Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1867-02-01

man or stout boy standing by a pile of them
with his bill-a sort Of broad bladed. crooked
knife. the blade three to four inches wide and a
foot long. equally useful to cut up cane in the
field and to chop up small fuel or DO any ether
rough cutting work in the kltchen-and on an
assent to buy, proceed to hack of the green
covering Of nut, trim away the thick white
corky husk and with a smart blow Of the bill
cut of the top 50 as to expOse q hole, from which
the purchaser could drink the pint or 60 Of
sWeetish nutritious fluid within-and all for
"one cent - Hundieds Of little piles are seen
on every hand. OF sweet potatoes OF divers col
ors, vans, trAnges, lines, sugar apples. ginger
reois, peppers, okrs, pigeon peas, &c, bunches
OF roots ike little onions. water cresses, bay
leaves, abOrtons of eabbages, and scores Of other
eatables Of which have not learned the NAMES.
each pile offered for one cent. Now and
then more ambitious pile is seen the
price Of which is seven cents" The Jump
from zone cent to "seven cents" which one
sees made necessarily, sounds very odd. ''What
magic is there about that particular sum,
seven CENTS" one asks himself, that it is
named on every hand rather than Eve cents,
six cents, or ten cents. as is the case in our
Northern markets The solution to the quss-
tion lies in the tact that formerly the half ,fireT,
little Danish coin worth about seven and
half cents. Wss the half Bit in common use.
That has bocu taken cut Of circulation and five
AMI ten cent pieces are used. But the measure
Of the artele sod for the half silver continues,
and the price nearest TO it. seven cents keeEs
it company.
The tlles in the market are not limited TO
green fruits and vegetables. Trays Of corn
meal are dealt out by the little half calabash
full for cEe cent, shelled peas, sugar cakes, |
dried fish. dabs Of fresh butter; aud now and |
then chickens tied by the legs together are to be
found, and an occasional live turkey tied By the
heels quietly awaits purchaser at such price /.
as he can command. believe, however, the I
live turkey lies under some restrictions as to hs
appearance in the Saturday market-the pre-
sumption being, unless the seller can show .
''pAss' to sell turkey, that he has been stolen l
and therefore liable to seizure by some limb Of .
the law. Extensive. so far as number IS coz
ceEnsd, as these petty sales are on market day,
many hOusehOlders are supplied from day to
day at their houses; and besides, trays loaded .
with fruit, bread, &c. for sale, are to be seen
cry day under the aIcades along the street
sides and on the heads Of barefooted perambu-
la;ors.
Besides the miscellaneous market above d5s-
crited there is another, few streets oG, for tie
sale Of wood and coal Here are to be seen
great quantities OF large hggO;s composed Of
sticks cf wood each stick from An inch aud
half to a fingers thickness in diameter, and
abou, three feet long, each fAggot tied up by
strings OF bark or small wiihes; the faggot
nearly as large round as mans body, and for
sale for seven cents" Smaller ones Of little
twigs 60 for one cent. These hggots constitute
the fuel generally Us.d IN esch household in the
town. Great qusnutiss-perhaps might more
truly tay many quantities-of Goals are also sold
These Goals are all burned from the snail sized
ucod above spoken of. ard hundreds cf little
piles Of this coal. each for zone cent, are ez-
posed il this market and to be seen exposed
along he streets FOR sale On other days. There
are many operations here for which one cents
worth Of ecal will suffice. Thee who please
have chance to purchase on msrket day by the
"tsgful'' FOR dollar bag.
Burning charcoal without leave, Is one of
the things inhibited to the estate latorer, By the
Labor Act" The temptation to pilier small
wood sLd siealthily burn it into coal in httle
coal pits beneath the surface Of the ground, to
procure an article which is sure TO sell for cash,
is very great As check to dishonest acts Cf
that toIi, | TN told that the appearance Of coal
at market is under some special regulation.
= Passes to have so many aggots Of wood or
So many ttRs Of eoal in the lead, are furnished
to those who bring them to market, and are
scrutin.zed by police officer. to prevent frauds.
II sry enc thinks that have described very
small msrkC, snd way OF doing things en-
very small scale, can only remind him that
ST. Croi1 Is very small principality and Chris
tisust1d only a very small town.
Yours, w. B.