Providing for Rope Skippers.

Otago Witness, 14 December 1893, Page 49

Providing for Rope Skippers.

One of the many methods of turning an honest penny at British watering places is thus described in a Home paper : — " Love yer, guvnor, that there rope has brought us in many a ' suvrln.' Ain't it, Jim ? " recently remarked a man to whom the writer had put a query. It was late in the evening, and the two men — the speaker and his partner Jim, to whom he referred for corroboration — were returning from Blackheath, to all appearance tired, but undoubtedly in a happy frame of mind. "Yer see, when people goes out for the day, the young women and girls love a skip, and as they never ain't got no rope of their own, why we supplies it for 'em and turns it. " How much do we charge ? A penny for 10 minutes, or until the skipper breaks down twice. In course, none of 'em ever keeps on for 10 minutes if they only pays a penny. We takeß good care that they shall trip up twice before that length of time. How do we manage that ? Why, when I gives my partner a wink, we just give the rope a bit of a shake as we turn it, and down comes the girl what's skipping. " Our best customers though are them what arrange a sort of match who shall skip longest. They generally pays well, and in course we do the best we can for 'em. "Some of them girls can skip, too, and no mistake. I've seen 'em stand side by side and jump until we've been fairly done up turning for 'em ; and they themselves sometimes keep on until they drop down fainting. "On a job like thab we always expect sixpence from the winner, and sometimes their friends collect a few copper 3 for us besides. Oh, at holiday time we usually make something over 10s a day each."