The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1920-01-17
DIGGING WORMS.
Their LIFE WORK
Strange Occupation Of New York
Seaside Community.
have OWN LITTLE STRIKE
Fishermen Of Greater New York De.
pend on the canarsie Worners for
Their Bait Declare They Earn
Their Fifteen Cents a Dozen Pretty
Hard-Worm Boys Figure Promi-
nently in the Social Affairs Of the
Place. ~t-

nently III TIC SoSiai NHaIS " e"S
Place. $3.50
1.-TWO eighty-fve-that's my count;
gimme three worms u
The wormers of Canarsie, after a
hard days work which started at
8 a. M. and was done at II, were
chugging past the breakwater and up
to Rigby's wharf in gay Canarsie
Shore, New York. They chugged in
three motor boats from the bar and
false channel in Jamaica bay, where
and whereabout their daily labor every
day In the year is carried on. They
are fifty in number, and, with the ex-
ception of a few gray heads, most OF
them are young and all Of them, ire
spective Of age, are happy go lucky in
disposition.
1t would take deep mind reader to
see that they had recently passed
through a crucial moment in their
trade, a strike, but as it is ended and
they are at work again, much to the
delight of the fishermen of Greater
New York, whose sole dependence for
the wriggly bloodworm they are, the
end came around to their satisfaction.
Nevertheless as the wormers jumped
out on the float in front of Rigby's
with their little wooden buckets full
of bloodworms and spreading out the
rich green sea grass as protective
nest for the ugly worms on a news
paper and figured out how many dozen
worms each had taken, their ejacu-
lated bits Of conversation showed that
the iron of public criticism because Of
their attitude had penetrated to their
souls.
Fifteen Cents a Dozen.
"Ten dollars a day! Phew! I got
twenty-fOur dozen and bOrried three
worms to make that. Fifteen cents a
dozen is what we get and my ketch
comes exactly to $500. Wouldn't like
to see some of them profiteers workin'
for money like that? Look at them
hands !"
A bunch Of "wormers" showed their
hands calloused in deep ruts-the eff
rake which is the only one they can
use effectively. And they made I'M
pleasant remarks about the hungry
green flies that infest the sand bars,
not to feed on blood worms but on
blood wormers. But their complaints
that they would like to have the man
in New York who so strongly objected
to their getting more money for their
daily catch come down and deliver
himself up to the "green heads" as a
proper punishment for taking 40 cents
a dozen at retail, they were a jolly lot
Of fellows. The highest number Of
worms caught on this particular day
was 42O, which will net the lucky
wormer 1925. These were figures that
refuted the charge that the honest
wormers are loafing on their Job and
taking $40 day for the privilege.
Hop SPAIN is the boss Of the outfit,
and his Is no fancy name but one that
came naturally and by inheritance
Hop" being a family cognomen. He
is splendid, stalwart specimen of
manhood, apparently under forty, but
he said he had been a "wormer' for
twenty years.
Let 'em talk" said Hop, laughing
and showing set of perfect teeth. He
was referring to the critics who have
said unpleasant things about the blood
worm market and ridiculed the men
connected with it. LET 'em talk; they
got to have worms or quit hshin', aud
nobody who knows. what he's talkin'
about can deny that we earn our Is
cents a dozen pretty hard. Ask any,
body here in Canarsie. They've seen
us out in all weathers, and some of
'em has tried worm diggin' for them
selves. So they know it's no picnic.
The boys are just what you see 'em
now-take glass of beer now and
then, do little fishin', don't loaf
around the way folks think, and I
guess as long as we amt botherine
round much folks that mind their own
business won't bother u.s." g..
. Strike Arouses Interest.
Whatever stand may have been
taken by foreigners it is certain that
Canarsie was with the "wormers" in
their strike to citizen. And having
made that statement, the further in
tricacies of thought into which a blood
worm naturally winds will not be DUR
sued here. The strike has been pro-
ductive Of deeper interest and de-
sire to know the ways of life of the
honorable guild of worm diggers.
Canarsie nestles on Jamaica bav.
Huddled along bank Of an artificial
canal are various seaside buildings.
far from pretentious, although thew
call themselves hotels. Here and in
the .gayer restaurants that constitute
with carrousels and switchbacks the
Golden City" across the way NAV he
purchased in a cooked state the su,.
len shedder, whitefsh, bluefsh. the
retiring oyster and the equally retir.
ing but also pugnacious lobster. Tn.
I'll but few weeks ago it was DOS
slDle to drain a cup that cheers in
the intervals Of picking out the Sue
culent meat Of the latter's claws Now