HE WORKED HIS WAY FROM CAPETOWN TO LONDON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2375, 7 September 1899, Page 55

HE WORKED HIS WAY FROM CAPETOWN TO LONDON.

BY CARLISLE NORWOOD, OF MILLIONAIRES' ROW, NEW YORK. In the capacity of a stoker in the stokehole of the Avondale Castle I have just completed a voyage from Capetown to Lon* don. I believe it was the hardest experience a man ever had. It was Hades. I, who had never done a stroke or real hard work in my life, had to do the roughest and dirtiest kind of work that is known, and had to do it in a temperature

of 120 degrees, fanned by air red hot oJJ the equator. First it failed to kill me and then if made me stronger that I ever was before. I was never in such fine condition. lam as hard as iron and I have a magnificent thirst and appetite, both of which I am going to take care of. Last year I left New York for South Africa believing, as, did my family, that a change of air and scene would be good for me. I had a generous allowance from my; father and was able to travel comfortably enough. I went to England and started immediately for South Africa. I travelled through Cape Colony and then through the Transvaal, visiting the gold and diamond mines. I had many exciting experiences in the course of which I spent all my money. I returned to Capetown and there spent mj last cent. I had no credit, and living is very expensive there. Starvation stared me in the face. An instalment of my allowance was then due, but it would be payable in London, and it would take me *a long time to get it, considering that I should have nothing to eat in the meanwhile. My pride would not let me ask my father for more money. Besides, I did not feel sure that I would get it. Imade up my mind that the only thing to do was to sail for London at once anal I get my money there. The question was how to get there. Work my passage! T had offcer. read ofl the trick in books and never knew anyone jin fiction who failed to do it. lam young, strong, and able-bodied. I felt that I waa | just the man to work my passage. | I went aboard the first ship sailing for England, fche Avondale Castle, of the Castle 1 Line, and found the chief officer. I told him what I wanted, that I was willing to dw any work he would give me just for the passage. He was pretty disagreeable, and said there were no light jobs on- the ship that would suit a young man like me. " Why I understood that you go out hunting for men in port?" I said. " Yes ; but they are men who know their; business," he answered. " Do you mean to say there is nothing on this ship that a strong man who is starving can do to earn his food?" I asked. " Well, you might shovel coal," he re-i plied, dubiously. That was all I wanted. I signed articles I to serve as a stoker of the lowest class, and 1 the next day I was happy to sail away from Cape Colony. My first day in the stokehole made me wish I was quietly starving on shore. The temperature down below was 120 degrees.,The weather was very hot, and the air driven in by the fans did us no good. My labour was certainly unskilled. -It simply consisted of shovelling coal out of the bunkers into the furnace. The shovels slid easily over an iron floor, but yo'.i .-•«*? to take a mighty big shovelful to hold up your, end. The stokers worked almost naked in the glare of the furnace, and blackened with", coal and sweat from head to foot, sliding \ around with fearful energy and growling in ■ hardly comprehensible language.they seemed more like demons than men. They are, in fact, the roughest class of) men in the world. Their only amusements are drinking and fighting. Debauchery ia the only relaxation from their horrible occupation. But I was soon to find out that there were kind hearts among those apparent demons. I had not been at work for an hour before I fainted away. I was earned up ott deck again for a spell, and as soon as I came too I was told to get to work again. A hairy demon with a broken nose and battered face, who was alongside of me, looked at me with a mixture of pity and contempt and remarked — " Poor kid ; you ain't used to hard work, are yer? Just lay off on the next watch and I'll look aftei at somehow." I gulped down a choking in my throat,and then I swore to myself that as aa American and a gentleman I fc would do the work I had undertaken to do, and would not throvi myself on the 'pity of any hard- worked companion. " Y*ou're a darned good fellow," I said to my friend, "but 111 hold up my own job. I'm just as strong as anybody, only I haven't got used to this sort of work." That incident stimulated me. I go 6 through my first watch all right. We worked four hours at a stretch, and when they were over I used to crawl on ' the deck and lie panting for breath for an. hour or more. I got to be blistered all over, a,nd coal dust was ground into me from head to foot so that I looked like a black man, and no washing I'couM get on the ship would make me white. There were some friends of mine travelling as cabin passengers on the ship, and after a while they looked me up and offered to help me out. But my pride made me refuse again, both because I did not care to accept charity and because I wanted to maintain my reputation in the stokehole aa a man who was not afraid of hard work. After three days of real torture I began to get " stronger. That process went on steadily for the rest of the voyage. I never imagined that I could put on so much muscle. In time I became almost as hard as a veteran stoker. I was never so strong in my life.

I received pay at the rate of 19 dollars per month for 21 days' work, with , deductions for supplies. By the time I arrived in London my allowance wat due at my banker's. 1 was so black thai my oldest friends would hardly have recognised. me. I spent most of my pay in getting » Turkish bath. Then I collected my allowance at the banker's and repaired to the Hotel Cecil, where I had a royal good time with a lot of friends, including those who had come over on the ship with me. I should not like tq, be a stoker again, but it was an experience that will not be without value to me.— New York Journal.