employed to do
her shopping. and who selects the goods
and attends to all the details of trade
The compensation is in the form of a
commission paid, by the firm or fee
paid by the employer. Another and not
less honorable vocation is that of wom-
en- who regularly visit the homes of the
wealthy and arrange the decorations in
the parlors. handling with tender care
the valuable porcelains and other works
Of art that cannot be safely intrusted to
servants. Perhaps you will meet on the
premises woman manicure or chiropo-
dist, who satchel in hand pays her peri
odic visit to the ''petted darlings to clean
their nails and pick their corns. Still
more useful are the women who go about
darning stockings, sewing on buttons
and doing the mending of household.
These are a godsend to the bachelors.
and they secure good living.
Many of the male sex are not less in
genious in their endeavor to make pow
erty respectable by honest work. Frank
lin once said "It is hard for an empty
bag to stand upright. But there are
scores of industrious fellows wandering
through our streets who support them
selves by expedients that in more than
one instance have brought ample gain.
During Christmas week an Italian
peddled what he called IAN aerial top.
a small circular plate with fanges like
the wheel OF propeller, that. leaving
his hand with quick pull OF string
shot hundred feet in air. He and bis
confreres sold thousands of them.
Stand in the vicinity OF some of the
public schools about the hour of recess
and you will find a punctual candy man.
Go down in the neighborhood of Wall
street and in the vicinity Of every ex-
change. there will be neat low vehicle
from which you can purchase glass OF
milk and a sandwich. Not far away
perhaps you will see an old time colored
man or stout. rosy looking German,
each immediately arrayed in white
jacket and apron and bearing a tray
piled up with golden hued wafi1es, soft
and luscious. and generously sprinkled
with sugar from the sitter that stands
at hand The crab and lobster man is
there. too-for twenty years one OF the
characters of '.the street. Basket IN
hand. ne enters the offices of the brokers
always welcome. because he is such
CHEEKY respectful fellow and from it's
contents you may choose these tooth
some denizens Of the sea IN every shape,
hard, soft, deviled or picked with all
the accompanying condiments,
Scattered elsewhere III the city are
other working bees in this busy hive,
the man who sharpens your scissors and
razors and attracts your custom with
prestidigitatorlal trick: the man who
mends yonr umbrella while you wait;
the needle man who stands on the corner
and shows how easily needle may be
threaded. while some confederate in the
crowd he has gathered slips behind you
and relieves you OF your pocketbook
the travelling tinker, with his little
lamp and stick of solder; the sponge
man who has for sale sponges and
channels skins that have done duty in
the hospitals, but being renovated look
as good as new. and last, though not
least by any means, the frugal individual
who goes around collecting all the old
boots and shoes. carries them to his lair
and by a system of patchwork or manu-
facture peculiar to himself evolves mer-
chandise that finds ready sale among the