The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-01-03

| came so noticeable that / had 10 stop
| the orchestra until the hall was quiet.
How 10 bring up family on week
ly wage OF s12 is problem that looks
unanswerable 10 many man who has
not tried. Yet In Boston there are
thousands OF families, some OF them
with five and six children, that depend
for their food. their clothing, their edu-
cation, and their little luxuries on sl2
a week.
And IL is not a question OF hardship
with these folk TO live within the week
ly income of the father and wage
Garner. Sobriety and thrift, say those
who best know, are the only REQUESTS.
There must be no attempt TO emulate
the style OF living that goes with larg-
er revenues. There must be a healthy
and steady wage-earner 10 bring home
his Sl2 each Saturday night, and wise,
practical, economical mother 10 do the
financing Of the household.
Statements made by wage-earners,
employers and clergymen in various
parts OF the city, proved revelation as
TO the sum required by the families OF
workingmen for their upkeep. Thous-
ands Of laborers and heads OF fam
lilies working in factories in all parts OF
the metropolitan district receive only
sl2 a week Yet they manage 10 send
their children 10 school, keep them well
dressed, and give them good and suf-
ficent food
Until recently the laborers in the en-
ploy Of the city of Boston received
wage Of $l2 week. 1'ne wage was re-
Gently raised to $3.50 a week when
the cry was raised that the former
wage was too small for their needs.
The plea that rents are higher now
than ever before, that prices Of food
and clothing are abnormally high, too
high for the $l2 a week laborer with
a family, Is not admitted by prominent
clergymen of the city, who have best
means of knowing their parishioners.
The neat police reports OF these la
ter days, pounded out with care and
deliberation on the newly-installed
typewriter, may be more businesslike
than those sent I'm, written by hand
and often in "simpihed spelling"
some 80 years ago, but they are GER
tainly not as amusing.
In two dusty tones, records of the
police of Jamaica Plain in the early
COS. recently discovered by Sergt.
Charles Brazier of Station l3, there Is
much that throws light on the people
and the methods OF those days Then
Jamaica Plain was THE Plains not
annexed to Boston. Then the town
constable took his time, as his re-
port show.
The books in the possession of Mr.
Brazier contain reports Of 1860 and
1861. Many time visitors to Jamai-
ca Plain have laughed over the quaint
phraseology indited by old fellows
gone TO dust long ago, who wrote as
the spirit moved them and bo hered !
not about grammar and punctuation.
Every report began with "All quiet
during the night with the unct.on of
"All quiet along the Potomac" and
seemingly with the same significance,
as events were often anything but
quiet during the night,
One report Of 1860 ran: "All q let
during the night, saving Franz Heiser
oponed his drinking saloon over TO
Canterbury and gave the boys a free
blowout They were SO noisy that the
neighbors got scared and two consta-
bles was sent over. The proprietor
met them on the door step and tCld
them to ge where he had not ouGhter
The friends of hsen inside reinforced
his remarks. and thcr was a free fight
The constabes got away half-mur-
dered, hut managed to catch ahold OF
the proprietor and make him promise
TO behave, which he did"
Hospitality was dispensed, as fol-
lows: There was an Irish woman. an
Italian man. with his wife and four
children. and three drunks took In for
over Sunday. They had % meals be-
tween them, and we are Obliged to let
them go. as we had no more food TO
offer them
Mercy seemed compulsory at times.
thus: I'VE locke dup more drunks last
night than the station house would
hold, and We was obliged to let the last
seven of them go, owing TO thee b
ing no room"
The week beginning Dec. 30 will see
the last of advanced vaudeville at the
fremont theatre for Messrs. Klaw 4
Erlanger have made an amicable ar
rangement with B. +. Keith under the
terms of which this famous firm will
withdraw from the vaudeville field.
Beginning Jan. 6, the English comic
opera, Tom Jones" comes directly
from its run at the Astor theatre. New
York. tom Jones" has scored a tre-
mendsus success and Boston playgoers
will welcome the opportunity To hear
this comic opera which was distinct
a A.