The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-31
uIIcKSTER AND HIS CALLING.
MORNING HAWKER OF PRO-
VISIONS is HERE TO STAY.

-. Of His, Hers or It's Mysterious
--...-Tbe Word From the Old
man ..Hocken" Meaning "tO
s,oop"-swift Applied 1t to Small
-, Brokers-FOund Principal
In the Coast Cities, Where They
a.. Now Necessary Institution
-, Though They Disturb Late
,,ovniug Slumbers.
~. 1uckster is almost essentially a
80. Institution. Without crabs, shrimp
~ other products of the sea to sell, he,
.,o or il would be to certain extent
-ttbour q fed of labor. Many munich
r,ut.es. more particularly the coast cities,
l,,eriza them and give them a certain
,s.,i sanding but in the interior they
ars almost unknown. That is true at
last OF what is called the huckster in Sa-
vannah or Charleston.
r5a,-lsIn Of the huckster is yelled some
vbat in mystery, for though constituting
o., clement of the cosmos, the very nature
n his business, that of a dealer in small
tbi9es has caused him to pass much I'M
rorl,ed in history. 1t may be said, how
over that the huckster is by no means
modern institution, though he no doubt
has gone through a process of evolution,
and become different being from what
he was when the word was first invented
to fit him.
Uebsters second definition of a buck
ster is "a mean, trickish fellow" and
Swift speaks of petty money brokers as
"huoksterers," a term which would no
doubt apply in the present day. But there
IS nothing mean in the strict sense of the
word about the business of the huckster
proper however low in the social scale he
may be-
The word is of Anglo-Saxon origin and
is traced back 10 the old German word
''hocken," meaning ito stoop," taken on
account of the fact no doubt that the
huckster often stOOps from the load on
his back, or as ii would be in the pres
ent time from the load on his head, for
most hucksters are negroes. From
this German word came the
old English "huckstere," which is the
same as the present English word "huck-
ster' The meanings Webster gives be-
sides that already stated are "a peddler
DtuS IdulCtl rum SlOOplHB uiluSE lut lOdu
on his back; a retailer Of small articles of
provisions a peddler; a hawker.
1t is under the latter name "hawker"
or street hawker" that this class is rec
ognized in the city ordinances of Savan-
nah. There are certain ordinances apply
ing to them, and they are also afforded
the protection of the law in the exercise
Of their calling. 1t is true that the huck-
ster 5o-called is found in many interior
wagon, and not from the basket he carries
on his head, nor does he cry his wares, as
is the case in the coast cities.
For one coming from the interior to the
coast cities the true huckster is quite a
novel institution. A visitor TO Charleston,
for instance, If around early enough in
the morning would perhaps, hear the cry
all around him, "Roshri Roshri, Roshri,"
an exclamation puzzling enough 10 the I'M
Initiated, but once explained as meaning
raw shrimp he would doubtless never for
get il.
The peculiar EXPLANATIONS and cries of
the street hawkers are accounted for by
the taet that the individuals under that
c.ass are all negroes, who have, so to
speak, a peculiar language of their own,
approaching the easiest and most conVen-
lent method of enunciation. One may
near now almost every morning the cry
Ni"7DI-tdAi OId-Dl-eaN, ana the curious
whose ears are thus inflicted, in the first
instance, will wonder what the huckster
Is trying to say and what he or she has to
sell, until he hears "Eah cra-ab, 'eah
efa-ao, and then he knows what is Of
Tered, but Is still at loss to know what
Is sad in The first instance, or the mean
ing OF it. After studying the dialect for
Few months he finds out and that the
hucAster wants him to buy some crabs
ana Is merely telling him where he can
40 It, in these words, translated, Grab
buy here"
crabs sell now at 20 cents a dozen, and
Ven uozen OF them is a pretty good load
lOE me strongest of hucksters to carry
ABOUT Tor any length of time, so that 81 20
eor mornings gross receipts is pretty
soou work But many hucksters sell in
vi around the market in the early morn
ins hours, and their income is not SO linn
ieI as that might indicate.
Inc huckster sells prawn, shrimp. truck
~ an Nlhds, chickens and many other arti-
YES Oh provisions. One of these hawkers,
"Io seems to have larger capital than
osneIs has recently been calling water
melons from his wagon this wise, giving a
ae5uifr slng-song tone with shrill rising
ana falling infections:
Big watermelons.