The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-01

another man for a definition Of home. The
other man said he owned two blankets
and a quilt Wherever he spread them
down was his home.
The building of a new railroad takes
quite an army of men, especially in
rough country. SINNERS Cteamsters), dy-
namiters (miners) for rock cuts and tun-
nels, tie buckers, bridge carpenters, muck
ers (piCk and shovel mem, track layers,
cooks and flunkies are all in demand. A
f1unky is a camp waiter, dish washer and
wood chopper. Up near Canada the same
animal is often called a cookie.
Some men acquire a reputation and
name at special lines of work. Powder
Can Mccormick is a cook. He once vlo-
lently told a contractor, who did not give
him enough TOOLS that he was not the man
to cook for fifty men in powder can.
Tommy the Tacker is, or maybe was, q
good hand at driving spikes Some men
are in their glory when spiking In the lead
of a track laying outfit The loss of a
single stroke puts one behind there.
Habit Too Strong to Stop.
I have heard it argued that following
grading camps gets to be a disease 1t is
fact that some men will travel some
times thousands of miles, without a cent
perhaps, to get to the front of a new rail
road. have only been in two such out
fits but 1 have felt the fever when heard
of others starting. You live in tents.
sleep probably with your clothes on, IN
the ground with some blankets and hay if
you are lucky. Normally such work is
hurried and goes on in all weathers, some
times night and day. There is a rough tin
plate plenty to eat Molasses is called the
walking boss, sugar the gravel train, cof-
fee the pile driver, and butter the ak e
grease. These names are not always
used, but they are always understood in
grading camps.
Some contractors, by means of a saloon
discounting their own checks for cash, and
hospital fees, try to get back adj the money
they pay out. Many of the most success
full contractors however, run things on a
more liberal plan. Most all contractors
take a monthly hospital fee out of en-
ployes' wages but some really take good
care of sick or injured man. There is a
proverbial company doctor who gives his
patients nothing but pills, whether he has
a tooth ache or a broken leg.
There is most always commissary
where employees can get blankets, quilts,
and clothing at good stiff prices.
Saloons, restaurants and deadfall saloons
follow grading camps. Somt men will
work for months and then go on, with
their pay on them, into saloons where
they know they will be drugged il there
is any chance. Perhaps they are lucky
after all. They are ready to go to work
again IN a rev hours.
Tale of the Blanket StiRs.
After supper, especially if there is
camp fire to gather around, is when one
learns most about the pasts of his fellow
workmen. Perhaps one will tell about
driving a dray in London fog. Another
about sealing or whaling in Alaskan wa
tiers. Another about the price of cigar
cites in Cairo, Egypt. Another about the
queer noises dago once made with his
legs sticking out of an ash barrel in an
alley off Baxter street, New York.
An Oregon man told us one time about
being knocked endways while defending a
pig pen. He attempted 10 rest a gun
across a bear to take shot al a stump
Sometimes California men tell about the
big ranch where they had the plates nail
ed to the tables and washed the dishes
with hose / think 1t was in Red Cliff
Colorado according to the story, that a
man found an ear on the ground the
morning after he came to town He dis
covered, before long, that it was his own
ear
A cockney once went to house where
two doors opened into one porch. He pull
ed both bells and it happened that both
were answered at the same time Mad
am" he said, will you please get me
a clean shirt while the other lady puts
me up a lunch"
"seen-Better-Dayx" Men.
Seen-better-days men are common
among blanket stiffs Some are past re-
demption. Others are only temporarily IN
fortunate, or prospectors working for a
grub stake. Most men say that they will
always go hungry two or three days he
fore they can get courage enough to go
against the back door. After they have
orce started they don't mind it. 1 always
had an idea that IL went broke would
start TO beg right away for fear / would
get hungry. At the usual Western rates
of railroad fare, or 6 cents a mile. a
man can make wages walking. Men sell
dom beat trains with blankets, except for
short distances. In making long trips they
either ship their bedding or leave 1t be-
hind entirely.
A hobo stew, or Mulligan, has great
staying qualities. An Irish stew is a Null
ligan. But Mulligan is not, necessarily.
simply an Irish stew. Anything goes in
a hobo Mulligan, even If It is paid for
1t is generally cooked in a five-ga1lnn COIL