Ogden Daily Standard | 1915-01-15 | Page 9 | The Barge Dwellers of New York

THE BARGE DWELLERS OF NEW! YORK. The lot of the harbor bargeman is not one for commiseration. He is fai j more independent and content than his neighbors in the fetid hives of the tenement districts which he sees from his barge as he floats past the river foot of East Side streets At evening his floating home is moored in a quiet dock. He may sit on his bit of deck and enjoy his after-supper pipe in quiet, as he gazes upon the darkling ripples of the water and listens to tho dying roar of the city's busy day. His wife sits beside him putting the last stitchf-s in a gingham garment for their child, who already is in his bunk Their cabin is bright and clean, without and within. White paint and green trimmings, a bit of striped awning and a little flagstaff, are its outward embellishments. Muslin Mus-lin curtains at its tiny windows, geraniums ge-raniums on the sills, a cheery nickel clock on its own shelf above the stove a neat red table cloth, a home-made braided rug upon a bright oilcloth these give character to the living room, or "galley." W ithin is the bedroom, bed-room, perhaps six by eight feet, with a white iron1 bed and a bunk above-its above-its foot, In which the son and heir sleeps peacefully. There may be a cottage in New Jersey or down Long Island sound waiting this worthy cou pie when winter's ice closes the Hudson Hud-son and ends their season's work: but they make the barge their home while on it. Some of these barg-homes barg-homes shelter families of five or six persons. On some of the large covered cov-ered railroad barges the skipper's house is on the roof. Its dimensions may be ten by thirty feet, affording three rooms. In the "parlor" one would not be surprised to find a sofa. I a music machine and racks of rec- IrJ j ords, and family portraits In crayon. Bv all according to usage ashore; whlK fsW the captain, being of a sporting turn. 'W takes his family to sail on a Sunday in a gorgeously painted punt of his f- own building, with leeboards to make jk it weatherly, and a said setting as ,f neatly as the canvas of a cup de- if fender Winfleld Thompson, in Harp- I er's Magazine. fc