Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-01-28
. wAKEMAN,S WANDERINGS.
[coNc1upED FROM FIRST PAGE. I

nafQ training originally secured among
the lowly of their ilk. Albert Chevalier,
now the greatest of living character i'm
personators, practically lived among the
costers for years; and the marvellous fdel-
ity of his songs and impersonations of
eoster life and character were wholly
gained in this manner. Sims Reeves,
the one tenor who for nearly half a cent
ury held all the song lovers of Britain
enslaved, once "carried the knot" that
Is, the head pad, of Covent Garden
porter, and got his start as a singer In
the former foul dens within the sound of
Bow bells.
When your tourist fancy leads you into
Scotland 60 further. 1t is but little sea-
jaunt from Aberdeen, Peterhead or Wick
| to the Shetland Islands. Their people are
very hospitable, possessing many pleasant
| ancient customs; and there is no end to
modern historic and pagan monuments of
| strange and curious interest. Not the
least of your pleasures there will be wit
Messing "drive O. ealing whales" which
you are almost certain to do if your visit
to the islands happen in May or June.
The Peterhead and other whaling ships
formerly completed their crews at Ler-
| wick, and these times were always peri
DDS of great activity. OF late years Shet-
lands interest in whaling has been prin-
| cipally confined to driving the monsters
ashore. This exciting work is often ire
| mendously profitable In 1916 a great
shosl of $40 "ca'ing" whales were driv-
en- ashore in Quendale bay, the south
ernmost bay of Shetland, lying between
Sumberg and ftful Heads; and in June,
| two years ago, shoal of several hun
dred was successfully landed on the east
| coast.
Until quite recently these shore whslers
| were lily requited for their captures.
| The financially omuiverous landlord, called
the ''lsird" here, true to his octopus in
stincts, claimed the right, up to 1889, to
| tax the poor Shetlauders one-half of the
entire proceeds of all whales driven into
shoal water opposite, or upon the shores
| of, their domains; "a sort of riparian
right on the Almighty for what Was sent
| to save mon from starvation on account
tina laird himself" on old ShstlsndeI
explained to me.
AS the value of the blubbsr will average
thirty dollars por ton, the 'iaird" often
thus secured from two to five Thousand
dollars as his fright" in single catch
From 1889 to 1858 the slairds" were con
siderste enough to rob the whalers of but
one third. In September of that year the
claim WAS resisted in the courts; the
| whaIers won their cause; and the ''lairds'
| have since been compelled to content them
selves with the measer enjoyment of wit
Messing, rather than proftipg by, the haz
ardous work.
When drove of "oa'ing" whales sp
pear on the coast the news spreads lik'
oil drops on marble As the whole towI
Of ST. Ives, Cornwall, goes mad when
shoal of pitchers ia sighted 80 does ever.
live Shetlander desert every other vocs
| ton, even to ". dding, to join in thu
| drive A rush is made by the men TO
the boats, while women and children wild
ly collect guns, ammunition, harpoons
scythes, lsnces, knives and even bags O
stone, indeed anything portable whicl
may assist in the hopsd for destruction.
The whslers make all haste and splendit
cunning in getting between the whales ant
the open sea. Their feet of all manner o
craft then gradually closes in upon tn
t'pack" or "drove," directing by the splen
did manosuvers of the different boats tn
: course of the whales to shallow bay. s
expert are these Shetland whalers In driv
ing that shoal of whales is seldom lost
, if time is given for forming the "drive
well outside the "drove." If the whale
once enter the chosen bay their pursuer
come to close quarters, and then the con
hict begins.
Finding the water becoming shallow thu
terrified whales endeavor to make for tn
open sea, but are met at every point by
perfect wall of boats, altogether file,
with hundreds and sometimes thousand
] of men seemingly desperate in their Of
forts at capture; and the bowling, shout
ing, screaming, lashing of the water, dis
charging of fire. arms, stone throwing an
rushing to and fro of the equally despe1
ate whales, form as exciting scene as on
ever witnessed outside a genuine field o
battle. Occasionally few break throug
is doomed. Once driven into shoal waite
where they can only founder in might
struggles, or high and dry on land, wher
they often toss themselves in their mad ef
forts to escape, their butchery, which
always q savage and siokening sight, pre-
oeeds with wonderful dispatch. In thei
bloody work the hardy and powerful Shet
land women take a gleeful and almos
fren zied part.
The dripping thing they call river, tn
Mauzanares, at Madrid, Spain, come
down from the cold, gray heights to tn
north, and winds half way around tn
city from the northwest to the southeast
What water flows through it breaks il
sandy shadows, forming innumeTable Isl
1
all accessible at most seasons by any bare
| foot boy or girl; and it is an odd fac
that though there are two vast and pre-
tentious bridges across it, the Puente
Segovis, nearly seven hundred feet Ion
with nine arches, designed by the archi
tect Herrera, and the Puents de Toledo
nearly four hundred in length, crowne
by the statues of San Isidro and his hol
wife, its sole use to the city of Madrid i
that of an endlessly used and all-suficien
wash-tub.
Ten thousand women soak and splasl
and souse and beat the linen of Madri
within its scant waters every day. No
an article of clothing is elsewhere washed
No other than these Manzansres lavande
ras are permitted to labor az laundresse
and for three miles up snd down tn
stream, from opposite the infantry and al
tillery barracks upon the heights of Mon
tana del Principe, past the windows Of til
queen regents apartments in the roys
palace, and circling around away beyon
Toledo Gate, the moving dots of red An,
blue, yellow and gray, comprise this grea
army of Amazons with arms and legs o.
them like tree trunks; with voluptuou
breasts and shapely neoks; hard muscle,
toilers, the wickedest blackguards, an,
withal the sunniest tempered souls IL
Spain.
There are three grades in this labor
They are the mistresses, or amas, the over
seers or ayudantss, and the lavandera
| themselves. Ali are women. The frs
are the agents who receive the work iron
, the hotels, great houses, and the city agen
oias, in huge lots, and are responsible TO
its safe return. The ayudantas or over
seers are really the forewomen Of from
dozen to score of lsvenderas each; all
they are responsible for work placed il
their hands by the smas. At five in tn
morning, winter and summer, the lavande
ras will be seen, many of them with chill
dren trundIng beside them, creeping alon,
from the barrios abajos or lower quarter
of the city towards the Mapzanares
Near the river ia an ssilo or asylum,
refuge for their children. Here the lavan
dera first deposits her charges where the,
have food, care and training free, unit
| she returns for the little ones at night
| Then she saunters to venta de lavande
rss, or cheap washerwoman's inn and take
her oopets of brandy, or cup of coffee
and at once repairs to her own banca, O
little washing box or station, provided TO
J each washer. By six o'clock you Nigh
J count from five to eight thousand of thes
) strange creatures at work.
The entire slopiDg, sandy banks are GOV
cred with drying poles. At this time o
, the year the water from the mountains
of 10y temperature. But it seems to max
no difference with their labors. Here an,
there are huge cauldrons of boiling water
: From time to time trife of this ia poure,
in the little hollow where each one tolls /,
the sand and water: but this seems to h.