Jasper Republican, Volume 2, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1875 — In the Steerage and How It Looks. [ARTICLE]

In the Steerage and How It Looks.

Instead of small state-rooms there are larger apartments, accommodating from' twenty to forty individuals. The berths are arranged in two tiers and are constructed otherwise in very much the same way as are the sleeping apartments, of a re-, spectable and well ordered pig pen. The unmarried-men are sent to a room by themselves and the married couples and the younger children to another, and the unmarried women still another. The room into which these others all open and to which all classes have access is reached by two flights of stairs from the main deck. This place serves as dininghall and cabin, only there are no red velvet cushions lying about. There is no carpet on the floor and no rack.full of glasses and decanters to be rattling overhead. The tables are quite in keeping with the frugal fare served three times daily; For breakfast we begin with a mug of coffee, hot and sweetened, but not strong enough to be injurious, and, by the way the cows in this neighborhood are quite partial and can’t be induced to give milk for steerage passengers. A liberal supply of bread and butter makes up what is sometimes known abroad as a plain breakfast Oatmeal porridge,fwith black molasses, in addition to the above, may be expected for breakfast once or twice during the voyage. A good appetite will be needed for dinner; you will then be first treated to soup which looks very much like good strong dish-water, but it tastes better than it looks. Soon the steward comes around with a tin pail full of boiled potatoes, some of them about the size of a hen’s egg and some of them not so large. They are supposed to have been rinsed, but not washed or pared before cooking, and, if a little meal were added to the mixture, would be very like what New England farmers use to fatten hogs. After this boiled meat is brought around, not of the choicest cuts, to be sure, but an abundance, such as it is, is given. Dessert will be dispensed with, save on Sunday, when a kind of plum-pudding is added. For supper, about a pint of tea, served the same as coffee, and more bread and butter. The only change we ever knew in the above bill of fare is that of pea-soup and boiled salt fish, on Fridays, in place of the usual dinner.— Boaton Globe.