The morning times., 1896-05-31
eggs, the reporter waited aud the market

| You see bakers need a great ma nv eggs
! When they used 10 buy them by the gross
| they were likely 10 break or spoil. All they
have to do now is TO buy eggs when they
are cheap, separate the yoksa and whites into
labeled buckets ana set them up here to
freeze. When they are wanted the buckets
are thawcd and tapped and the eggs dshed
out with a spoon.
There are many storage rooms circling the
big market, all of them frigid aud silent
their miles of piping coated with frost that
sparklcs like snow. They are Illuminated by
incandescent lights, generated by an under,
| ground electric plant, and chilled by three
| refrigeratiug machines. each large enough
to freeze the entire storage. but duplicated
so as to guard against all possibility of
] thaw. In the engine room beneath the
ground are huge hydraulic pumps that force
| the ammonia charged brine through the
/ piping toeacha partnent where the temper;-
! ture can be gauged at will.
Formerly eaCn butcher in the District
| slaughtered home-ralsed cattle in his own
abattor, but in these days OF refrigerat-
| ing cars and cold storage attachments with
| but few exceptions meat is bought already
dressed from the West.
! In this wonderland over the Center
| Market butter changes by some Midas
like magic to bricks of virgin gold: fish
| turn to onyx and beaten silver, lard is
| alabaster and all meats carved worries
slabs of coarse brown stone.
| There are many early birds who do their
| marketing by sun up, and q corresponding
| number of Sluggards who put off theirs
| until the stands are picked over and the
| huckSters ready for home. The average
! housewife, however, does her tri-weekly
! buying at n sensible hour, selects what
she wants from the hucksters she is in
| the habit OF dealing with, orders her basket
| sent home aud then trips off in time for
| foren0on'S shopping.
SOME PURCHASERS ARE STINGY.
| Though the general run Of customers
realize the folly Of wasting a whole morn.
| ing trampiug around to save penny
there are hurdeS OF people who make a
| point of touring from stall to stall. snap-
| ping lettuce leaves to test their crispness
tasting butter, tearing back poultry wings
and burying their nails with fatal con-
sequence into potatoes and apples before
| buying a blessed thing. Sometimes thcv
don't buy at all.
These are the markctcrs who go a long way
| toward making huCksters eligible for
sainthood-provided they can keep their
tempcrs, which TO phenomenal extent.
| they do.
Among the society women who personally
superintend their own marketing, none
seem to understand and enjoy it more
thoroughly than Mrs. Carlisle, Mrs Letter
and Mrs. u. Grant. Mrs. Dent attends
regularly, and other prominent women seen
with business like prmptneSs are Mrs Hit,
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Mackay-Smith
The picturesque features of the market
are furnished by country people VINO run
small truck gardens ana sell the product
Squatter fashion, on the curb. Even here
| there is difference. .the stands against the
wall being numbered anil rented 10 in.
dividual producers, while the rule OF the
Or ar is ihnf bnxl %.
the best place.
These country folks, most OF them CoIored,
possess what they call a great mira tiOn''
for Saturday market and their rickety
teams begin 10 arrive on the grounds the
evening before anywhere from Fridays
sunset until dawn. And the eagerncss
with which they look out to see who has got
ahead of them in the location of a spot
would be laughable if it wasn't pathefic.
But IT. is pathetic.
I'm been sittin' here on dis cub stone
winter n summer, for gOin' on fifty yeahs
Chlrruped all ancient brown BODY from
behind board or wild flowers herbs md
tobacco twists, land Cahline, dat gal a
Inine ober dar VIII de sno' falls an guinea
keat eggs, she's been comm along o. me
eDer since de wah''
You must have seen many changes,
aunty, IN your time?"
Deed is, Chile, suah. Long time er
=" de useu 10 ne a cana Tunnln Clar long
de mash mabket an up inter murder bay
an here was bridge whar dem kyars
are pdssln', an many time | see de am
bulances creepln' ober it, leavin' blood
urlps behind, an beah de soljers IN 'em
groanln i'll dere pain-yes, indeed honey,
l done seen heaps
What are these?'' asked the reporter,
pointing to rolls of fibrous brown banks
anu wlthered switches, tied with calico
strings.
SHE SOLD LOVE CHARMS.
Dat so got yo' han on is red-oak X bark.
TO cuts; dis here viii cherry is fo' no ap-
petites, an ladies buy desc terbacCo
twlsseSter keep off reaches an moffs. Dis
dried gum is fustrate fer fits, an here's
sulnpln OATS Suah cure TO- ole maids
1t is, honey, TO a fac" The 'sump-
IN, was sheaf Of shppery-elm chips.
ou ought to make Pile of money out
OF that, Aunty. How does it work.
The Old soul chuckled, and proceeded to
light her pipe.
on see, you can tell ole maid ladies |
as Ier orr as yo' can see EN-, cause they !
most IN gineral has such lean lonesome |
sort o look. Well, dis slippery alum tea |
makes EN- fat as chickens in coop, an |
"heh dey gits rat some gemplenian gwine |
TO get n 'miratiOn fo' 'em. an AK EN- |
unless II dey done start drinkiD' alum tea |
too late"
Ihcrcpn that stand weighteddown |
with slippery elm chips and tobacco twists |
ana halted before another woman. the color |
OF a pumpkin blossom, who was proclaim |
ing ID clarion accents that she was selling |!
out for five cents. The stand was a blush |
OF laurel and pink honcySuckleS. On one !
end were three eggs in a straw berry box |
ana at the other hare ; fOotand a wthered !
black something, with claws to it, laid on |
big green leaf. In the middle of the |
board was a rat dressed chicken with its |
stiff legs shooting in the air
"pll take that chicken" said tie re- |
porter, laying down nickel. and the small |
Joke provoked uproariouS mirth.
'G'way, chile answered the cOod-hu- |
mOred soul after her little laugh was over
When chicens draps to five cents the |
country's ruined That dominecker pullet |
sings for so cents but seein' it's you, you
Gun have it foe thirty-five.''
1t was Il fine bargain and the scribe
ciinched it at once.
And what in the world is thiS?' poking |
the reportorial pencil at the thing with |
claws
That am a mud turl;le'S flipper an it
brings luck same as the hare's foot only |
BETTER fu.s
us it five cents?'' ~
NO, indeed honey. FIippers come high"
cause 'em turkies have to be caught by the
fuil OF the moon for the charm to work-it |
alntHke hares that can be trapped common.
That identical flpper is worth all of fif-
teen cents. but YOU cur have il for twelve
this mawning'
And how much for tile harc's foot?''
Ihat a first class hare's foot.
amt seen none to hold a candle to IL
nowhere, but amt gon' to tote it back
nome II you wants it bad enough to pay ten
cents There amt no luck to beat hare
ioot uck, eXceptin' mud turkle flippers,