The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-06-25

who insist upon taking up positions on the edge of the wharf, where the buy CTS line up as the schooner draws into her berth.
 A line is cast ashore, and almost be- fore it has been made fast the buyers begin:
 How much have you Rot, Sam?'
 About 4.5OO."
 Then come the bids for the cargo.
 Walt till morning." says the skip per. T won't sell anything this after noon"
 This is final. and, after guying the skipper and the crew, the buyers dis perse. They know the skipper is talk ing the weather into consideration. It is late in the week and the sky is cloud ed. The chances are that few, if any, schooners will come in. and the skip per thinks that prices will be higher in the morning.
 This is only an incident, although perhaps one of the most important in daily life on the wharf In following the newcomer in his berth, the buyers have passed through a scene of activi- ty that can hardly be duplicated along Atlantic avenue. Other schooners. large and small, that have arrived dur ing the day. the corgoes of which have been bargainsd for and sold. are now discharging. Heavy two-wleeled carts painted blue are drawn up by the score, some loaded with fish, others waiting their turn.
 Men in oilskins and thick woolen nittens are hoisting baskets filled with cod, haddock and halibut out of the holds of dozen schooners and boats, and these are taken in hand by other men in oilskins and mittens on the wharf. All these fish are again sorted by men with pitchforks, who throw them into large boxes placed on scales, and, weighed and the tally taken, they are thrown into the carts, which, when loaded, are rolled into the sheds along the wharf. Some of the schooners have been to the Grand Banks and others have just returned from trip along the coast. It is all the same to the buyers and the men on the wharf. The fisherman back from a long trip is of no more interest than the one who has returned from few days shore fishing. Everything is taken as mat ter of course.
 The great object is to get the fish, without caring much where they come from. But in the handling of them there is the greatest discrimination. The man with the pitchfork can tell at a glance the particular species, and he slashes them around without any re- gard to the price that one may have to pay for any of these choice morsels at a down-town hotel, The private buy CTS, men and women, who come to the wharf to purchase supplies are even more discriminating but the ordinary person, the curious on T Wharf, sees nothing but fish, fish, fish-fsh appa- rently for the asking.
 !, On the wharf, on board the schoon- CTS, all is life On the decks the men in oilskins are sorting the fish, filling baskets with them or hoisting them to the wharf; others are at work prepar- ing for the next catch. batting the hooks or getting the many strange articles connected with the fisheries in readi- ness for the outward trip.
 Among what looks from Atlantic ave nue like a wilderness of masts, two tall spars are worming in and out, as the hull beneath them moves slowly out of the docks, sometimes through jam of hulls, big and little, that make the schooners near the avenue appear like fixtures, so closely are they wedged in.
 When the dock is filled with schoon- CTS the price of fish usually goes down. Shippers who arrive later and size up conditions often draw out again and take the catch around to the salters, for when fish are plentiful it is useless to offer any but the best and the salters are the best customers for anything that isn't No. 1.
 Recently, however there has been a demand for fish, and even nackerel, which was once used largely for bait, is now urloaded in large quantities. It is brought in small boats that have been along the coast, and now bait is more scarce than ever. It is one of the pro- blems that always confront the fisher man. lie may start out on hunt for 1t that will take him as far east as and spend more time looking for bait than he will in making his catch. Squid is used very largely for bait, but this cannot always be found in sufficient quantities to supply the demand.
 All this means much to the fishermen, for every man on board of schooner, from the skipper down, has per- sonai interest in the success of the trip. This is one of the features of the New England fisheries that has not changed with time. It is an old custom, brought over from England years ago, but Eng land has long since outgrown it.
 Most of the schooners engaged in fish ing were built on speculation. They are leased by the skipper and crew, who in sort of joint copartnership, fit them out for the voyage. When the catch is made the owners Of the vessel get one-quarter of the profits and the balance is divided among the skipper and his crew. And the proceeds of a trip are sometimes divided among a strange company. There will some times be on schooner men of all na- 
 At present about one-fourth of the fishermen who come to T Wharf are and large percentage come from Nova Scotia and Newfound- land; then there are men from Maine, French Canadians. Norwegias and half a dozen other nationalities, all con- xtxo 4t.-