Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-27

"hASh L carry ABOUT with me IN this
vaiise, Is composed exclusively of medicines
Ihey are more difficult to dispose of than any
other wares, and you will never see them sold
except from high pitch.
what do mean by high pitch? Why, an
elevated position for speaking from. like this
step ladder This is the ros;rum of the orator.
Roughly speaking. our profession NAV be di-
videu into two classes-those who talk from
| the high pitch and those who employ the low
pitch The low pitch may be little table on
the sidewalk. or barrel, on which the goods
are displayed. Whereas the high-pitch man
depends upon his oratory chiefly for the sale
OF his goods, the fellow who does the low pitch
relics on the attractiveness of his stock to q
| great extent.
You will understand from what have said
that the hiSh-pitch street men represent the
cream OF the profession. The best of us would
doubtless have made distinguished LAWYERS or
preachers mad suitable opportunities offered.
Persons who do the low pitch are commonly
referred to as grinders. because they work
all the time. while We only labor at intervals Fiji
teen minutes of oratorcal effort is about as
much as one cares to eXpend during each hour.
In THIS occupation a natural gift of the CAB is
| most important but of course pract ice does a
great deal. Some OF us have our remarks
melnorlzed. so that one Grafton of a quarter of
an hours length is repeated over and over
AGAIN; bat the most effective method is to
make up the labber as one goes along.
How TO ATTRACT A CROWD.
The first thing necessary is to attract a
crowd Nothing is easier. One way of doing
this Is to start talking rapidly until the people
begin to gather, when more will flock around,
merely for the purpose of finding out what is
exciting the attention of the Others Human
beings are wonderfully like the loweranimals
III respect to curiosity. But a better method
Is TO perform some sleight-of-hand trick. L
USUALLY transform silver half dollar by little
dcft manipulation into a twenty-dollar gold
piece by the time have performed that in
terestinS operation three or four times there is
lure to be an audience and. while promising
hem something more OF an interesting nature
tc come. 1 direct their attention to my wares.
what one actually says from the high pitch
Is not so important as the rapiditv OF utterance
The thing Is to talk so fast that the audience
shall not be given a chance to think. This
medicine L am selling now is lniment pre-
pared from formula which obtained from
physician. The remedies we street men sell
are often excellent, because it pays better to
sell good thing than poor one, the cost not
being any more. Usually We put them up our
selves Very few Of US are in this business all
the year around. As a rule We have other occu-
patlons. professional, depending upon curb
stone oratory 20 tide US over during idle
times.
a fair example of the business methods OF
the fakir Is the give-away jewelry racket 1t
usually works with great success. The yender
sells three or four rings or breastpins for 10
cents each After asking the buyers if they
are satisfied with their purchases and receiving
an affirmative assurance he gives them their
money back, allowing them to retain the arti-
cles bought. which he says he only wishes
to advertise Next he disposes Of a number of
gold chains for 20 cents apiece. Having been
informed, In response to inquiry, that all the
buyers are conteuted ne again gives them back
their money, permitting them to retain the
chains. By this time the crowd is worked I'D
to great excitement. the novelty of buying
]ewelry and getting the purchase money back
being extremely attractive So the orator
offers other objects Of ornament for 81 each
and the buying IS very eager indeed. As be-
lore, he asks II every one is satisfied and those
who have bought respond in enthusiastic
chorus, expecting the return of what they have
paid. But the fakir merely replies, well, if
you are entirely satisfied will say good -day to
you And with that he closes his valise and
departs for another locality, leaving q disap-
pointed crowd behind him.
SOME OF THE DoDGEs EMPLOYED
This sort of cheap jewelry is manufactured
on large scale by firms in Chicago and New
York. Another dodge of the fakir is to wrap
up 50 bill in one of half a dozen packages.
each OF which contains a cake of soap. That ia
to say, he appears to do So but in reality he
retains in his hand the parcel containing the
money, while he sells for 81 or 30 the six cakes
to some hoodwinked individual You are
familiar. OF course, with the shell game
played with English walnut shells and a little
rubber ball. WDen the customer guesses the
shell under which the bali is located the
operator in lifting it deity causes the ball to
disappear by whiskng it out between his ring
finger and little finger. 1t is bat a variation
on the ancient sport of 'thimble rigging
Then there Is the sympathetic religious worker.
usually a negro, VINO goes about in the colored
quarter OF the city. his equipment being a loud
voice and a lot Of hymns The latter he has
printed at the rate OF 1000 for 81. He sings
the hymns, which he declares were written by
sister Susan Jackson on her deathbed, or by
the famous colored evangelist, the Rev Silas
Brown of South Ca'lina, and they 20 off like
hot cakes at the rate OF two for cents. have
known a Washington darkey to make as much
as 80 day in this way, but in moment OF
weakness he stole some barrels and it affected
six months and the suffering sinners were left
without their usual supplies of hymns
Another colored fakir In this city used to
sell rattlesnak" oil, which came from the foot
OF mysterious mountain in South Carolina.
His remarks on the subject always wound I'M
with the statement that 'one bright moonlight
night. when the oil was being prepared, lust
as the last ingredient was being put in it was
noticed that there were black spots on the
moon. Upon this weird circumstance the
|
as to convey conviction to the minds of his
hearers respecting the virtues Of his nostrum,
and they would buy eagerly.
when say that mixture of molasses and
vinegar Is sometimes sold on the streets for
rheumatism medicine refer merely to the
business practiced by fakirs who do not hest.
tate to vend common soap rs an infallible prep
aration for taking spots out Of clothing The
buns do great deal to damage the profess
sion. For Is cents they can provide them
selves at any time with o stock in trade and be-
gin selling 1t at the nearest corner. They can
buy for that amount of money two dozen
wooden pill boxes and a supply Of axle grease
They fill the pill boxes with the axle grease and
dispose OF it under the guise of q magic cure
| for corns and ingrowing nails. knew of such
a fakir who on one occasion had only enough
axle grease left over from the day before to dill
nine Of the twelve pill boxes which remained
| in his possession. Accordingly. he sold the
three empty boxes just as if they had been full
ones. One Of the purchasers came back and
kicked. That's all right said the vendef.
| The box doesn't need to have anything in it.
1t is charged with electricity, and all you want
to do is to take oil the cover at night and hold
| it upside down over the corn. Do that for half
| an hour this evening, and you will be cured
| The customer went away satisfied.
1T is only the hopclessly irreclaimable ele-
ment of the profession which will take advan-
| tsge OF the public in such ways as that. Per-
| sons with talent, who might make good living
| by the reputable practice of the business, pre-
far fof nE hain 10 IN hio