Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-13
ON MARKET DAY.
What May be Seen In and Around the
Market Building.

People who never go to market, but who
trust to buffers and servants, miss much
that is interesting even though they get
better filled baskets than though they did
the marketing themselves.
The city market, on market day, is a
bustling place. TO stand in the wings of
the great building ON Saturday afternoon
and watch the crowd affords any one who
loves scenes full of life, and rich with sug-
gesti0n, pleasure which never flags.
The hundreds of figures ever shifting
like bits Of glass in a kaleidoscope, are
constantly making new pictures and new
combinations Of forms and cOlors. All
the little scenes around the stalls
appear as pantOmime. AS the stout
butcher, white-aprOned to the chin,
takes down from the hook featherless
chicken, and holds it at arms length to-
wards the angular visaged boarding house
mistress, 1t is easy to imagine the glowing
eulogy which he is prOnouncing upon the
guileless fowl. When he is through, the
angular lady prods the fowl with her fore
finger, hOists it's featherless wings to see
if the flesh is tough enough, smells of it,
and passes on.
The Saturday afternoon assemblage
is democratic, and it's feminine
part represents every social de-
gree and station. 1t is easy to pick out
the young housekeeper, to whom market
ing is new experience, by the readiness
with which she buys, filling her basket
before she is half way down the aisle, and
then turning back. The dealers behind
| their stalls seem to recognize her too, for
| they have their best bows and smiles for
! her. The regulars, the veteran marketers,
are not caught by smiles but examine
most infinitely into price and quality.
! Busting women, busy dealers, small boys
| with big baskets, and the stalls, heaped
up with the products OF garden, dairy,
farm, the poultry yard and the butchers
| block, make up a scene almost unrivaled
| for color, variety and life:
Outside the building the curbstone
market is hardly less patronized than the
stalls inside. The city authorities, by the
passage of a recent ordinance, have dis
| turbed the sQuatter rights of the curb
stone dealers, and the street is now as
! open in front of the market as any street
in the city.
! The stalls are beginning to put on
their holiday dress. The poultry stalls
| are filled with turkeys, chickens, duck,
| geese, doves, quail and all the tOOthsome
| birds in season. The fish stalls have
every variety Of the finny tribe; the vege-
| table and fruit stalls are all occupied,
| and on the south side of the building the
stalls are very full of seasonable meats.
! The following prices prevailed yester-
| day: COcoanuts DC. to l0c. apiece; ba-
| uanas 25c. to 40c, dozen; oranges 15c.
| to 25c. a dozen; apples &c. a quart
malaga grapes 200. 10 25c. pound; ca
| tawba grapes 15c. to zoe. pound; Con
| cord grapes 15c. to zoe. pound; celery
| 10c. to 15c. bunch; carrots 10c. quart
| turnips 10c. a quart; lettuce &c. head
| cabbages l0c. to 20c. head; red cab
bages 10c. to 15c. head; sweet potatoes
sc. quart; Irish potatoes sc. a quart;
onions 10c. to loo. a quart; beets
| 10c. a quart; radish sc. a bunch
| horseradlsh 20c. pound: artichokes 15c.
a quart, or two quarts for 25c,; wax beans
20c. quart; COW peas 10c. quart, or
three quarts for Doc; wild ducks 4Oc. to
! 81 % pair; partridges 25c. pair; snipe
! 25c. a pair; doves 20c. pair; turkeys
! 81 to 81 80 apiece; chickens 75c. to 81 %
a pair; eggs still maintain their old price
| at SOC. q dozen. The market was well
stocked with meats and fish, selling at
the usual prices.