The record-union., 1892-08-27

donkey and cart possessed by the more
Well-to-do. / have seen the latter loaded
with from ], 200 to 800 pounds weight at
Covent Garden Market. The women,
when hawking alone, are sometimes pro-
YIued with donkey carts, or barrows, but
oitener with shadows, ''-or shallow bask-
cts, which, with their heavy contents, are
carried ON their heads
curious sort Of business has always
been III vogue owing to the improvidence
OF the costermongers as class. This is
the hiring out to them Of baskets, bar
rows and carts out of the $4,000 or
ee,UO0 costermonger population OF Lon
con, fully 10000 are actually engaged in
daily hawking, the remainder being Old
folk, or children, unable to work save at
odd times. Fully One-half Of the daily
workers own their own shadows. barroWs
and carts. The other half hire them at
rulnousIy usuTlous rates. The donkey
ana cart are seldom hired, nearly all OF
these outfits being owned by the costers.
but the hand carts, or barrows, are usu-
ally hired at three-pence per day. or one
shilling for the week, for a barrow origi-
naily costing less than two pounds More
than E-0.o00 or &l0U. 600 is annually paid
IN barrow and shallow" hire by the
London costers.
quite recently coster proyident clubs
have been formed. These, by a trifling
weekly payment from members, insure
the opportunity OF hiring barrows at re-
duced rates, and OF purchasing dOnkeys
and carts on the inStallment plan. But,
as rule, they like the Old waY best, The
old way with London cCsters is, as a rule,
after nights dissipation at drink, or
gambling, for all cosIers, without eXcep-
tIon, are hard drinkers and inVeterate
gamblers in a small way, to borrow the
days stock money" at a SiXpence or q
smiling interest, secure tue hand barrow
at threepence hire, the scales, or meas
ureS, at another outlay Of twOpence, and
trust to heavy pushing loud calling ana
guIllble customers 10 retrieve their fallen
fortunes. They are Scrupulously honest
IN repayment OF loans, and harder work.
ing people do not live. But they are ire
deemable in their thriftlessness, and,
with all their good qualities and traits
| considering their associations and ignor-
ance, are hopeless slaves of the usurers
and taprooms.
Any one desiring a superficial obserYa-
ton OF this class can find ample studies
of costers at the chief London markets
Daily 5000 come to CoVent Garden Mar
ket. about 1900 secure fish at Billings
gate, fully 20O0 are at Spitalfields. uer-
haps 500 each will be found at Borough
and Leadenhall, and fully 5000 are dis
trlbuted among the lesser city and su-
burban markets. CoVent Garden Market
IS the most interesting place to visit, not
only Tor It's historic associations but for
It's greatest thrOngS OF cOsters. From the
opening at 2 o'clock in the morning until
or o'clock, from 5000 to 1900 coster
carts will have come and gone The re-
malnder in attendance wait until after
noon to dicker with the "hagglers," or
spectators, who have bought unsold
| loads from farmers ''in the lump"
In these morning hours interest will
not only center IN the cOsters but in their
n a j,
dredS are packed III a corner Of the open
market waiting to load, for which privi-
lege they are taxed one penny each. Ev-
cry manner of rude ingenuity has been
| exercised in the patching up of donkey
carts and the construction OF donkey har-
ness. Rope. rusheS and rags are good
enough for some. Neckerchiefs and cor
duroys are transformed into saddle pads
! lor others. Many are resplendent in
brass ornaments all together of half the
donkey's weight. And still others have
seen nobler uses and disclose bits OF old
carriage harness bedecked with coronets
in gold and silver plate.
/ would write of the coster's home life.
! but he has none. The gypsy, even the
iDoor London gypsy OF the loathsome
van, is vastly his superior in this respect.
IN the past three years l have visited
more than a thousand costers' hauntS and
habitations. In them ali | have not
found dozen genuine homes. The near
est approach to the home is where the
coster IS fairly well-to-do, and owns the
! donkey and cart, or couple, or three. In
these extremely Y rare instances you will
often ind the cOSter, his wife or mate
their children and the donkeys in one
| basement room together. But the char
acier OF the mans and the woman's work
keep them upon the street. They eat at
cheap chOp-hOuSes and coffee-stalls.
Their PNHnInDG 1aCCnI or to,,
room, the penny gaff' shows, the ratpit
ana the cheap music halls.
Boys ana girls leave their parents and
mate ut from IA to l6 years. They take
furnished rooms in the coster districts of
Leather Lane, Drury Lane, Shoreditch.
Old street Road, Marylebone Lane, Dock
head, Bethnal Green, WhitechaDel, Cam
berwell and the like, and are at once full
uedged costers. Children are born to
them, and are minded for the first
year or two. Then they take their chances
Tor life and education in the slums. At 6
or they accompany their parents, or are
hired out 10 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 go with the coster
folk they are sticklers for their amuse-
ind them at the music hall, the ratpit or
their taproom haunts. There are moro
than 800 of the latter exclusively patron
lZed by coster men and women. In nearly
all OF these are rude grills where they
may cook their own food, all are provided
with cards and other games for their
amusement, and with each is backyard
! or shed well protected from the ewes of
the police, where rat and dog fighting, of
which they are extremely fond, NAV be
INDUCED in, and where boxing and prize
lighting are eagerly cultivated. On
Sunday they will be found in great num-
bers at Battersea Fields, Hampstead
Heath and Epping Forest, but the great
yearly London outing for costers is at the
Derby.
More than thousand carts, each con-
tanning from four TO six coster women
and men, set out from the Seven Dials
and Whitechapel. The donkeys are all
bedecked with paper flowers, their faces
grotesquely painted and hung with tow
whlskers, and their legs encased either in
the trousers of the men or the bifurcated
garments OF the women. Then, with
great stores of food and liquor, and hum
dreds of horns and concertinas, after a
grand procession through the aristocratic
West End, Ito show the nobs how swell
cosUers can be" on occasion, as a coster
proudly confessed to me, this outlandish
cavalcade, with wild coster music, shouts
and laughter, sets out in merry scram-
BILE for breezy EPSON Downs.
EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN.
For SIeep1essness