Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-02-26
SUNDAY MORNING FISH SALE.
scenes and Incidents of the Rezalki
Performance at Catherine Mar
ket, New York.

II IHtTe are peopie WIZ uouub tno'
New York is the most cosmopolitan
city in the world. their views must be
changed by = visit to the great fish
sale which is held in Catherine Market
on Sunday morning, says the Times, of
that city. Every nationa ity under the
sun is represented in the crowd that
besieges the market, but Greeks and
Hebrews predominant Russians, Slavs,
Hungarians, Frenchmen and Germans
jostle the Irish contingent, and China
men bargain for their 'iblit of fish"
with the others. The collection of
swarthy faces, piercing dark eyes,
patriarchal boards and crisp hair, and
the variety of costumes that are seen,
would delight the heart of a seeker
after the curious.
In summer the sales begin at sun
rise and in winter at $3.50 o'clock. Bas-
kets of all shapes and sizes are used
to carry away the purchases, and whole
families, comprising father, mother,
and children of assorted sizes, stagger
home under a load that a self-respect-
ing horse would balk at.
Fish peddlers buy their supplies here
for the week and trundle them away
on barrows, to be resold at leisure.
Many of the private families who re-
side in the Ghetto and adjacent quar-
tiers carry off enough sea food to last
them until the following Sunday, thus
defeating the ambition of the peddlers
to turn IN honest penny. Oysters are
sold by the barrel, and cells are picked
up alive from the big tanks of water
and delivered, to the customers in
squirming masses.
The din attendant on the sale is
frightful, and so excitable are the pa
irons of the market that to the I'M
initiated it would seem as though a
race war was in full swing. The
strident voices of the fish sellers cry
ing their wares mingle with the shrill
tones of women, who haggle over half
a cent, and above them all rises the
howl of the peddlers, who dart here
and there seeking bargains.
The fish is perfectly fresh, as it is
supplied by the dealers in Fulton
market, who keep large quantities
alive in tanks. These dealers have
sales every day in the week, and are
well content to give the Catharine
market habitues a chance to buy
cheap food on the Sabbath morning.
All the sea food is sold at a sur
prisingly low price. Nice cod can be
had for six cents a pound, and a few
pennies will buy a big basketful of
smelts. Eels, some of which are
big as the muscular arms of the ped
dlers, go for Is cents, and a job lot
of fish may be had for. half a dol
lar.
The market men manage to extract
a great deal of fun from the sales.
They continually crack jokes, ancient
and brand new When one of them
was asked why the foreign element
was so fond of fish he responded
with a grin: "The divil a reason can
l give except maybe that it's good
brain food, and Lord knows them
folkses want that" Another mar
held up an enormous eel and told a
wonderful yarn about it's capture be.
fore he offered it at IS cents. His
competitor at the next stall shouted:
That's a big fish story, and you
can't weigh it because the scales are
wanting"
At nine o'clock a bell rings, and
the market is supposed to be cleared
within Is minutes. By that time al,
most every stall and table is bare
and if it occasionally happens that
there is any residue it is thrown tc
the small boys who wait at the curb
stone for the spoils. Then the mar.
ket is shut tight, the motley throng
disappears, and the curtain falls or
one of the most original scenes tc
be found anywhere on Manhattan
Island.