The Cecil Whig., 1880-06-05
SOME STRANGE AVOCATIONs

Said witness under crosS-examina-
ton: 81 am Early-caller. | calls differ
ent tradesmen at early hours, from till
80 i'll the morning, and that is how
get my living. | gets up between II and
/: goes to bed at and sleeps till the
afternoon. calls bakers between l and
2-the bakers are the earliest of all
What sort of living he made is not re-
corded. a pound a week, we should say,
would be the outside figure, and to earn
that he would need couple of scores of
customers. The early-caller'S fee is well
earned, since but for his intervention his
clients would often lose days pay, if
not be thrown out of work altogether,
by failing to keep time. Not so deserv-
ing of encouragement are the ''tGp-pen-
nies,' carrying on their vocation in those
quarters of London where pawnbrokers
and poor people abound. They are fem
mime Intermediates between the pawn
broker and folks anxious to raise loan
upon their belongings, who, rather than
transact such business for themselves,
are willing to pay two pence for every
parcel conveyed to everybodys g uncle" :"
or redeemed from his clutches. These
go-betwecns. it is averred, also receive Il
quarterly commission from the trades
men they favor with their patronage;
and SO, one way and another, contrive to
make a comfortable living out of their
neighbors' necessities.
There are men in Paris, birds of a
feather with the chiffonier, who from
hospital to hospital collecting the linseed
plasters that have served the turn of
doctor and patient; afterward pressing
the oil from the linsccd and disposing of
the linen, after bleaching it, to the paper
maker. Others make 4 couple of francs
a day by collecting old corks, which be-
ing clean and pared, fetch, it is said, half
a franc per hundred.
\ lady resident of the Faubourg st.
Germain is credited with earning Il good
income by Matching red, black and brown
ants for,pheasant preservers. One Paris
ian gets his living by breeding maggots
out of the foul meats he buys of the
chitloners and fattcning them up in tin
boxes. Another breeds maggots for the
special behoof Of nightingales; and a
third murchaHd d'aStic0ts boast of selling
between thirty and forty millions of
worms every season for piscatorial purpos-
es. He owns a great pit at Montmartre,
wherein he keeps his store. Every day his
scouts bring him fresh stock. for which
he pays from five to ten pence per pound
according to quality; reselling them to
anglers at just double those rates, and
clearing thereby something over $500 a
year.
This curious avocation is not unknown
in England. Some twelve years ago, We
are told, Mr.. Wells, fishing tackle
maker of Nottingham, in order to insure
constant supply of bait for his custom
crs started Il farm for the rearing of lob
worms, cockSpurs; ring-tailed brandlings
and other worms in demand among the
| disciples of Walton, who abound in the
old lace town. To keep his farm stock
ed, men and boys go out at night collect
/ ing worms in the meadows and pastures:
a moist, warm night yielding from two
I to six thousand worms.
AS soon as they are brought in, they
are placed i'll properly sci .cted moss,
/ field moss for choice, to scour until they
become little more than skin-fTeshly
caught worms being too tender for the
/ anglers to handle; while ''when Il worm
is properly educated, he is as tough as q
bit of india-rubbcr and behaves as {
worm should do when put upon hook.
| When this condition is attained, the
worms are packed in moss and put up il
| light canvas bags for the market. This
worm merchant does not entirely depend
upon the industry of his collectors, but
breeds large quantities himself in his OWL
garden-the component parts of hi:
breeding heap being secret he not un
naturally keeps to himself.