The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-28
WAKEMAN'SWA NDERINGS
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT
LONDON COSTERM 0NGERS.


in I'm glend - Their Daily Life.
Haunts and Amusements - They
Mate, But Scorn to Marry-Outland-
ish Derby Day Coster Cavalcades.
(Colrrtoht)
LONDON, Aug. 15.-There are between
$4,000 aud 5000 costermongers in the city
! of London. Their vocation is the same as
that Of the street hawkers Of American
cities but those who have made the most
careful study of the latter can form no
proper idea Of the characteristics of the
former without personal acquaintance.
There is good reason for this Our street
vendors Of fish, fruits and vegetables COM
prise an ever changing host of widely vary
ing and uncongenIal natlonalities. A
hawker in our country, from what
ever race he has sprung. never re-
mains a hAwker longer than necessity
| cOmpels. If he is not successful in his
| ventures between markets and customers,
he shortly drops out Of the braying thronR
and engages vigorously in another calling.
| IL his Voice, his swayback steed and his
ramshackle wagon bring BIN profit, he will
make the best bargain possible to another
| aspirant for his belongings, route aud good
WILL" is shortly found in possession Of a
market stall or grocery, and ever after
5COTn5 bub vocation Auu hbsOClHblOub WHICH
gave him prosperity.
| The entire life and conditions OF the
| London costermonger are different. and
this fact, as well as mia strange personality
and whimsical trade aud social ethics, makes
him most unusual and interesting char
acter. Besides, be is a curious and integral
part of this great and ever wonderful Babel
OF London.
The great distinguishing difference be-
tween American hawkers and London
costermoDgers, out Of which the interesting
peculiarities Of the latter have grown, is the
extreme antiquity uf costerm1ngers as a
distinck class or race. Indeed thev may
with proprie5y be considered as q race and
l am lot so sure but that in more thor
ough acquaintance with them than l have
| gained it would lie found that Trey pos
sess the ancient Romany Of gypsy strain Of
| blood. have certainly noticed in them
many race characteristics of the gypsies
and their origin, historically considered,
almost exactly corresponds with the period
in which gypsies we're fret noticed il Eng
land.
Some of the marked characteristics and
customs | have found common to both gyp-
RleB and costermOngers are noteworthy.
| Both races are bitterly opposed to book
knowledge, and not 5 per cent. of either,
in England, can read or write Both are
hereditarIlY rowing in nRtu Q, and would
pine and die If forced for any length of
time into indoor labor. Both mate rather
than marry, and while remarkable for their
fidelity in this relation, t1ey hold la deep
contempt religious or civil marriage rites,
Both are the most honorable ana honest
people Who live in all dealings among them
selves, but hold 1t the hight of wisdom and
morality to ''don ali others not of their Xix.
| Both, however meek, humble aud actually
lew-abiding in their daily lives are heredi-
tarily the enemies Of all law and law officers;
though both will make the most desperate
OF sacrifice to avoid becoming involved in
any complications Of the law. And both
are, Teligiously, agnOstios of such luminous
ness and density ss by comparison would
put all the HamiltoRs, Mansels and Spen-
GERS to fervent blush and shame.
The earliest record of London coster-
mongers' cries Is said to be- in Lydgates
poem of London Lyckpeny" in the time Of
Henry V. about AS years ago. Shakespeare
refers contemptuously TO these coster-
monger times;n Bea johnson makes his
MoTOSe swOon If he hears a costermonger's
cry land DR.. johnson gives the derivation
of "costard-monger" as originating in the
street sale Of apples or costards round and
bulky like the head"
SO far as eau be traced in history and
literature these folk were precisely the same
in mode of life, vocation aud characterize
les hundreds Of years ago as at the present
time. Like the fishermen OF New Haven
| dIu NhAWh1s AuA SS4AA llN0 bAO Ky DDl6b, bn5l
hive scarcely ever been known to inter-
marry with other classes The result is that
the oostermongers of The London of to-day
form almost a little realm of their own,
ever changing il confines yet chaugelsss in
character aud antiquity; with q purer
strain Of blood, OF its kind. than that of
half of the English nobility; and with
Gent customs and traditions remaining in
exora6le laws Of guidance to themselves;
all to a more marked degree than is true of
any equal number OF people in any corner
of Europe.
If ell this we're not true of the London
coSFermonger he would still be found a
picturesque object by the casual observer.
In the first place his dress Is picturesque.
You will not find at Catania, MeSsinA or
Palermo, in Sicily, more odd or colorful
groupings than these crowds Of costers at
tine markets or at their evening and holiday
resorts. Indeed there is dash of the
gypsy in the dress OF these folk that con-
stGatly recalls the Romany people.
At his daily labors the cosCer Will have on
his head a small cloth cap well to one side,
with the visor either pointed to the sky or
saving one side of his neck. He Is never
without his black and hashy colored silk
"kingsman" or heavy, loosely gathered
ueckerchief, always tied in a sailors knot
aud the ends tucked in the folds of his gay
wooden shirt; the whole exposing fine,
well corded and often hairy neck and chest.
His waistcoat is long, like Jockeys, with
capricious pockets and huge tabs, and
always Of corduroy or velveteen. His
trousers are half Mexican In cut, OF cordu-
roy or coarse ducking, and their wide bot
toms flap over the best shoes worn by any
lowIv men in London. Added to this are
pearl or polished metal buttons innumer-
able
In the matter of buttons their "besu toys"
for Sundays and holidays are truly start
nug. Whether of metal or pearl. they are
from q half inch to an inch in diametert
and are set as thickly as they can be placed
around the cap band and visor edge. down
the edge of the waistcoat from throat to
point, above every pocket, and along the
edges of ali lapels, upon the sleeves nearly
from wrists to elbow, and along the wide
plush side stripes Of the trousers, from just
below the knees 10 the very edge of the
trousers leg, so that the last button clicks
ana pasters against the pavement and the
shoe.
The coster women are none the less strik-
ing in their garb and appearance. Like the
men they are all we'll shod. and wear short
! - Al,.g..