The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-05

bedroom and kitchen, the first of which
/ holds double bed, a sewing machine,
several hanging book shelves, a wash
stand, table and several chairs. Does
miladys boudoir hold more?
The walls are gay with pictures;
bright calendars chiefly, and old photo
graphs of quantity dressed people In
unpleasantly stiff poses.
A picture of the President adorns one
corner. The owner of the boat, she
who answers the CHEEKY summons OF
the old negro with an invitation as
CHEEKY, is tirelesS in her efforts TO en-
terrain the chance visitor.
She is a large woman, brown of hair
and blue of eye, and her calico gown
is comfortable even unto carelessness
She has been here three years, she
says, and she likes it mighty we'll
amazn' we'll, Fl"
She claims a small town in Tennes-
see as her birthplace, and dilates with
feeling upon the superiority of New
Orleans as a place of residence.
"Why when we a'sittin down mere
eatin' of all these lovely vegetables and
things, they're just a'tearin' up the
ground in Tennessee to put the seed
down"
Before one has time to recover from
this interesting piece of geographical
information, she is singing the praises
of the shanty boat in terms unmistak-
able.
mo rent to pay" fancy evadins
landlords by a prolonged life on the
ocean wave" mo homework to do
or at least none worth talkin' about:
A breeze right in the front door all o
the time; all the water you want loi
washin' dishes and clothes.
A tall slip of a girl. with a skin IKE
the petal of a magnolia bud, smoothes
her light hair composedly before lne
mirror at one side of the room. POSI-
blv many visitors have rendered mel
caIlous and Indifferent, for she preens
herself as unconsciously as BIRD a.
a woodland pool, and puffs her LOCKE
| and powders her cheeks with the al
| of an artist in such matters.
There comes out of the growing uusl
| from the other shanty boat Whlcl
/ floats astern, a little commonplace man
with nothing about him TO snow Ina
the wanderlust runs in his veins. n
| is not young, he is not handsome. ~
eyes are meshed in crows feet' anu NJ
hair struggles grayly around pal'
| crown. but the hound of your fancy Il
on the trail, and you see him as ne wal
and as one other saw him.
That other speaks of him quite cool
" as "the man who owns that poat,
but she cannot hide faint naVor o
pkoprietorship, and she regards MIN
almost with pride.
INV first husband was veteran,
she saws, with that willingness TO SPEAK
of private matters which is the trade
mark of these people, and ne sortei
hankered after his oil stompin' ground
So three years ago we came down here
and he with a jerk of her head TO-
ward the man in the half-dusk behind
her-"he was an oil acquaintance OF
ourn. / knew him when l was a girl
like Mandy there-he up'n follered US.
NV husband died two year ago, and II
right nice for us all to be here togetn-
err"
The larger boat floats just back OF
the woman's. and slender PLANK
reaches from deck to deck. Crossing
this plank, the atmosphere changes IN
efnably. The boat is divided into
three rooms, first workroom CT Is in the
stern). then kitchen, then bedroom, not
in a comfortable litter Of pictures ana
furniture like the foremost boat, but
severely clean and orderly.
Social Lines Drawn.
This man has had the gypsy strain
all his life: he has wandered up and
down in the shanty boat for years. yet
there are incongruous conventional
ties in the cross stitched God Bless
Our Home" which hangs above his
bed and the screens of wire netting
over every door and window. His
kitchen is roomy and clean, with a
safe swinging in one corner and
breakfast food" apparent on the white
pine table The woman takes Visi-
BILE pride in it's cleanliness.
yes as clean as this all the time,
she saws, "and tes' as comfortable.
tell you, wouldn't be paid to live on
shore 1t took us two years to get here
from St. Louis, what with tyin' up at
one place'n another, and it'll cost us q
hundred dollars to be towed back; but
it's worth tit sho' is"
Sometimes the tugs take as many
as thirty or forty shanty boats up the
river at once. They won't take one at
a time Has to have a bunch. And
the mo- they is the less you has TO
ray. Once you starts back, though,
you can't do no tyin' up-if you do,
you're left.
I'VE like company; we has visitors
real often: we're people that's people.
Now, them vagabond shanty boats, the
kind that ties up about a mile farther
on-they Jest nachally steal their way
down here. Why. the Park Commits
sioners don't low any shanty boats to
tie up at the levee there jest because
o. them stealth tramps. We're keepin'
away from em. here by ourselves. Us
respectable people gets the blame for
all the tramps and thieves what lives
on shanty boats, and Lawd knows
they's lots OF EN-.
Them thievin' shanty boats tries 10
mingle up with us people. but ives peo-
pie that is people, and we amt havin'
nuthin' to do with EN-"