The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-08-27

| hawking alone are sometimes proNlued
with donkey carts or barrows, but oftener
with "shallows.n or shallow baskets, which
,,,i,b their heavy contents are carried on
| their heads.
4 curious sort OF business has always
been in vogue owing 10 the improvidence
NJ the costermongers ar class. This Is
! the hiring out to them of baskets, barrows
and carts. Ont Of the 10000 or 10000 cos
tertnonger population Of London fully 10
GOO are actually engaged In daily hawking,
the remainder being old folk or children
unable TO work gave at odd times. Fully
one-half Of the daily workers own their
own shadows, barTows and carts. The
| other half hire them 40 ruinously usurious
rates. The donkey and cart are seldom
hired. nearly all of these outfits being
owned by the costers. But the handcarts
or barrows are usually hired at threepence
nsr day or one shilling for the week for q
| barrow originally costing less than TWO
mounds More than e20. 900. or 10000, is
| annually paid in barrow and shallow
| hire by the London cOsters.
Quite recently coster provident clubs
| have been formed. These by trining
weekly payment from members insure the
opportunity Of hiring barrows at reduced
rates. and of purchasing donkeys and carts
| ON the iDstallment plan. But as a rule
they liked the old way best The old way
with London costers is. as a rule, after
nights dissipation at drink or gambling,
for all costers without exception are hard
drinkers and invetenate gamblersin small
way. 10 borrow the days stock money
AZ sixpence or a shilling interest secure
the hand barrow at threepence hire, the
scales or measures at another outlay OF
twoDeuce. and trust TO heavy pushing, loud
| calling and gullible customers 10 retrieve
their fallen fortunes They are scrupu-
| lousy honest in repayment OF loans and
harder working people do not live. But
| they are irredeemable in their thriftleSs-
ness, and with AL their good qualities and
traits, considering their associations and
ignorance, are hopeless slaves Of the usurers
! and taproOms.
ANY one desiring a superficial observa-
tion of this class can find ample studies OF
oosters at the chief London markets.
DaiIv 3. 900 come 10 Covent Garden mar
ket: about 1900 secure fish at Billings
gate: fully 1000 are at Spitalhelds; per-
hans 800 each will be found at Borough
and Leadenhall, and fully 5000 are dis
tributed among the lesser city and sub
urban markets. Coyent Garden market Is
the most interesting place to visit, not
only for its historic associations, but for
its greatest tbrongs of costers From the
opening at 2 o'clock in the morning until
g or o'clock from 5000 to 1000 coster
carts will have come and gone. The re-
mainder in attendance wait until after
noon TO dioker with the "hagglers" or
speculators, who have bought unsOld loads
from farmers lin the lump"
In these morning hours interest will not
only center in the cOsters but in their
donkeys and CARTS Hundreds upon hun
dreds are packed in a corner of the open
market waiting 70 load, for which privi-
lege they are taxed one penny each. Every
manner Of rude ingenuity has been exer-
cised in the patching up of donkey carts
and the construction Of donkey harness
Rope, rushes and rags are good enough for
some. Neckerchiefs and corduroys are
transformed into saddlepads for others
Many are resplendent in brass ornaments
ali together Of half the donkey's weight
And still others have seen nobler uses and
disclose bits Of old carriage harness be-
decked with coronets in gold and silver
plate.
would write Of the coster's home life.
but he has none. The Gypsy, even the poor
London Gypsy of the loathsome van. is
vastly his superior in this respect. In the
past three years have visited more than
a thousand costers' haunts and habita-
tions. In them all | have not found a
dozen genuine homes. The nearest APP
proach to the home is where the coster is
fairly well to do and owns the donkey and
cart or a couple or three In these ex-
tremely rare instances you will often find
the coster, his wife or mate, their children
and the donkeys in one basement room to-
getber. But the character Of the mans
and the woman's work keep them upon
the street. They eat at cheap chophouses
and coffee stalls Their evenings are
passed at the taproom, the penny gaf"
shows, the rat pit and the cheap music
halls.
BOYS and girls leave their parents and
mate az from fourteen 70 sixteen years
They take furnished rooms In the coster
districts Of Leather Lane, Drury Lane,
Shoreditch, Old Street Road, Marylebone
lane. DOckhead, Bethnal Green, White
chapel. Camberweil and the like and are
at once full hedged costers. Children are
born TO them and are minded" for the
first wear or two; then they take their
| chances for life and education In the slums.
| At SIX or seven they accompany their par
ents or are hired out TO other costers In
! a few years more some fancied slight or
too severe a beating occurs, or the coster
youth or lass have met their affinity, and
they are away for themselves without
partings or regrets
However luck may 90 with the coster
! folk they are stioklers for their amuse-
/ meuts and holidays. Every evening will
/ find them at the music hall, the rat pit or
/ their taprOom haunts. There are more
| than 800 Of the latter exclusively patron
[ lied by coster men and women. In nearly
| ali OF these are rude Nills where they may
cook their own food. All are provided
! with cards and other games for their
/ amusement and with each is a back yard
/ or shed well protected from the eyes OF the
/ police, where rat and dog fighting, Of
| which they are extremely fond may be in
/ lulged in, and where boxing and prize
/ lighting are eagerly cultivated. On Sun
| day they will be found in great numbers
/ at Battersea Fields, Hampstead Heath and
/ Epping Forest. but the great yearly Lon
don outing for costers is at the Derby.
More than thousand carts, each con-
/ tanning from four 20 six coster women and
| men. set out from the Seven Dials aud
| Whitechapel. The dOnkeys are all be-
decked with paper flowers, their faces
grotesquely painted and hung with tow
/ whiskers, and their legs incased either in
! the TROUSERS Of the men or the bifurcated
garments Of the women. Then, with great
/ stores Of food and liquor and hundreds OF
horns and coneerttnas, after a grand pro-
cession through the ar1stocratic West End,
ito show the nobs how swell costers can
] hnN On ncnaelnn as n cn.LHr nrnullY com