The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-11-26
MUSIC WHILE THEY WORK.
4 MULBERRY BEND CURE ron LAZY
SPELLS or CIGARMAKERs.

They Also Get Half n Loaf of Bread, n Plate
of Soup and Cup of Wine mt Noon
d. Goats MILK for Girls not Afraid of Being
Old Mnids-Ths Pndrono Finds IL Pays.
Nearly all those strange looking black Gig ars that
you see in the mouths OF italian workingmen
about town arc made In a large factory Of Null
berry Bend, which IL known theroabouts as the
Jolly Workshop. Tho sign over the three front
windows is more prosaic. For something more
than year the factory has been known by its
cheerful nickname, which is the outcome Of the
proprietor's treatment OF Ills helpers Three
afternoons week music is played there as a
means OF rest and cnvenment for the workers,
and every day at noon a thick soup is served
10 them, with bread and cup OF Ohio wine. III
you want TO SEQ how toll may DO robbed of its
drcarincss you should look in there at noontime
and remain until The music strikes up at 2o'clock.
About seventy. five persons are employed there
making the cigars that are known as Nirginias,
Cnvours and Tuscans. The Virginia IL that
long rat tailed device with straw running through
IL which you must extract before IL will draw
a relatively high grade cigar, since IL sells at
retail two for 1--WE cents a sort of pittsburg
stogy is the Cavour. but Of course not so bad,
dreadful as II is, and II sells at one cent There
is nothing si'nilar TO the Tuscan in this or amy
other country save the land Of its origin. Imagine
the putty blower of your school boy days with its
hump OF putty fashioned round the middle, and
you have the shape Of this weed but the strength
and odor canno, be imagined. The price is two
cents. These limitations look for all the world
like Italian cigars. and they pass for such until
they are lighted; then you wonder II IL was any
worse for those poor soldiers who had TO smoke
oak leaves and coffee grounds Not very well
put together are these cigars and II isplain that
making them is not so much skilled trade as II
Is a handiwOrk To be picked up in a little while
| OF the sevcnty-nvc persons employed in the Jolly
Workshop sixty are girls and women who re.
ccive small pay in money. but--oh the fun they
havc' There are no piece hands; the pay is by
the month for all strprcrs binders. wrappers,
packers and shippers II ranges from $50 month
to s35. with plate OF cXcc!lcn, soup. a liberal
| chunk Of bread and a cup Of wine every day.
and music three times week.
The business was started twelve years ago on
a humble scale by the present owners father
He used to make the cigars and soil them IN the
that the factory Ia in and two biz rear tencmcnis
farther un the street The cigars nrS sold to lta-
ians In all parts ri the United States
The present padrone was brnn ht up in this
country lie attended the PUBLIC school IN Mul-
R %T ma TWO at % ns m b sGaTS
| as a drummer for the house VIII II the business
came into his hands he began doing away with
many old time, meth, ds which his father. had
| learned in Naples and cung 10 in the New World.
\ year ago the Young man thought Of increasing
SO in The form Of ifcc meat and drink at noon
| Many Of the workers live nj such distant points
as Little Italy. which is FRS, avenue up around
| Sicily. in Newark and New Naples in Fast New
York These had 20 bring along their luncheon.
generally piece Of black bread and bit 81 salamc
OF, an onion. Needless TO say, there was great
| rejoicing wh.n the announcement came that the
Sd E da I'M nm S, soap and
| glass Of wine Of Ohio every day, free Of charge
| until further notice, The room resounacd with
the "Nivns" and the workers went TO their homes
that night singing the praises Of their boss
Promptly at the stroke OF 2 a door at one
and nproncd man sets out q li,lr bench and lifts
thereon large copper 20, filled with wha, known
in the Bend as ninsdro1e, or great soup. In
great soup there IL scarcely any broth, 80 thick is
| Il with rice, cabbage, carrots beans turnips,
celery and whatever other yrsctahl" matter II
| equal prompiness the workers are on the spot
| orIned each with a Tin plate and cup Each
nI non ,b up pGm ana she Sops ms ~ 70 me ncs
| . barrel Of wine and bN its side basket Of hall
loaves. Each picks up h piece Of bread and puts
turns tho wine On and oil as the cups nrc placed
and taken away. All observe the same system
and there is no pushing or unruly behavior. a,
n consequence al! are served in n few minutes ana
/ back at their nChes chatting and eating and
drinking In The happiest Gpmo, u,,,,
| no taste for the wine, and t. these substitute
Is given ia the shape Of goats milk. In the cour
! whose only support Is pair OF large black mich
goats that yield about eight quarts day. Sh'
follows the native custom OF selling the milk direC
from me, goat, the operation OF milking taking
place before the eyes ot the customer Thus
harpsins 'hns IN ihS isnd You ned not be- S!aT,'.
tenement staircase. in grocery store, n cohbl er'
shop or a hank. She comes to the cigar factory
a, about II in the loren on. leads her horny
headed supporters over near the door bchin(
which the BIZ; pot is boiling and delivers the good
| into the tin cups that the girls have placed a
hand There only If the girls Mht
prefer the milk 20 the wine. u Is said 10 be gooc
the NcapOlitan belief being tha the girl VIII" drnk
goats milk will die an old maid. That IL is gooC
Tor the complexion there can be no doubt wheI
| one looks upon the CleHt.culored seven who drinI
II, but the little courtships Of the noon hour IL
which they are the dcmutc factors do not promi -
4 wholc hour ' Is allowed for luncheon and tn,
workers seem TO spend every minute Of it, on
way or enothsr. in having a good time tn
and the padronc remarks shreSdly Tint II woul'
take many times that sum divided among then
socd will toward their boss that they now feel
The wine costs % cents gallon, the ma'eri al
for the soup css than 81 a day. the bread
On trip South tho pndrorc visited the packing
house Of n large Georgia peach grower, whcEc
II was in the afternoon and the packers "rcnc'
lis,ess and lazy. While he was thinking wha
n poor lot they were from the employers stand
point, some musicians whom he had not scc
struck up n Lively air Instantly the manner Q
the workers underwent n complete change. Thci
faces Enlightened, their actions quickcncd an
from slow -muying automaiOns they became bust
ling men and women full OF vim Tor their work
The peach man told him that the hand Of mi
clans was the best investment he had ever made
Before another month Ind gone he cigar nHn hr
| n hand-organ in his factory, and the expert men
proved that music can spur tho 'pilcE in Mul err
bend as well as on Georgia peach farm Somt
times n harp and violin replace the pianos rgar
and during the carnival period, when there wa
musicc very day. an orchestra Of five pieces SUI
| piled tho enerEizing melodies
| In this case too the music has proved goo
investment, MS tho padronc viii tell you, for mucl
more work IL always done on music day tina
on any other day. The excess is plenty larg
| enough to cover the cost OF the music, even whe
| in burst Of generosity the boss calls mn orchCstr
OF five OF the pccuniary profit there can be n
| question, but this the proprietor says he regard
OF small moment beside the iGct that his worker
never talk OF strike and are always happy.