Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-10-13
THE FRUIT STAND MAN.
How He Makes n Good Living from
Small Business.


The institutions established on the vari-
GUS street corners and at number OF
places on the more public streets, and
known as fruit stands, are more numer-
Gus and do more business than most peo-
pie are aware OF. The majority of these
stands are presided over by natives OF
that country made so famous in olden
times by Alexander the Great, Homer,
and hosts of other famous old heroes.
The sunny sons of Italy control this
business In most cities, but this particu,
lar line of trade in Savannah has been
captured by tho Greeks. While the prices
charged by these dealers is by no means
moderate, still the number Of people pat
ronizlng them is large and they do good
business the whole year round. One
dealer, who controls three stands in the
city, sold apples. oranges, grapes, ba-
nanas, ETC., 10 the amount OF $3.50 during
last week. Bananas and grapes are the
purchasers favorite fruit at present,
though the orange, which Is just begin
ming to come in good. will be the vendors
standby for a number Of mOnths.
1t requires more tact and skill to Sc
! lect and eat the banana than any other
fruit, and IL is amusing To watch the am
erent phases of human nature displayed
IN the simple act of buying banana.
A NEWS reporter approached the pre-
siding genius OF q stand on prominent
corner a day or two ago, and asked what
fruits were selling best.
de banan' and de grape and de pear"
was the reply. de orange he come In
nova, and | sell-a lots Of him."
"WhO are your best customersW
"Eveebody. De niger he buy-a more
fruit than de whit-a man if he have-a de
mon. He loye-a de banan' better than
anything"
"Haye you any regular customersY
Eyes, lots of men and women, to0-a, buy
30 cents, dolla, two dolla, every day.
Sell-a de most, though, to the man whoa
is just passing along and happen to SEGA
something he want. Have-a lots OF GUS
toners that-a buy three dolla and four
dolla every Saturday night"
Just at this moment a small boy came
along and helped himself to a handful of
peanuts. The seller OF fruits saw him
just as he was making of and started to
run after him. but stopped and shook his
fist at him instead.
$40 you lose much that way?"
Yes, blamed sight, but that ANITA the
only trouble We have-a. See that pile OF
applesp pointing to a mound OF apples
which had evidently been built with great
care. "Nice-a pile. Blamed fool come
along and take-a two big one from
DOJJOm Ol-a-ue pile ana letta the rest roll
all over de stan. Why can't ne take um
off de top? He's no good. The man that-a
tears all the bananas ofI-a de bunch to buy
two, is no good either. He's-a worse than
pOlice-amanna. l don't-a like the woman
That cOme-a with the little boy. The boy
help-a himself by the handful while the
woman take-a ten mint to buy five cents
de APPLE"
The yender of unrlpe fruit gritted his
teeth as he added: Next time-a they do
IL Pll make-a dem pay for it,"
Some of the dealers remain by their
stands ell night. There is little or no
trade after 8 or 10 O'Clock, but they had
rather sit up and watch their stands than
to go to the trouble of moving everything
at night and bringing it back in the morn
ing, They do not stay awake all night,
but arrange themselves as comfortably as
possible, and sleep with one eve open. No
one can pass, and not even a dog can trot
by without their knowing it.