The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-04-10

noon crowd is the woman of mod
crate means and little pretensions,
who sees no earthly reason why she
should not do her marketing and her shop
ping on Saturday afternoon if she wishes
to; she does them both with all the
independence in the world
THE SATURDAY NIGHT CROWD.
But Saturday night. That's the time to
go to market If you wish merely to watch
the crowds. For the Saturday night crowd
is infinitely more interesting than the Sat
urday morning the Saturday afternoon
crowd. 1t is a cosmopolitan crowd; Mon
golian josties Caucasian, the Latin races
rub shoulders with the Anglo-Saxon; and
through and among and on the outskirts
of the throng, pass the different types of
the African from the "high-born lady,
with her yellow skin to the veriest darkey
of them all OF all the members of the
hustling, bustling. Saturday night crowd,
they are perhaps the best-natured of the
lot. Huh, dis yeah markets wuss'n a
church house. hits so crowded." grumbled
one fat nanny, every tooth in her head in
evidence despite the fact that adjacent ell
bows and shoulders are doing their best
| to disturb her equilibrium and her temper.
| The Saturday night market is evidently
| a trysting place for lovers, for the crowd
| always contains any number of them wan
derlng through the alSleS with eyes not
| for the vegetables and meats and flowers
| but for each other alone. The picture hat
| girl is conspicuous on market o Saturday
| nights and with her flaring plumed hat
| the plumes usually sadly out of curl-her
| exaggerated pompaoour towering on one
side, hattened to her eye on the other,
contrasting with her generally rough-and-
ready skirt and jacket, she adds another
| element of the picturesque to the shifting
| crowds
| And Saturday night as well as all day
4 there.
/ in their types as are the grown-ups. There
| is the dainty little maid who lust loves"
| mothers skirt, trailing along behind
| through rows filled with vegetables and
| cheeses, her eyes and ears alert TO take in
| all the fascinating sights and smells. In
4 the meat market she finds less interest
/ however, for her eyes and nose object to
| the unattractive piles of raw meats. There
/ there often before, and who trudges along
| before his particular market party label
ing everything y,, ne comes to TO show that ne
| ishers-that's pserves-'n' that's pies n
| cake-n NAV, you promised to buy me
SIN animal crackers, n here they are
| now. The pickaninnies who come push
| ing through the crowd, ducking under mar
| ket baskets, darting through incredibly
| narrow openings, are there in force, too.
| And the wee babies come TO market too.
| Usually they come in parental arms. and
sometimes they take deep interest in the
purchases for the family larder some
| times they are wholly indifferent and ex-
| press their contempt for the proceedings
| with walls that fill the market. But one
baby who came a-marketing the other Sat
| urday night disdained to come by the usual
methods. He came in a carriage, as suited
,nsoI royal right and: ,t though a perambu-
market is little disconcerting, King Baby
had no difficulty whatever in making his
and smiled and the Crowds as g II S oy ms oSe
made way for his triumphal car, and no.
| body even limited that his father and
| mother might have chosen some other
method of bringing the royal heir to mar
ket.
IN THE FLOWER MARKET
The flower market is one of the prettiest
| parts of the market place, and is thronged
all day Saturday. for every one seems to
| want flowers for Sunday" There is an
| impression abroad that one gets flowers
| very much cheaper at the market than at
the florists. and. perhaps. one does now
and then. 1t is doubtful, however, whether
| one can do any consistent economizing by
| purchasing the posies at the market unless
the purchase is put off until the closing
hour, and then-"Yes we sell off our flow
ers cheap at the end-that is the ones that
we know aren't very fresh. But the others
| we just take home and bring them back
next market day to sell for a little less"
So the economizing is probably not such an
| economical process after all.
But flowers and vegetables and meats
| and preserves are not all that can be
| bought on market. One can find almost
anything that She happens to think about
wanting. from visiting cards TO Belgian
| hares, If she has the patience to hunt for
the stand "FlOrodora combs are one of
the things that one doesn't think can be
| found on the market--or anywhere else
perhaps-until one runs into them. "Thems
pretty" said little withered-up Irish
woman the other night, polxng tentative
firger at the Florodoras which sell for the
sum OF 10 cents. You bet thems pretty"
replied the brisk little girl in charge of the
stand. You could do your hair up just
lovely with them. The little old woman
wore a contemplatve air while one hand
stole up TO her head, where a washed-out
| pink fascinator covered sparse locks and
| obvious knobs. Eyes, | believe | could be
dom my hair nicely with them-would you
be wrappin' them up?' she said after a
| moment
The market has its characters. though it
| takes an intimate acquaintance with the
| place to find them out. There is one man
who sells cheese and butter and other
things of a like nature, merely as an ac-
CON paniment to conversation. He loves to
talk and If he may talk his business may
go to-anywhere Ii likes. Frequently in his
interest in conversation he forgets whether
he has given the correct change, and as
he is always ready TO make the correction
of any suggested mistake his accounts
must at times be difficult to balance
''Yes'm. that's mighty good cheese" he
said the other night Its the last one
got. too, an il don't look like il was going
TO hold out. Y know that's the funniest
thing-I thought l had another whole
IL wasn't there | was dead sure | counted
six this morning. an / thought this was
| just the fifth one | cut, but either / cut
up the other when was a-talkin an didn't
notice / was a-doin ii. or else somebody
stole that cheese. l can't rightly say what
did become of IT,"
Contentment.