The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-14
ENGI4AND's CENSUS TAKING.
Experiences of the Collectors Among
Curious Types of British COsmo-
pOlitanism.
From the London Mail.

If the passer-by will step out of Com
mercial Road East. with its numbering
buses and vans aud English-faced crowd,
into Berners street, or Providence street
or Boyd street, he will find himself in
a little colony where the only things Eng
lish are the houses.
Gone are the English faces, gone the
familiar cockney accent. Strong, bold
faces, with keen eyes and noses that
are sometimes fiat and sonnet times booked,
replace the one; Yiddish, Polish, Russian,
or at best, broken English, replaces the
other. The enumerator for the census
is usually one of the foreign interpreters
of the School Board, and seeing that most
of the census papers on Monday will have
10 be filled up by himself when he goes
TO call for them. and that he will hard
ly find a single census paper that is NOT
Imperfect, 1t may be imagined that his
task will not be an easy one.
Not long ago sanitary inspector found
nine Russian emigrants in a room some
ten feet square. There are many Rus
SLAMS, but more Poles. Schaefau, Gron-
hofsky, Rosenthal Goldsten, Kunstler
Losz such are the names; in the birth-
place, column Village Sebovy Russia, :"
or some such name, will crop up among
long line of Poland" Poland" "Po-
land" and sometimes will come next TO
a phrase that sounds oddly familiar
Born in Germany"
1t is not often that paper will have to
be filled up entirely by the census taker.
The alien immigrants usually have some
measures of education, and are quick to
hl1f he ,-if l..
census paper in this quarter where the
only columns filled up were those which
seek to find whether the persons enum-
Grated in it are employers or EN-
ployed." There was a cross under each
of the three headings Employer" EN-
ployed," Neither" One of them per-
haps the emigrant felt was sure to be
right. When aspaper is entirely blank
some such conversation as this will be
carried on, from which the reader may
discern some of the peculiarities of the
district. Says the enumerator to the lady
at the door, pure Kalmuck, coarse hair,
fiat nose, lips and head:
Your husbands name is Gronhofsky?"
"Yis, he is a male and he is 25 l am
z, his wife, and there is Broder LOSE"
your brother Losz. Yes, and how old
is he?"
mo, he is mein mans broder. His
fader ha0 dree wives.
"WeH, how old is he?"
81 do not know; he is as high as me-"
'Is he 20 or forty?"
"Wie meinen Sie?"
"Well" remarked the enumerator. 20
litely, 81 should know you weren't TO- Is
he as old as you?Y
"Nein, he was younger as me; make
him dwenty."
The enumerator says that II only every
one was as good as this his task would
be an easy one.
In Hospital.
In the wards of hospital every event
which brings the poor sufferers nearer the
that outside world which some of them
will never see again has an interest I'M
dreamed of to those whose work or whose
pleasures give them many things TO think
about. The patients names, approx
mate ages. and occupations are all en-
tered in the general books of the hospital
when the patient comes in. and a smaller
record is kept by the sister Of each ward.
Consequently when the schedule with
which each ward is provided comes TO be
filled up by the ward sisters the work is
one rather of verihcation than of fresh
enumeration. But sometimes this cerih-
cation leads to numerous episodes, for a
patient who has put himself down as plain
William Rowe in the hospital books when
he comes to assume an official Importance
as citizen enumerated by the census of
Great Britain and Ireland will suddenly
disclose that his real name is William
Charles Henry Anastasius Rowbothan.
Put me down as that for Government"
he will say. for that's what | am
though William Rowes enough OF 1t to
use for every day" Sunday is very
good day for making the census. from
the hospital point of view. because 1t is
the chief visiting day Of the week and
the number OF parents and friends who
come make 1t easier to find the birth
places of the little children in the cots.
One year a parent who was asked these
questions considerably responded. "Oh.
don't you bother about putting down his
mai me. sister I've put him into ours along
with the other young 'uns." 1t is a sin
gular thing in hospitals that not one
fourth of the patients can tell where they
were born. In the occupation column he
least favored calling is that of "coster-
monger." No one admits TO It; all coster-
mongers are fish merchants or vegetable
dealers. I4.l.ts
In Workbouse.
AS In the hispital so IN the worhouse,
census taking Is comparatively simple
affair. because a census, in all but one
particular II taken III "A WEll-OT0efeQ
workhouse every six months. The addi-
tional particular which the decennial cen
sus demands is the place Of birth" The
old inmates are quite used TO the half
yearly roll call, but the new item as
sumes immense importance I'm their eyes,
and for the last week nothing else has
been talked about. The spelling Of rural
names will puzzle the most patient OF
workhouse masters, for generally while
the "old inhabitant" can remember the
names Of all his or her neighbors there.
his mind is blank as to other means Of
Identification. great difficulty in work
houses Is TO get the ages right. for most
OF the old folks claim greatly advanced
ages. and n all were 10 be believed there
would be no workhouse without IT'S cen
tenarian. West Hams centenarian. an
old lady who claimed to be 1903 and who
remembered the terror that country peo-
pie felt Of "Boney." unfortunately died
at the close Of last year In that work
house. however. there are twelve old la
dies whose united ages amount 70 nearly
900 years, though perhaps their state
ments ought 10 be received with some
reservation. There Is IN another London
workhouse an old lady, who. n she lives
two days longer. Will have been In three
Of the decennisl censuses held there.