The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-07

Very polite folks call Il the thieves mar
ket," but 1 notice all such places are so
called all over the world, also that the
people who sell goods in them like to he
considered rs having stolen what they Of
fer. to beget the idea that they can sell
their wares for less than they are Won IA,
because they paid nothing for them.
As l turned out of Bishopsgate street
around the famous bar room known as
Dirty Dicks" l saw before me the outer
edge of the vast swarm of people pressed
side 10 side between the vendors along
the curbs-for the poor can not be choos-
ers, and make no complaint at having to
trade in the streets. so long as they can
get a great deal of the necessaries Of life
for a very little of their money. Along
the principal street of the district, which
has no Petticoat lane, yet is all known
by that name, the goods on sale were
mainly old clothes in single coats or pairs
of trousers or in complete suits. Some
were in fairly good condition, Others were
stained or shiny or patched, and all were
individually second hand, and, l thought.
were the cast-off raiment of people who
had themselves been far from well off
These clothes were displayed on boards
set up on wooden horses or else on fiat
topped push carts some of them covered
with awnings or canOpies The Salesmen
were all Jews, but not such as we see
many of in America. These were the Off
spring of Jewish families that have been
established in the East End for centuries
ana they seemed even a little more Eng
lish in their manners than the people
around them.
Some of these merchants mounted lad
ders, so as to command the crowd to the
best advantages others stood on chairs
before their soied and odorous heaps of
sartoral refuse. Their manner of selling
goods was peculiar. They began to offer
them at a high figure and then ran the
price down themselves without waiting for
a word from the crowd; indeed, | do not
remember hearing any of the people be
fore the stalls and carts say anything to
the vendors. They listened with looks of
interest in the goods and prices of amuse-
mcnt at the profanity or Obscenity of the
merchants or of curiosity when man
Ventured upon a harangue that was in
tended to be either informing or witty.
Now, then" merchant would shout, Il
did not come away from my Rachel, and
the kids for the pleasure of being in Petit
coat lane, and so clip me I ain't sellin' no
goods for a parstime, 1 amt. Here's a
suit as fine as Lord Rothschild would
want to wear before the Prince of Wiles
amt il? Wen, l offer it at twenty bob
At eighteen, then; no? So 'elp me- III let
il so at sixteen and a tanner. Who says
he'll ave it al thirteen and a tanner?
At ten-at eight-at siX-at five-at four
bob and a tanner? There, that's my bot
tom proice-four bob and a tanner; 'oopN
ave it at that" A bob is a shilling Of
course, and a tanner Isl a sixpence, in Lon
don slang.
Relieving the monotony of the heaps Of
clothes were rows of secondhand boots.
all resoled and shined, but generally
crooked and warty-looking, despite the
best endeavors of the tradesmen. These
were always dispa aged in lines along the
ground. There were also many stands
given up to the sale of lemonade in the
hugest imaginable Jars, almost big enough
for one of the forty thieves 10 get into,
and made deady-looklng by the unnatural
color of the drink within. There We're
stands before which men cried out.
Here's yer nice coolin citric acid and
sugar." or Who'll buy these sulphur and
cream of tartar lozengers, the best regu-
lators of the blood a-going?" There were
tremendous and formidable scales of
brass, made like apothecaries balances,
but weighing half a ton, upon which the
public was asked TO weigh itself; there
We're poppy shows and peep shows and
moving pictures, and plenty of men who
buttonholed young lads and whispered
that they had contraband photographs
and vicious books for sale; but they spoke
falsely, for none dare to sell those things.
There was an extraordinary trade in what
the English call Pick me-ups," or tones,
is.
because the neighborhood of the Stock
Exchange is the only other place in which
l have seen tonics advertised and having
a great sale in London.
There were other streets in Petticoat
lane that We're given over to the same odds
and ends of tools and broken clocks and
old china and secondhand hardware that
l saw in Moscow's unsavory market, and
strange above all else, was a great build
ing or area of sheds called the Clothes
Exchange" where other dealers than the
ones in the streets rented regular stalls,
as in a meat market, and traded in dis
carded garments, with the extra dignity
of rent payers and the advantage of shell
ter when il rained. All the clothing, except
a little shown by a line of eight or ten
women who stood in a gutter and cried
out skirts and pettieoats and colored I'M
dergarments, was for men, ana my COM
panion ventured the surmise that this was
not because the women did not want
clothes as much as the men, but was more
likely to be because the men considered
their own needs first. Finally I came upon
a restaurant or dining street off to one side
OF all the other thoroUghfares. if that is
a good name for places so blocked by
crowds as to be all but impossible In
this eating street the wares were not il is
needless to say, of the general second
hand variety. They We're very fresh and
appetizing looking, though nothing but sea
food was offered there. Wrinkles, the
favorite food of the very poor Londoner
because IL is the cheapest he can buy
were in the greatest abundance. These
are periwinkles with their names short
ened by one syllable. oysters were next
In point of plentifulness, and crabs and
fried cells. with a sort of mash made Of
boiled peas, We're the other edibies on