The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-02-16
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
How some Butchers Keep Track of Their
Business.

Especial Correspondence
New York, Feb, lit is frequently OBJ
servable that men looking for fights have
considerable difficulty in obtaining prompt
accommodation, and even are occasionally
snapped up by the police and ''jugged" be-
fore their desire has been gratifed, simply
because Of their lack of knowledge where and
how to get what they want. To such bellicose
persons it may be n sweet boon to know that
they can get fight in West Washington mar
ket rather quicker than lat the drop of the
hat whenever they desire it, and all they
have to do is to change the skewerS in two or
/ three lambs or sides of beef. The subsequent
proceedings, which will ensue quite natur-
ally, will be lively enough to interest any
reasonable person trying the experiment
Changing the skewers is about the same as
making a lot of incorrect and misleading en-
tries in merchants books In fact, that is
what it really is.
In old times when hardly any of the whole
sale butchers could read or write, a system Of
keeping accounts by means of skewers came
into vogue. Suppose one of them got in a
load of fifty lambs from jeremiah Jorale-
mon, of Onondaga, to be sold on commission,
did he bother himself TO write all those long
words down in u book, even if he was able to
do so! Oh! no. He just jabbed one skewer
in each lamb carcass in some particular spot,
wrote "5G' on u card, poked one skewer
through that card and stuck it up thereby on
the wall. Thereafter, jeremiah Joralemon,
cf in lie
Skewer," and of course the 80" meant lambs,
for he knew that he never got anything but
lambs from Mr. Zone Skewer." When an
other lot Of lambs came in from some other
slaughterer, that second man passed into con-
temporaneous history as 1.-TWO Showers
and was SO duly recorded in card and
in the carcasses of the lambs. After
the number Of skewers had got as high as was
conveniently placed, they recommended with
tone broken skewern and so on to two, three
or four broken skewers. And beyond those,
the placing of the skewers, in the neck, the
side, hind quarter, shoulder or other spot had
special significance. In this way the accounts
of many sources of supply We're kept in a
style that seemed to the butchers the acme of
simplicity, but likely to be maddening to
anybody else The full beauty of it was only
to be appreciated as it went along. AS sales
We're made they were announced by the as
sistant to the boss as, for instance, lone
skewer 5-125-l44." All the boss had to do
in that case was to pencil upon Mr.. "One
skewer's" card "5-l25-l44.n When settling
with Mr.. Joralemon all that was necessary
was to tot up the sales as shown in that simple
fashion on zone skewer'sn card, the ''j' in
that entry meaning the number of lambs in
one lot sold, the 1!5' their aggregate weight
in pounds and the "l4j4" the price per pound
received for them.
Though the ornamental accomplishments
of reading and writing are more common,
and even popular, in West Washington mar
ket now than they used to be, the butchers
have found no way of keeping their accounts
SO simple as that old method. But 1t will be
readily understood that it plays the very
mischief with them to have some muss maker
come along and poke two skewers In where
there should be only one, or change Mr..
shoulder one sAewers" lambs to Mr.. Neck
two skewer's" account, or perhaps ring in on
them Dir NO skewer at all, who has no
existence in fact That is why they with
such eager celebrity mash the muss makers
nose and give him all the fight he is looking
for. They are determined to keep their ac-
counts skewer from Intermediates.
JAMES Ii. Connolly.