The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-03-31
CURBSTONE FAKIRS.
PIE SIDEWALK MERCHANTS NOW
FOUND IN ALL LARGE CITIES.

Have you ever observed the movements
of the energetic street fakir2
But OF course you have, for he Is omni-
present You can't close" him. He has
come to stay. Some dignity him by the
name Of street vender or sidewalk mer-
chant, but the only name that goes with
the buoyant and palpitating public is street
fakir. So it will have to go at that.
He is scattered up and down Broadway
even as the milky way is stretched along
the starry path of heaven. Like the ghost
of the late Colonel Banquo, he will not /
down. He stands like magnet to draw |
coin from the pockets of pedestrians. He |
delights in the tempting display of his |
wares, but he has no time for merry badi- |
mage or playful raillery. He is terribly jim |
earnest. Whether he Is selling pocket |
combs or collar buttons or advertising |
false whiskers, it is all the same. He is |
there to please fastidious but economical |
public, and he will come as near giving |
you nothing for something as anybody you
would strike i'm n weeks journey.
Little children love him and older folks
enjoy his windy declamations concerning
the virtue of his wares, and altogether he
is not such n bad fellow, after all. He may
sell you n real diamond for 10 cents,
but that Is your lookout. 1t is you who
should be prosecuted-not he. He may sell
you lot of cheap collar buttons, but that
is what he Is there for. He makes no false
claims concerning them, and you get your
moneys worth. So what more do you
want? The articles he has for sale may be
ridculously cheap But, as general rule,
they are the "real thing"
There is not block on Broadway from
Franklin avenue to Market street on which
the street fakir may not be seen at all
hours of the day and until late at night.
But the place he is TO be found at the pin
nacle of glory is between Washington av-
enue and the alley at the north on the
west side of Broadway. He is particularly
prominent in the afternoon.
On this particular block dago banana
peddler occupies the position of honor
He had jumped a claim on the corner of
| Broadway and Washington avenue, from
which point OF vantage he boldly pro-
| claims, "without fear of successful contra
diction," us they say in amateur debating
societies. that he is selling bananas IA
| for B." He stands with his hands in his
coat rockets ard moves restlessly up and
| down from one end of his cart to the 9th
er, eying the public surreptitiously and
| anon calling out in choicest dago:
"Fourteo' for mp
Nobody knows how he does it, but he
makes more money out of that business
| than an Irishman could out of q saloon
and grocery store
Next to the banana emporium is an old
blind woman, grinding away for dear life
| on q wheezy hand organ. She plays Poor
Nellie Gray and "Safe In the Arms OF
Jesus" and various other sentimental and
religious airs and she exhausts her roper
tory about AZ times day. IL is fact that
these hand organs are purposely construct
ed with missing notes, and this hiatus
gives the music n mournful, despairing
wall. which makes you so gloomy on n
bad day that you feel like giving the
owner of the internal machine your week s
salary.
A Glib tongucd individual attired In a
walters or bakers white suit, came rear
causing q stampede ON Broadway Friday
afternoon. Nobody seemed to know where
he came from. He appeared on the scene
suddenly, opened up small table with
legs like camp stool, and in less than q
iffy was crying out;
ooh, yesl Go tell your friends to tel
their friends to telegraph the news, to tel
their friends. that Taffy sam, from Kala
: mQXaIn, inc lDoktT vi biiO i''ii1 INV ''A'
poor mans friend, is here today
Every other fakir on the block looket
mn in CONSERVATION. The blind woman go
, ms far MS ''Safc i'm the arms" and stopped
, The banana pcddlCr sCowlCd. A crowt
commenced TO gather, and the fakir tool
/ up a bunch of the long, stringy taffy, shin
ing like silken strands, and gurgled II
melting tones;
, "Just look at that Melts in your moutl
like ice cream! Taste it and try it befor
l Won buy It'll Children cry for it, Old maid
5 SIGH for it! Swcetor than honey! IT.
some, lady?'
g Thus he proceeded with an endless chair
. of persuasive remarks, and in lew MN
{ utes he had disposed of his stock and dis
0 appeared.
D Tho gentleman with the rusty whiskers
+ standing next to him, was much put on
Inv this demonstration, which had inter
rnnted his work of showing the ladies HOY
To memo tinware with solder which h
+, was selling at underground prices.
Next TO him were two fakirs who nigh
!. be called general merchants, for they kce
= everything from cheap stationery up I
y snidc iowelry, or vice versa, just as you sc
9 ft TO class them. But their principal stoc
: in trade are shoe laces. They have size
I. laces till YOU can't rest-tan, black an
:. leather-and they make surprising nun
!, her of sales, for the articles are genuin
= and men buy them on tho spur OF the m'
= ment, because they need them and can ne'
: or think of them when passing shoe stor'
:. The inevitable fakir who Is disposing
e hone collar buttons at the rate OF IL for
: cents is there, and the number OF pcde
!. TRANS who stop to examine his wares
y surprising. This is genuine bargain
the eyes of some men, for some men WI
insist on wearing bone collar buttons.
The busy pedestrian on Broadway rush'
by with scarcely glance at the ar ay' o'
hundreds of men and women of the poor
q classes. who are hunting bargains pau
% TO listen to the cries Of the fakirs, many
h which are alluring rs well as am lsin
:. md to examine their wares and pr, pap
a make one or more purchases.
:. Thus they succeed in making an hone
; living, often in the face of conquer
II nride. while less industrious citizens a
- begging on the strects.-St. Louis Pos
a. Dispatch. "
Unconcern.
"Mamma, why should landladies obje
IN childrcuY"