Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-04-14
I0NDOG'S ODD CORNERS.
HELEN CAMPBELL TELLS ALL ABOUT
BElIN'S MONUMENT.
It's Location Is Not to Be Found on the
Pages of Any Guide Book. but IL Is
Very Interesting Link with the Past,
Nevertheless.


tspcclai aiNorresponuencel
LONDON March 22-You may look in vain
In guide book or on map for anything bearing
such title as heads the search of today. Yet
it stands plain to see, and il Belin's name is
missing, and no inscription craven by hand
OF man holds it here, or in the Abbey or
Tower, or any spot most given over to in
scriptions, that is by no means the fault Of
Belin. He, worthy soul, did his best to per-
petuate such memory n might be, and died
certain, as other worthy souls have been be-
fore, that immortality was secure. Why not,
when he had built water gate at the point
where we are standing, and dying, COM
manded that the ashes of his mortal body
should be placed in a vessel of brass on high
pinnacle Of stone over the said gatei The
rest is silence. Gate and pinnacle and ashes
alike have vanished, and Belin's name is
known only to the antiquary, and barely to
him, since all this happened just 400 A. d.
and the history of England was still in
embryo a Thousand years was TO pass be-
fore the same spot should have other water
gates, whose purpose, nominally ignoble,
might after ali serve mankind more truly
than Belin or any chief of his order had ever
done or could do.
Biliingsgate has for centuries been the syn
onym of all the opprobrium and unsavory
meaning that English speech can hold, and
the pilgrim who seeks practical knowledge of
the strange life to be seen in and about it
thinks of this alone, and asks no questions as
20 origin Yet it is here that Belin's gate
once more asserts its claim to memory, and
that III those dim hours OF earliest morning
in which market life must be seen to be
known at all, his shade wanders well pleased
under the arches and among tributary boats
from Holland and countries whose name,
even he never heard. Who gave the name
history saith not All we know is that at this
spot, in 1851, the fishing boats suddenly
elected TO most congregate, and that from
that day to this it has been the source of such
fish supply as London demands. Fishing
boats alone are there today, but in 1851, and
from that time for some centuries on, Bill
ingsgate was, according TO one of the old
chroniclers, only "a large water gate post,
or Marlborough for ships and boats COM
monty arriving there with fish, both salt and
fresh, shell fish, salt. oranges, onions and
other fruits and roots; wheat, rye and grain
OF divers sorts for the service of the city and
the parts OF this realm adjoining
Those were the days when penny had
some meaning and a shilling did the work of
q guinea today In the reign of Edward /,
after infinite squabbling, prices were fixed;
the best soles were three pennies a dozen, the
best turbot sixpence each, picked herrings
of the choicest were penny score and the
best eels twopence quarter hundred, while
oysters were twopence a gallon No fish
monger was allowed profit of over penny
in twelve; all must belong to the Fish
mongeTs' company, and there must be no
monopoly, but fair chance for all, the poor
persons who bought to cry in the streets not
being hindered BY 100 fish alone had place
here, but no building beyond the wretched
sheds that even twenty years ago made up
the market, with the bowels of one sort and
another doing duty as inns and homes for
the men whose business lay here.
There is picture made a century and
half ago, by a daring explorer, who shared
the general conviction that TO attempt en-
trance here was foolhardy to degree, but
who found it less fraught with adventure
than he had been taught TO expect. He came
secretly armed, and with a companion whose
fists were strong, but found no occasion for
either arms or fists, and made the tour Of the
foul, evil smelling place with wonder how
anything proceeding from it could be eata-
bic. There was another wonder, also, shared
by us today, as 10 what necessary connection
exists between the handling Of fish and
type of language which we may call, at
least, vivacious, and the thought of which
alone is sufficient To deter all but the most
venturesome from more than an outside look
at quarters where il is most in vogue. Times
have changed since this explorer saw, "fat,
motherly fiat caps, with fish baskets hanging
over their heads instead Of riding hoods -
with silver rings on their thumbs, alderman
fashion, smoking pipes filed with ''mundun-
gus whatever that may be, sitting on in
verted eel baskets, and arranging new COM
binations of English for present and future
use Like the fish women of Paris, the
.'darnes de Ia Ealle," they were all Amazons,
and a match at any moment for a too pre-
sumptuous dealer or buyer, and they are
A,nazons today. 1t was one Of these matrons
that Dr. johnson silenced by calling her in
his most ponderous tone "a truculent paral-
lelogram,n and much the same story is told
of Daniel 0'Connell, who quieted too volu-
bic Irish market woman by calling her "a
Grabbed old hypothenuse."
T.,ere is no necessity today for either term.
1t is not as buyer, but as locker on, that the
slippery pavement is crossed and the iron
gates entered 1t is Friday when the rush is
greatest, for the fast day of the myriad
Catholics, Irish and otherwise calls for the
..bit of fish that will be bought from the
coster's barrow, and here are the costers in
force, who wait for their turn in the proceed
ings. Eight auctioneers, or fish statesmen, are
attached to the market, the gates OF which
are opened at a. m. But an hour bofore
this the eight have met at the principal pub
lie house and talked over the quantity and
the quality of that days wares. A Storm
NAV DELAY the eel boats from Holland or
trouble waters nearer home a hundred
causes affect the supply, and are all to be
taken into consideration before each one oi
the eight makes his way to his appointed place
in the market and ascends his box. Below
him are forms or s'bulks,n and on these are
piled the doubles of soles, haddock and all
the rest,.a double being TN oblong basket
tapering to the bottom and holding three OF
four dozen fish. Baskets of ''offal" fill al
the spaces, ''offal" in market parlance being
merely odd lots of small fish, but all fresh
and desirable.
As the auctioneer takes his place thu
porter catches up couple ci uouoies,
swings them to his shoulders and the sale be
gins and proceeds with extraordinary speed
No purchaser can inspect the fish before buy
ing, the place Of sale being held to b
sufficient guarantee, and but few sorts ar,
sold by auction. Herrings are sold direct
from the vessels that bring them, by tht
.slong IO0,- or l30; eels by the draft" ol
twenty pounds, and sprats by the bushel
twopence for each of these measures being
charged for carrying them ashore. A tin
daln i. 1000 bushels of sprats, and many
s.tindals- a week are sold during the winter
the consumption of sprats among the work
ing classes being something enormous
'.Seven DiaIs,n and l suppose any similal
point in London, has song sung by boys AM
girls rs they rush out from dark alleys for
supply:
oh tis NV delight on Friday night,