The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-03-02

| Inc season Tor yendues is about to COM
mence and the following clipping. de-
scribing the peculiarities Of such occasions.
may be interesting to some of our readers.
Did you ever attend a country vendue2
| mean one of the good old timese No.
| Well, let me say something about one.
The primary object Of the sale is not to
buy SO far as the majority Of the audience
is concerned. The boys come together to
play ball and fight; some of the old men
because long custom las turned them into
Mrs. Toodleses-they can't help it, you
| know. The remnant come to buy. The
| crowd is nondescript one. You cannot
have an idea Of true hayseed or waybacis
Till you see the regular attenders of a
country sale. They seem to have special
toggery to wear to vendues, and it is part
of the unwritten law that no man over
forty shall attend a sale unless he has been
nnshsyed Tor three days. They come on
| foot across the fields, on horseback with
/ the old wagon saddle, in pre-reyolutionary
wagons. Most Of them smoke, all of them
chew tobacco. Little groups form accord
| ing to their habit Of thought. Some talk
farm, others politics, another group scan
dial and the boys guy each other and tell
old jokes. The auctioneer is generally
haarse and has stock of witty sayings
which Noah threw ont Of the ark before
the dove returned. Bnteyerybody laughsat
him. Just why no one can tell, unless it
be that the regular yendue attender never
reads paper or hears a joke at home. He
doubtless thinks the anetoneer has mo-
nonoIy of wit and it wonld be losing OPP
portunity not to laugh and waste time
seeking smile in the funny columns Of
his Jonrnal-if he takes one
But the one great feature OF country
sale is the oyster soup table. II is gener-
ally kept by taeiturn man-with watery
eyes and nose, which occasionally drop
tear Of pity into the mixture he concocts.
His equipment is somewhat gypsy like.
His old horse seldom has good eye, and the
bellows over the sightless balls would hold
an egg-thns showing ancientness. The
harness is in keeping " it'll the bare bones
of the horse and must have been picked up
in various places and put together during
summer leisure. The old wagon has a
" heel or two disled the wrong way and the
track it makes wonld break black snakes
back TO follow it, 1t is covered with as
many patches as a darkey's pantaloons.
This cover hangs on bent hickory hoops as
natural as when they left their native
woods.
The huckster finds convenient place to
begin business He first gives his old
horse a bite of hay and then unpacks Out
comes table which is made to stand On
rickety legs and is covered with a dirty
cloth In all the history of husksters, one
has never been known to have clean
table cloth. He may start cut all right,
but he never washes anything till he gets
home. His circuit may be long one and
so washing is infrequent. Next comes
portable boiler, fired by charcoal. On the
table is placed half dozen of thick bowls,
Clipped and cracked by accident and long
usage. A pewter spoon, bent and grabbed
| lis solemnly meditating therein what the
| next surprise will be in the soup line.
Then comes out a bag Of crackers, some
sweet cakes which show even upon casual
inspection that the flies of last year had
either go-as-y ou-please walking match
| over them or had them for resting place
| at night A jar Of candy aud few cigars,
i. If 81 oiafa old
time hucksters outfit.
| Now the soup is to he made The
oysters are already opened. To open
them before customers would spoil trade.
| know Drumore huckster who put his
| oysters in colander 10 drain them and
they all fell through the holes A buck
ster oyster is OF special growth. No one
ever gets it except by favor. A church
! festival generally receives shis favor. Now
our cook takes great deal Of water, little
milk, which may have been SKINNED on
both sides and piece OF butter more or
less strong--mostly strong, pinch of salt
and a guess of pepper. The whole is set
boiling and the vendae stew is soon ready.
| Yon get plenty Of soup and suggestion Of
oyster. never knew hackster's boiler
to receive an oyster after the first charge
People could eat all day and like the
widows cruise Of oil. The single oyster You
got in your bowl never disappeared
Water and milk would have to bepnt into
the boiler-but nsver an oyster.
scientific man Of Drumore township thinks
that the huckster oyster has the power Of
duplicating itself while being turned into
soup However this may be, it is a
mystery.
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