Telegram-herald., 1889-05-16

a Casal1s Psiiasa s<sas "a E-aaaos Strss'
ses 1oFk sffy.

Have yea ever beeH IN tie vicinity CT
tie Ludlow Street market ca q FRIDAY
n0rnings Well. II yea have nsa yoa
have missed a sight. Ladlow street
market cOmprises that portion of tie
eity bounded by Hester and Canal AID
by ESsex aud Orchard streets. Every
Friday, from sunriss 10 sunset. IL Is Ihs
lvellsst neighborhooa Ia this city.
The yeIls and whoops II al army Of
Comanehss or Donny brook fair itself
never furnished the noise found here
every market day. as Friday Is called.
Tie sons and daughters Of Israel Gock
from Al portions If ths city. and mingie
with the deniLens of the down town dis
tricts Hoboken and Jersey City send
their delegations ready for bargains. ard
before noon the street Is impossible
Ragged jackets and soant wraps mingie
with SezlSkins aad silks. while white
bearded patTiarchs jostle elbows with
the bright eyed and red Tipped Jewish
maidens and their swarthy. stalwart
brothers and fathers. al keen for a bar
gain and totally unconscious Of the pict-
uresqns feature they make in the middle
II Go ham.
TIE UNIEAVESED BREAD.
Every man, woman and child bears q
basket. and they are out for material for
their SUNDAY dinner, the Kosher food
for the "Shabes" table. killed and cured
according 10 rites prescribed when the
race was young. Notwithstanding the
seIni-r religious erTands of the marketers.
| tho traditional shrewdness Of the race Is
the chief feature Of the bargaining.
The first places visited by every one Of
the market men and women are the
stands where the barches, or unleavened
bread, is sold. The loaves are first given
thorough inspection, and then the
| price is asked. This is followed by an
| offer Of a cent or two lower, and, after
haggiing a few minutes. purchase is
made. There is reason for the haggling
and the close inspection.
The barches loayes, like other pro-
! ductions, are subjected 10 a reiuvenating
treatment before being offered for sale,
when they are stale, and knowing ones
| can tell this by looking them over care
| fully. When not fresh the loavcs are
| squeezed and handled so as 10 make
| them soft. then scented TO prevent the
sourness from being detected, and then
| put on the stands.
The purchaser feels of the loaf, smells
| it, and then balances it in his hand 70
| see that il is not under weight. Then it
| is turned over, rs though it were some
! precious metal instead of n five cent
! loaf. and then the driving commences.
/ The dealer is tod that he is nothing
short of highwayman-that the same
article could be purchased somewhere
| else for half the money.
The fish stands are highly important,
| for every orthodox Hebrew must have
fish with his meat on SHADES. Here,
also, the bargains are tightly driven and
the inspection thorough and searching.
Like the bread, the fish, too. are some
times doctored. They arc perfumed, the
gills painted red and plenty of salted ice
water thrown over them TO make them
fresh and firm, and it takes good judge
TO detect the deception.
SELLING TRISKETS AND PRAYER BOOKS.
These, with most stands and notion
stands and the thousand and one fakirs,
take up every available inch of ground,
| sidewalks and even the middle of the
street. Vendors wagons are strung along
the cutters and display vegetables, sal
ads. potatoes and all other articles of
food, including garlic sausage, that meat
so dear to the Kosher palate. Not alone
do the venderS cOnfine themselves to eat
ables. Everything from a turtle back
comb TO u dishpan is on sale, and Its
merits are hawked in half a dozen
languages; for this is a cosmopolitan
| gathering. There are Polish and Ger
man Hebrews, Germans, Hungarians,
French and Italian housewives out for a
bargain, besides the keen but dirty rab-
BILE that always gather from no one
knows where, wherever there is crowd.
Small boys, with tattered trousers and
torn coats, but eyes keen as a hawks,
dodge in and out selling collar buttons
and matches. Tottering old fellows vend
second hand clothes, old clOaks and an
cient hats; altogether forming a scene OF
/ indescribable confusion.
One Of the old time characters is az
ancient and wretched looking woman
who usually sits on an old ash barrel and
in cracked tones invites the shoppers &c
buy some "Shabes lights" the wax can
dies used in their religious observances.
Another character is n venerable old
man, who parades Essex street on q
market day with never more than -four
brooms on his shoulder, family crying
out his goods.
But there is another class Of wares on
sale. They are supposed to furnish sus
tenance for the spiritual nature, as the
other does for the physical. On every
side on small stands are prayer books,
o ccllim, or prayer belts; cloaks or tellis,
for the rabbis; prayer ribbons, misrachs
chaunaka lights, Talmuds. etc. One
thing in particular is noticeable SO far
as the religious articles are concerned,
and that is that the buyer pays biz prices
for them withouta murInur.-New Xcrk
Star.