The San Francisco call., 1897-11-14
TRICKS OF THE FESTIVE STREET-PEDDLER

There are 656 licensed peddlers in San
Francisco at the present time, of which
29O are what are known as wagon ped
dIers" and 1877 are basket peddlers"
this class including the foot people, the
Chinese vegeta BILE men, the fishmen and
the flower sellers. Each of these small!
dealers pays $40 quarter inio our city
treasury, but the remaining 229 are per-
sons who by reason of physical or none
tary disability are permitted 10 ply their
trade without being obliged to pay for the
privilege of so doing.
Under these circumstances II is no Won
q er that the town on pleasant days is fairly
overrun with travelling merchants of both
sexes and nearly all ages and nationalities !;
nor is it any wonder that, in vain effort
for self-protection, at least half our houses
bear on their gaieposts or doorsteps the
iorbidding sign, "No peddlers wanted" "
Whether they are wanted or not, how
rver our streets are full OF them from
morning until night, and in the otherwise
quiet residence portions OF the city their
harsh and discordant cries shock the ears
and CRATE upon the nerves OF even normally
wide-awake and we'll PERSONS while night
workers, to whom sleep in the daytime is
a necessity, and lnvalids suffering from
acute or chronic Ills are simply tortured
by the various howls and yells with which
the ma ajority OF them successfully endea-
vor to attract attention TO themselves and
their wares.
"Staw-ba staw- bsze! Ni-fes-staw-
bazer' "Ni-see-ga-ups !" "Wah-men-n-n
weh-men.n-nl Swee- wah-men-n-nr' "On-
gees, on-gees, twen-cen-duzzin " Frash
feeshl' "Wile-ga-a-a-mel" 'Taters, ta-
ters, t-meaI- tatersi six bits sa-sa- urk p
These are some of the announcements
which come hurtlng through the atmos-
phere at all hours OF the day, and the pea
of the doorbell is almost incessant.
Semi occasionally the regular store
keeper, who pays rent and gas bills and
clerk hire, and all that, sends up wall oi
remoHstrance against a practice which
materially curtails his income and drives
him perilously near, if it does not wrec ck
him upon, the grim coast OF bankruptcy.
But no one seems TO take much notice Of
him, and the peddler in his almost intin
ite variety, continues to assault our front
and back doors, and the defenseless en-
frances to our ears, energetically and in
defatiga bly,, in season and out of season
Match boys tug themselves and their
sacks Of sulphurous-smeiling stock in
trade up our steps and doleiully tell US
apochryphal tales of woe to induce US tc
invest a nickel, even if the house is full o1
matches already. Dark-faced, dark-ey led
women with bright handkerchIeis tied
cornerwise over their heads, and possess
ing just enough knowledge of English &c
ask US o buy something from the unde-
sirabe collection of articles in their bas-
kets, and nowhere near enough to be made
10 understand that we don't want them
a. any price, present the mseives before u
day after day, and by persistence and per
severance generally manage to make US
customers occasionally against our wills.
The persuasive Chinese sets down his
burdens before our gates and patiently
tries 10 convince us,that every ything in hi:
huge basket is heap flesh, heap good, y
and best OF all, heap chleap." The fish
mongeF blows his horn, the icecream man
rings his BELL and the potato man -
generic name FOR the guerrila-like horde
otyouths and boys who deal in the over
loudest- voiced and the least dependabe in
very way of all our street venders-
makes his appearance in attachments OF
Jour or FIVE who fill the shuddering air
with the dIssonance of their raucous
voices and make their way boldly into
dogless yards and through unlocked
doors in their eager pursuit OF possible
trade.
The vegetable peddler who is the owner
or an aitache OF a good fruitstore comes
direct from some markei-garden or OBJ
iains his load fresh from the country at
the "day break market is usually quiet
and dependab Bile fellow whose coming is a
coming is a conven ience and who treats
his customers respectfully as to manner
as well as TO bargains. His big cart. piled
with orange ge-colored carrots, smooth
brown potatoes, crimson tomatoes, crisp
green lettuce and. cabbages, purple egg
plant, curded caulihower, white and yel-
low turnips, plume-topped celery. golden
squashes and pumpkins, cherry-hued
radishes and the common" fruits
oranges, apples and grapes, with usually