The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-10-03
STREET HAwKERs DOWN SOUTH.
A Class OF Picturesque Workers in tn

II ~ N@dHn % "1AhEA6 AL AAAI
Streets of Southern Cities.
BY far the most picturesque Of south
ern workers are the different street
hawkers who cry their wares along the
highways of the larger towns. From
the early hours of morning till midnight,
their ear-piercing, trade-soliciting vo-
cables fill the air. Many of these street
| vendors are fishermen and country folk.
| The former abound in southern river
and coast towns. The latter are mainly
women and children, who bring to town
some seAsonable fruit or vegetable, or
| occasionally poultry and eggs, intend
ing to use the proceeds from their sales
to buy some late-to-them feminine now
city or trinket. Their small vegetable
| gardens generally exist for this sole
| purpose. In many instances these gar
den plots furnish the wherewithal to
purchase such little female requisites as
have been taboed by an unfeeling, I'M
| thinking father or husband. l have
known many a barefoot country maid
/ to cry her wares unweariedly through
out the whole day, walking, in the
| meantime. over many a mile of hard
city pavements. just for the exquisite
pleasure of carrying home at nightfall a
couple of yards of ribbon or a fanciful
bit of decoration for her last seasons
| head-gear.
To enumerate all that these country
| dwellers sell would be to enumerate
nearly everything the fields and
swamps and hillsides produce for mans
real and fancied needs. Besides the
| host that peddle eatables, there are a
goodIy number who gather and bring to
| town, in early spring, many kinds of
| wild ferns and MOSES, and another
goodly number who, versed in wood
| Ire. bring various medical roots and
banks and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., cherry
bark" "sriake-root," and other of ma
| lures remedies for mans ills. These
vendors of roots are generally "oid gem
tlemen of the black stock" who learned
| of the curative properties of their wares
| during the days of slavery. With many
of the colored population, however, this
knowledge, when possessed by one Of
/ their own race, is very closely associa-
ted with a knowledge Of the mysteries
| of conjuration. These simple folk give
wide berth to the vender who exhibits
too comprehensive acquaintance with
these sinister agencies.
From the many street vendors that
one encounters in southern towns the
| housewife can purchase nearly every
| thing necessary for the strict perfor-
nance of kitchen and culinary duties.
| From the light wood'-in way par
adox, because it is really fat, heavy
wood-trhat starts the kitchen fire to
some fruit, peach, plum or berry, that
| goes into the making of the dessert,
peas and beans, olra and tomatoes,
| poultry and fish. all are purchased from
| the street vender. And in one southern
city Il know of, old, wizened mann
| miles," adopts in things culinary daily
supply the not over-experienced house
| wife with light, flaky beat biscuits"
NANNY" sells these gems to fairly
| well-to-do class of housewives who are
not able to hire cooks as expert as her
self in bread-making. But these bis
cults do not constitute her entire stock
| in trade. Or. other occasions she will be
supplied with great brown PONIES of
cornbread and steaming buckets of hash
or chowder,the latter "a wonderfully
prepared dish, containing many nicely
| blended condiments, and her customs
ers will be the Woodworking laborers at
some brickyard or lumbernill. Surely
i this is kindly discrimination, and one
that provokes in neither set of CUSTOM
| ers feeling of resentment For the la
borer appreciates his corn pone, gem
in its line, as highly as the dainty
housewife appropriates her flour-bread
creations.
In the river and coast towns the SELL
ers of fish are the most numerous of
street hawking peripatetics. Next in
number comes that summertime horde
that cries out some kind Of wild or cul-
tivated berry or some seasonable fruit.
| Throughout the summer one can hear
their long drawn-out cries of ''stror-
| b'rries" or "blackb'rries, or the less
melodious cry of the seller Of watermel-
ons. The Strawberries, of course, are
cultivated, and are handled, in the
main, through regular fruit-dealing
| houses. The blackberries, since they
grow wild. are handled by number
less, country-dwelling host. They are
gathered from alongside of country
lanes, in the river swamps, and occa-
sionally from along the hillsides. They
reach nearest to luscious perfection, as
these vendors will tell you, when they
grow beside the shaded brink of some
bubbling little stream, where, as 1t
seems, all things eonspire to ripen them
slowly, filling their clustered globules
with rich, sweet Juice, and urging them
to twice the growth of their brothers of
the hillsides. Il A vender of such as these
might be forgiven If he cried his wares
with an unnecessarily loud information.
Of all the various street sellers the
fishmonger is perhaps the most unique.
Often he is the catcher of his fish, as
we'll as the seller. Assuch he has many
appeals that the ordinary fish-seller
lacks. Without question he can wildly
exploit the perils of his catch, and by
so doing not unfrequently add to its
money value. Just his tender, caress-
ing manner of fondling his trout, SEEM
ingly loath to part with him for the
very loves sake, often brings the indif-
ferent purchaser to terms. To sell this
prize, he let's you know, is like getting
rid ola treasured heirloom, is not to be
effected without many qualnls of con-
science. It. is only well after the bar
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