Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-04-27
MARKET OF ALL NATIONS
4 COSMOPOLITAN SCENE ON luol low
STREET, NEW YORK.

4 Picturesque Gathering os Curious People.
How the Orthodox Hebrews sssecs Their
Sabbath Food-The Rabbis That Aiways
Follows . Crowd.
Have you ever been In the vicinity Of
the Ludlow Street market On Q Friday
morningf Well. II you have not you
have missed q sight. Ludlow Street
market comprises that portion Of the
city bounded by Hester and Canal and
by Essex and Orchard streets. Every
Friday, from sunrise to sunset. Il 10 the
liveliest neighborhood in this city.
THIS yells and whoops Of an army Of
Comanchcs or Donnybrook fair itself
never furnished the noise found here
every market day. as Friday is called.
The sons and daughters of Israel flock
from all portions Of the city, and mingle
with the denizens Of the down town dis
tricts. Hoboken and Jersey City send
their delegations ready for bargains, and
before noon the street is impossible
Ragged jackets and scant wraps mingle
with sealskins and silks, while white
bearded patriarchs jostle elbows with
the bright eyed and red Tipped Jewish
maidens and their swarthy, stalwart
brothers and fathers, all keen for bar
gain and totally unconscious Of the pict-
uresque feature they make in the middle
Of Gotham.
THE UNLEAvENED 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 to rites prescribed when the
race was young Notwithstanding the
semi-religious crrands Of the marketers,
the traditional shrcwdness 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
n thorough inspection, and then the
price is asked. This is followed by an
offer of u cent or two lower, and, after
haggling few minutes, purchase is
made. There is reason for the haggling
and the close inspection.
The barches loaves, like other pro-
ductions, are subjected to rejuvenating
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 loaves are
squeezed and handled 80 as to 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
1t, and then balances IL in his hand to
sec that it is not under weight. Then it
is turned over, as though it were some
precious metal instead of five cent
loaf, and then the driving commences.
The dealer is told that lie is nothing
short of highwayman-tha 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 are perfumed. the
glls 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 TRINKETs 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 coniine themselves to cat
ables. Everything from a turtle back
comb to dishpan is on sale, and its
merits are hawked in half 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-
bic 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,
'o'oN am oup toildT
and matches. Tottering old fellows vend
second hand clothes, old cloaks and an
cient hats; altogether forming scene of
indescribable confusion.
One of the old time characters is an
ancient and wretched looking woman,
who usually sits on an old ash barrel and
in cracked tones invites the shoppers to
buy some "Shabes lights" the wax can
dies used in their religious observances.
Another character is a venerable old
man. who parades Essex street on
market day with never moro 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,
tie gellim, or prayer belts; cloaks or tails,
for the rabbis; prayer ribbons, misrachs,
channaka lights, Talmuds, etc. One
thing in particular is noticeable so far
as the religious articles are concerned,
and that is that the buyer pays big prices
for them without a murmur,--New York
Star.
A Pretty Action.
A neWsbOy took the Sixth ayenue ele-