Tensas gazette., 1909-10-08


type of citizen, and they are not only
a thrifty class, as a whole, but OF
more than average intelligence in mat
ters other than their respective vo-
cations. To presume that only the vo-
caEilary of the dock walloper exists
in Milwaukee's marine district is afal
lacy. Stocks and bonds are not un-
familiar subjects among the men
awaiting the settlement of the present
trouble. and the classics can be quot
ed exclusively by number of the
men, who in summer steer the lake
leviathans between this and other
ports.
Andrew Gasteen, wiry, keen-witted
and Irish, grew communicative under
the mellowing influence of a redolent
corncob. lie could just as easily
smoke the best mixture made in a gold
mounted, genuine briar or meerschaum
pipe, for in his Is years as a SailOr
man he has saved his summers earn
inss. He owns his home, has some
mining stocks, and can pick good
bonds or advise you as to commercial
paper. Polysyllabic words flow from
his lips as easily as though he were a
| professor of English, and his views OF
economics are worthy of any students
attention.
Just in from Hot Springs, S. D., was
James Mullady. He also is waiting for
the end of the marine tie-up and is
| typical of his class. In summer he
sails as watchman. He reports a
most pleasant vacation at the baths.
where he met many persons Of more
or less renown. AS he is a living re-
! futation of the idea that sailors are
drunken buns, he experienced no
trouble in paying his board bills at the
swell resort hotel.
Boiling asphaltum for one of the
| biggest paving concerns in the country
was the occupation Of E. j. Shuewin-
ker, wheelsman. He is a young man
of clean-cut features and steady hand.
Red eye" never obscures his sight, be
his eyes fixed on the pinnacle or other
wise. He can tell you why you should
not so to the City of Angels on the
Pacific coast expecting to find money
growing On the bushes. "Chinks and
Japs, he said sententiOQsly, when
asked why white labor did not have
rosy pathway in the flower-decked
metropolis.
Young Bill Edmonson spent the win
ter at his home in Hamilton, Canada.
doing some work at Quebec when not
busy at home. Albert Lund, able sea-
man, has just come 10 Milwaukee az
ter having put in six months on his
government claim in Ontario province.
He expects to prove up and forsake
the water for the land after q few
more seasons on the lakes.
Coming nearer home, some 200 Lake
sailors wintered here in Milwaukee
as employees of the several shipyards.
Goats must be repaired, and who bet
ter than sailor men can be procured to
do the work?
The West Allis shops carried dozens
of fresh water tars on their payrolls
until navigation opened, and various
structural steel and bridge work was
done by men who spend the warm
months cn the water. And conditions
are similar in all Lake ports.
'If you want to hear some real
whistling. get up around the river (St.
Clair) as the beats go up and down."
said one Of a group of sailors in
Clinton street restaurant. Many of
the mates and captains sailing the
Lakes own farms up along there and
they have whistle signals you won't
find in any code book, but the folk en-
the farm can read 'em all right"
The farm germ seems to find mates
and captains easy victims, for the SAIL
ors say that the majority of them
spend the winter as agriculturists,
many Wisconsin farms being owned
by the masters of passenger and
freight boats. The cooks also seem
to take well to farming, although |
great numbers of them find employ
ment at their trade in restaurants |
ard hotels during the period of
closed navigation.
Rulers of the galley probably can't |
held boat to course in most cases, |
but nevertheless they make great sail |
ors on the sea of matrimony. Get talk !
ing to the average marine cook and |
it's no time at all before he is telling !
you about his wife's charms or the
latest trick of his baby boy. One cook |
waiting for his boat to get away is
an old father and mother |
up in a little Wisconsin village.
Scores of other instances could be
written to show that the common run
of inland sailor is a man able to care
and think for himself; man who can
and does travel, not Cnly on water, but
across the continent or from Wipni-
peg to old Mexico, and thereby learns
things that are never taught except in
the school of experience.
Some of the best men on the Mil
waukee police force once sailed from
down below" meaning the Atlantic
to the head of the lakes-some as deck
hands, some as masters. There are at
least a score Of policemen, some of
them now with cheyrons on their
sleeves, who scan the news of the ma
rine world with an interest born CT
recollection of the days and nights
when they heard nothing but the chug-
chug of the engines Geep down in the
hold or the creaking Of cordage on the