The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-07-24
STREET PEDDLERS.
A CLASS WHOSE LIFE IS A CONTik,s
UAl STRUGGLE.

inc ullkmeu ehu tho hucAsters "uS
Sell Vegetables. Fruit and Fish-A
Heterogeneous Tribe Who Deal In vari.
Gus Miscellaneous Articica
Most Of the hucksters Of the city start ON
their perambulations early In the morning,
and are untiring in the prosecutions Of
schemes to make q living. They may 30
divided into four classes-those who have
horses, those who have hand carts, those who
are obliged to hire hand carts, and those who
have baskets Early In the morning, and
before sunrise, appears the milkman, who
leads the vanguard Of the hucksters. He y
some sort Of privileged character, for his
cart traverses the sacred precincts OF tho
Murray Hill district, where his matutinal
war whoop breaks upon the stiffness OF tho
night, and often greets jewellers who return
home late. Milk has too many consonants to
allow a prolonged announcement; hence
some IN lkmen shout the word quickly, almost
angrily, as if provoked at its awkward short
ness. Others call out "Below" probably In
reference to the lower regions of the domes-
tics, while many let the metal dippers strike
sharply on their cans when they drop from
house to house the sky-blue pittance which
supplies tho breakfast of tho New Workers.
Next come the dealers who live by hawk
ing all sorts of vegetables, fish and fruit for
the breakfast and dinner table. They are
numerous and hard working. Their trade is
one of constant labor and full of those dis
comforts and risks which arise from the in
clemency Of the weather and the losses re-
sulting from the perishable nature of much
of their stock in trade. They attend the
early markets down town from 3 to o'clock
in the morning, while others have to travel
from distant suburbs. Yet they are regularly
on their beats, going their rounds in every
part of mighty New York, some even before
the breakfast hour.
HUCKSTERS WHO SELL VEGETABLES.
You cannot fail to notice that those who
announce articles in season only for a short
time are more Ineligible in their promulga-
ton than those who peddle the same article
all the year round The hucksters who sell
vegetables, flowers and summer fruit have
not time to become indistinct. One day they
offer rhubarb and asparagus, then straw
berries, gooseberries and the shorthved
cherry, whereas fish, clans, oysters and
potatoes last longer, some being always IN
the market =
| The fish business is both the most regular
and the most profitable branch Of the trading
industry of the street peddlers. But whether
they deal in fish, vegetables or fruit, they are
benefactors to the great body of the working
people. They not only serve the people with
what they require at their own doors, but
they supply them at prices below what the
articles can be purchased for in the stores.
Fish are often sold by the street peddlers in
good condition at prices below what they
originally cost the wholesale dealers. This
may seem strange to people who do not know
| the peculiari.es Of the trade. The better sort
| Of fGe-packed fish ore consigned to the
higher class of dealers. Whatever residue
may DO left after these people are served Is
sold to the street dealers and the small fry OF
storekeepers If it were not for the great
army OF street dealers who purchase the fish
left on the hands Of the wholesale dealers the
losses Of the latter would frequently be rather
serious. and all the more 30 when the market
Is glutted.
| The voices of some OF tie Eucksters can be
heard all day long in the thorouShfares of
| New York in winter, in summer, III far
weather and in foul Some Of them coniins
their peregrinations to certain districts, while
others go where they think TO succeed best.
Oysters, CLANS and fruit employ goodly
number of people, both young and old, who
hawk these articles about in handcarts or
baskets. From the ups and downs of fortune
among them, not few, instead Of having
horses of their own, are obliged to hire them,
and, as consequence, the profits are reduced
very considerably by the sum paid for the
horse and cart
A HETEROGENEOUS TRIBE.
| Tho Of lowpr RrOadwav
Fourteenth street. Grand street and Bowery
swarms daily with heterogeneous tribe who
deal in a variety of miscellaneous articles.
Many of the things offered for sale are very
neatly gotten up, and soma are of ingenious
construction Few Of these, however, range
above five cents apiece, but how they can be
made for the money must seem a mystery TO
most persons Some peddlers make q living
by selling five cent microscopes. These little
optical instruments have a very considerable
magnifying power. Their construction Is
both simple and ingenious. Their frames are
small pill boxes, without lids or bottoms,
and the lenses are made of little globules OF
certain kind Of gum A good trade Is Also
done with small glass globes, microscopes
filled with water. The water in these instru-
ments can only be taken out or put in by the
| globes DelnR uedUeu over - ePhAs AnhP
These instruments are much larger than the
gum ones, but are inferior in their magnify
ing power.
On nearly every street much frequented
customers are invited to purchase shoestrings
and matches On Park row formerly
Chatham street. thousands Of people are daily
pushing and elbowing their way. Here .
Cheap John with an open box is retailing bis
rude witticiSms and stale jests to induce peo-
pie to purchase his cutlery and cheap cigars
At little distance q sleight-of-hand gentle
man is selling prize packages Of soap with
IS gold piece in them for fifteen cents each to
men who allow their senses Of seeing to make
fools Of their judgment. number OF
Italians are Offering ice cream made OF corn
-four and seasoned with essence Of lemon. A
gentleman with a professional air and q
grandiloquent style is putting his cure-all
pills, and over the way man with we'll
curled head of hair is retailing fancy boxes
of pomntum, which not only makes the hair
grow, but causes it to curl in q style equal tc
his own. In the evening the fruit and other
stands on the street corners show their fiaring
torches of smoky kerosene oil gas, while their
statesmen praise the cheapness of their wares,
each with bis little knot Of curious customers
holding up their motley faces in the glare OF
the kerosene.