The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1902-02-14


the New York Steamship Piers, and
They Generally Manage to Raise u
Rumpus on the Dock.
There he comes" growled the old
Waterman at the entrance to the steam
ship pier, swisEing his stick as hanson
clattcred circuitously through the jam OF
wagons and trucks.
The warm looking man in the cab was
wriggling around in the seat and bawl-
ing Mt the driver to make haste, and the
ichu in turn was bowling at the truck
men under the shed to turn out and give
him room. The "All ashore!" and All
aboard" words had already been passed
m the steamer and on the pier, and the
unshipping of the gangways was IN prog
ress.
Il was waiting for him." went on the
old pier Waterman. Il knew he'd be
along, | wouldn't have felt comfortable
if he hadn't showed up. l don't think a
ship could have any luck on her passage
if there wasn't at least one of EN-.
Sometimes there are several Of EN-"
Several whatW
"Laggers, we call EN-" replied the old
watchman-"folks that stop on their way
to n steamer to play marbles or jacks or
pegtop-the ones that come scramblng
along when the chief engineers standing
by to get his first bells from the bridge.
I've been standing watch along the fronts
Of these docks since the days when the
side wheel packets had the passenger
trade of the western ocean, and not once
have seen a boat all ready to slide out
without one or more Of these laggers
banging mp at the last minute.
They're about equally divided between
men and women. And when they're left
they always carry on in bughouse man
ner. If the lager is man, he'll as like
ly as not dance around on the end OF the
pier. and shake his fist at the ship out in
the stream, and bawl about the thing be-
ing put up job, and threaten to sue the
company or burn down the pier, and keep
up 'cussin' like Horrible Bill, and abuse
the agent and all the rest of the compa-
ny employees on the dock, and act in gen.
eral like longshoreman with two quarts
of the barrel house stuff under his belt
strap.
when the lager that's left is wo-
man, she acts differently, of course. but
she gives US a run for our money at that.
She generally stands on the dock and aft
er handing her bag and parasol and gear
to her maid yanks out her handkerchief
and weeps. Then when the first misery
of it's over she gets mad and begins 10
say things. She always declares that the
ship has got under way at least two
hours ahead of its advertised schedule
time, and the more she talks the hotter
she gets. When she at length suddenly
remembers that most of her clothes and
jewelry are on the ship, that's about
rounding Governors island at that time.
she gets hysterical, and when woman
gets hysterical on a steamship dock you
can bet that there's plenty doing for all
hands and the cook.
Funny thing about the woman lager
who's left and whose clothes are aboard
the steamer that's gone off without her Ii
that she wants to send about a dozen ca
bic dispatches right from the dock before
the ships got as far as the Battery about
what's to be done with her trunks when
the steamer reaches the other side. There
is no use trying to tell her that she's got
plenty of time for that and that she
would do better to think it over during
the five or six days that it takes the
steamer to cross. She seems to have the
idea firmly fixed in her mind that the
company's going to try to rob her Of her
gear and that the ships due in Europe
some time before lunch and if she doesn't
do a lot of cabling before she quits the
dock she's due to lose her wardrobe and
gewSaws.
''Somc of the women laggers that get
left though, don't get wHrpy a little bit.
but the conversation that they work Off
when they see the ship belching black
smoke out in the channel is some sutry
and no mistake. One of these women
that sing in grand opera. foreign wom-
an of some kind she was. French or gin
ney or something like that. came racing
down in an automobile about three
months ago, only two minutes after the
ship had set her nose down the bay.
Well, say, l was glad then that ] didn't
k1ow any foreign languages, for II I'd
known what she was saying I'll bet hat
I'd have been shriyeled up. She just
stood on the end of the dock and talked
at the state of New Jersey over the way.
"She was q fine, handsome, big wom
an, and they tell me that on the stage
she sings like bird ON an apple limb.
but there wasn't any sing in her voice
that morning. You'd have thought she
was tearing up the old man for coming
home on Saturday night with a bun on
and breaking the crockery in the cup
board. I'm telling you straight that she
swept up and down that pier for 80
minutes talking without break, and |
saw all the ginney truckmen on the dock
crossing themselves and sticking their
fingers in their ears, so that she must
have been whooping it up a-plenty.
''She tossed her head around so much
that all OF the combs and hairpins came
out of her hair, and the fine. glossy black
bunch tumbled down below her waist
without her knowing anything about it.
She certainly made a fine picture. but her
maid didn't appear to be enjoying herself
q little bit. The maid was dead careful
to circle around the singing woman at all
average distance Of about IA feet
guess the maid was thinking about her
own hair. There was enough excite
ment that morning on this dock to last
for quite bit"
Just then a sleepy looking messenger
boy plodded up to the pier entrance. car
ryinG a splendid basket Of choice fruits
"She gone yet" inquired the sleepy
looking messenger of the ole Waterman.
Nope, son." said the VI. tchman-the
ship had departed about half an hour
before. "Hand it over, and I'll get 1t
aboard"
The messenger passed the ornate bas-
ket of fruit over TO the old Waterman
and shambled away.
III there's any one thing that me and
my old wife like" remarked the old
Waterman. holding up the basket and
gazing admiringly at its contents, Its
fruit."-New York Sun.