Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-05-07
LONDON.
Its Street Merchants and other Me.
trOpOlitau Nuisances.
Mendicity IngeniOusIy Disguised =
The WOWan's Emancipation
Movement.
NashviIIe Union and American. ]

NashVlile Union ana American.
LONDON, April 10, 1875 The munich
pal regulations of London are so
"down" on mendicity, and so many ar
rangements are made through the me-
dium of work houses, alms-houses, etc,
to render an existence supported by
begging 80 much more uncomfortable than
one maintained by honest labor, that a
beggar, pare ct simple, is a rarety on
the streets Of this great city. Almost
every one Of the poorer classes seem en-.
gagged in some employment, chiefly mer-
camille in its nature, by aeans of which
he or she ekes out narrow subsistence.
Indeed, begging and the reception of
unearned money is so Objectionable to
the English mind that the fees, walls and
perquistes showered upon servants and
walters here are not regarded by the re-
cipients as gifts, but as pay and poor
pay at that, for value received. 1t re-
quires small capital to set up one Of
these street merchants, but immense
energy is required as the competition is
enormous; for instance, in one branch
Of street traffic, that of cigar lighters,
the jealous, peripatetic traders stumble
over each other in their desire to supply
unwilling customers and to effect sales
1t is nuisance which suppose the ma.
tive Londoner does not mind but it is
far different with the stranger. / for
one cannot get used to it. / have been
here halt year and still fear match
seller as much as ever. Lights, ere yer
gar lights, resounds on all sides. |
counted twenty yseven Of these peripate-
tic merchants in ten minutes walk yes
terday The little boy, the eyed man,
the lame, the halt, the blind and the
lazy, all take to the trade with eager
elrnestnness Then there is a tone and
manner of vending the two penny orth
of fuses which is both peculiar and
vexatious From the old woman, who,
shlvering in rags on the street corner,
begs you for the love of God, please to
take box, to the black eyed little
youngster who will follow you all over
town with the hope of selling, there is in
cluded every shade and variety OF
mendicity. You cannot get rid of them
They arise before you do in the morn
iug, and attend you patiently, even until
the theater performance is over at mid
night. Their language is neither sweet
nor dramatically correct. boy yer
lights" and igor fusees," with ex.
pressions stranger still, are the favor
ties, | dodge when | see them, but one
cannot be always on the lookout. Ohe
pushes his way through the fog, with the
head turned against the cold, easterly
wind, and feels miserably enough, but
before he IS aware gigantic figure
looms up in front and the racking cry is
shouted into his ear with the sudden.
ness of Gabriefs trumpet Pen cannot
picture the misery of such moment
You insist that you want no lights. or
you pretend that you do not hear and
that all your ancestors were afflicted with
deafness, butitis bare-faced detention.
You do hear and you will never iorret
it. | met a friend on the street the
other day with box Of lights hanging
by a string from his button-hole. I
asked him how it worked, and was told
that 1T was not much OF a success, as he
believed that the beggars did not care
SO much for quick profits as for the
pleasure of making noise.
1t is the same as regards the boot
blacks. Having your boots blacked to
distraction is no safeguard. Each boy
is convinced that the thing is not we'll
done until he does it himself, SO "shine
yer boots will be addressed to you at
every corner. ] find the newsboys to be
milder in their ways than the members
of the two above named classes; still
even they have little compassion. The
climax is attained, however, when one
boy antics in his person the character
istics of all these trades-then it is vex-