Amador ledger., 1903-08-28
SIMPLE FISHER FOLK
THE NEWFOUNOLANDERS ARE EAs-
ILY IMPOSED UPON.

A Pathetic and Tragic Incident That
Illustrates the Attitude Of the "Up-
per" Classes-The Hardy Courage
of the Outporters.
st. Johns, N. F., lives by its fish
prizes; nothing worth while is produced
There. but, according to the unsophisti-
Gated stranger, there is a noisy and
vituperative wrangling over the wealth
that comes down from the coasts" says
a writer in the Worlds Work. There
are some few factories, to be sure, but
they are too ingeniously managed by
half. For Instance, q certain brand of
tobacco, made at ST. Johns and ex-
clusively consumed by fishermen, is
sold In the French island of st. Pierre
for half what it costs the Newfound-
land bay noddie,' and the manufac-
rafers pay $4,000 yearly to the pro-
pr1etor of a rival concern to induce
him to keep his plant shut down. At
st. Johns, too, is the aristocracy of the
colony-merchants, middlemen, law
yers, physicians, off1ceholders, tricky
and abusive politicians and colonial
knights (the visitor may observe on a
signboard above little corner store:
Sir Thomas Morburn, Grocer. Cheap
Teas). There is neither sympathy nor
mercy for the fisherman here, though
there is a most enthusiastic reception
for what he takes from the sea. He is
regarded as legitimate prey, is most
marvelously lied to before election and
abused, ridiculed and reviled after
ward. But through it all he preserves
a humble faith In all those set in au-
thority over him.
"a doctor Of the outports-the Incl
dent Is related because, though it may
appear an extraordinary case, it yet
aptly indicates what has for years
been the attitude Of the upper classes
toward the fishermen, without whom
Newfoundland would lie waste and
deserted, the shame of the fair earth
doctor Of the outports was once call
ed to a little white cottage where
three children lay sick of diphtheria.
He was the family physician-that is
to say, the fisherman paid him 80
much by the year for medical attend
ance. But the injection Of antitoxin
is a surgical operation and therefore
not provided for by the annual fee.
This said the doctor. will cost
you So an injection, john
oh, iss, Eur! was the ready reply.
I'll pay you, Eur. Go on, zur.'
But you know my rule, John-no
pay, no work. 1 can't break 1t for you,
you know, or I'd have to break 1t for
half the coast
oh, ayel 'Tis all right. l wants
un cured. I'll pay you when sells me
fish,
"'But you know my rule, John-cash
down
"The fisherman had but 81, no more.
Nor could he obtain any more, though
the doctor gave him ample time. am
sure that he loved his children dearly,
but unfortunately, he had no more
than 81, and there was no other doctor
for fifty miles up and down the coast.
Four dollars said the doctor, two
children. Which ones shall 1t be,
Johnr
(which ones7 Why, of course, after
all, the doctor had himself to make the
choice. John couldn't SO the doctor
chose the 'hand1est' ones. The other
one died.
"'Well,' said John, unresentfully, the
day after the funeral, I s'pose a doc
tor have a right t be paid for what he
does. But much puzzled, it's kind O
queerp
"The Newfoundland outporters are
hardy, courageous, boldly adventurous,
simple lived, God fearing, warm heart
ed-a physically splendid race of men.
Cowards and weaklings have for four
hundred years been the unfit Of the
place; they occur, of course, in the best
regulated families, but do not long sur
vive, for exposure kills off the weak
lings, and In the midst of many dan
gers the towards lose their lives. Chill
dren learn to sail punt at six or seven
years old, and at every age they are en-
couraged to play at the highly danger
GUS game Called copying) Of prancing
about on floating ice. The skill ac-
quired in leaping from one sinking
block to another would make the
trumpeted river driver look like a
laundering child. As men, they know
their punts as intimately as a cowboy
knows his horse, and they will say of
their boats in a gale, I thought she'd
not live through it t'day,' with the
same unconcern that a cowboy might
say Of his horse, He nearly throwed
me that time The race is truly hardy
and courageous. It was John Butt,
with a broken collar bone and a split
forehead to show for 1t, who survived
two wild, snowy nights and day on a
twenty foot Ice pan, over which for
many hours broke great seas, heavy
with jagged fragments Of ice, and it
was reckless Green bay skipper who
let the wind blow the masts out of his
schooner rather than reef her, because
he had been told that his crew thought
him 'nervous'-a mad sort Of courage,
to be sure, but proof positive for all
time that he was no coward"