The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-24
QUEER TRADES IN PARIS.
Turkey Painters and the Collector of
Secondhand Bread.

Secondhand Bread.
There are many queer trades in Paris.
says the Philadelphia Times. One of the
oldest is that of painter of turkeys legs. y
This artist is known only to the poultry
dealing fraternity, and is highly useful
member of the community. By his artistic
skill he enables the trader to palm off a
bird of patriarchal age, with certain
vague romance as to the date of its decease,
upon misguided housewife, or even upon
an experienced buyer, who has learned to
judge a turkey after the manner of
cookery-book writers. Turkeys, when
freshly killed, have shiny black
legs and claws, but as the day of
their death becomes more OF less q matter
OF ancient history, their lower extremities
assume slaty. dingy gray color Old tur-
keys, too, have long claws and horny
looking beaks, which the ingenious artist
pareS and varnishes Tho artist goes round
to his customers three or four times week,
paints the feet of the birds with his solu-
ton (Which was sold as a trade secret to the
| present owner for 440), carefully pareS the
nails and beak, and there you have a turkey
that will fetch half as much again. 1t is
only during the desperate struggle with the
ancient beast that ensues at dinner time
that you realize how fraudulent are its pre-
tensions to juvenility.
ANT farmers" though only numbering
ILL q OOA6u VI oO arts, are DY no means
| to be overlooked in our study of odd trades
One, for instance, rejoices in the name of
| Nile Blanche. She is not prepoSseSslng in
| appearance. Her skin looks like dried
| pippins, and is tanned like crocodile hide.
She has leather gauntlets and trowsers, a
regular coat of armor, but, Notwithstanding
this, she Is guawed and bitten by her un-
grateful stock to such an extent that she is
perfectly hfdeous. She sleeps in the middle
OF the sacks of ants, and her epiderms has
| become SO inSensible to the bites of those
insects that she sleeps soundly aud sweetly
while hundreds of them are endeavoring to
| extract meal from her thick skin. She was
some time ago compelled to remove her
| quarters to a spot Just outside Paris be-
| cause the nelghbors, not unreasonably, OBJ
| Jected to the stray members of her farm
| sKrmlshlng on their own account, in the
pantrles of the adjoining houses. Mile
| Blanche supplies breeders and keepers of
pheasants, the geological gardens, aqua
| rIams and large bird dealers with ants
| eggs, and receives never less than ten large
| flour sacks of ants day from Germany and
elsewhere. By keeping them in great heat
and feeding them well, they are induced to
lay vast quantity of eggs. 1t is interesting
to record that by this time Nile. Blanche Is
| possessed of a handsome fortune.
Dealers in secondhand breadn are nu-
merOus. 1t is collected by rag-pickers from
| ASH OaA olos L no uiILY pieces are placed on
| one side, for sale to rabbit and poultry
| dealers, dog fanciers and others, and fetch
three pence basketful. On the other side
are the clean pieces of bread. These are
baked, rasped and sold to the ham dressers,
| hotels, and similar establishments for
powdering hams, ETC., stuffing pudding and
like culinary operations They also cut the
bread into pieces as big as dice, bake and
sell them in small packets for putting into
soup. 'Artichoke cookers" must be men
| toned as a trade peculiarly French
| Artichokes are sold cooked to all the
restaurants, in the markets and in the
streets Of Paris. Some of these cooks do
business to the extent of 1900 to
| l,41O pounds sterling in the course of the
season of four months. The vegetables are
placed in large copper boilers to make them
| keep their color. each layer separated by
canvas, and allowed to boil When done
they are packed in baskets and kept warm
for few hours till delivered to the market
or fetched by the restaurant or stallkeeper.
| The price varies from a half-penny to 3
pence each, according to the size and quality
| and the time of year. The popular belief,
fifty years ago, was that as the natural
food of the Briton was the "roast beef of
Old England, that of 'Monseer" consisted
of diet of frogs. Most of the marshy
lands round ancient Luteia have been
improved off the face of the earth,
most disappeared from the bill of fare.
| However, a considerable trade is done in
them still, as may be judged by the quantity
one sometimes sees on the stalls in the CEN
trail markets. Before being exposed for
sale they are killed, skinned, the front legs
and head cut off, the spine and back legs
| being the only portions eaten. These are
| strung on thin wooden skewers, and often
| fetch a good price. They are generally
collected by old men in the neighborhood
of st. Denis and along the Seine near
Charenton.
The trade in snails is far more important,
there being hardly restaurant in Paris,
from Brebant'S to gargote the Rue st.
| Marguerite, that does notssplace eScargots
i'll prominent place in its bill of fare The
small dealer is rarely the breeder, but either
| imports them from the neighborhood of
| Bordeaux, or buys them from the large
market gardeners round Paris They are
sold to wine shops, who retail them
raw at from two to ten
ponce per dozen. The sign of
the Golden Snail" is common enough in
Paris over the doors of dealers in the mol
lusk. Here is a recipe for any lady reader
who may wish to give her lord and master
a gastronomic surprise: First catch your
snalis, then wash them in salt and water
They will object to this, but never mind.
| Then make a mixture of bread crumbs,
| POPPOif SeAAU 1iiA WiAuO VI
| egg, and with it barricade them in their
shells, place them on dish and bake for
| twenty minutes.
"Cat-killers" are not numerous, but the
few who monopolize the trade make great
deal Of money out of it. They walk through
Paris about midnight, with a sack and
a couple of terriers, and when they
catch sight Of stray puss off 90
the dogs, who seldom return to their
master without their prize Their skins are
sold to furriers and their flesh to the keepers
of eating houses in the suburbs, where "rab-
bit stewn is favorite dish. But for ste wed
rabbit one likes to be satisfied that bunny
has been sacrificed, SO the workmen who
delight in this dainty require to see a rab-
bits head as a proof of the bona
fdes of the dish. This would
puzzle an ordinary individual, but the Scat
| killer" is genius and Frenchman, and Is
not 50 easily disposed of. He also deals in
rabbit skins, and has an arrangement with
the cooks in the neighborhood to let him
have the heads at the same time as the skins
of the rabbits for his penny or two By
this ingenious method he is enabled to sead
out to his customers two or three cats bodies,
minus the tails, with each rabbits head,
and one more dainty dish is added to the
Partisan menu, aud eight or ten shilliugs to
| the well-flled purse of the exterminator of