Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-30
STREET FAKERS OF
THE FLAMING TORCH
Their Hand-Out of Language Is
Nothing New, Having Been Per-
fected in Form and Substance
Many Centuries Ago
By Cyril MELVILLE LTTTLEJoHN


By CYRIL MELVILLE LITTLEJ0HN
! IIow ancient is the familiar art Of the
llcurbstone salesmonl The men who stand
on boxes near hickering gasoline torches and
sell 1O-cent diamonds, fountain pens and
divers other commodities, but especially cure
alls Of human ills, have not by any means
discovered a new professionalism from II!
They practice an art perfected centuries ago.
who has not paused Just for a moment to
listen to one of their number? The streets
Of all the large cities contain many such'
vending their wares. Youthful spectators
may think them original and, with some
justification. clever; but their fathers, from
the time whereof memory runneth not to the
contrary, have often heard the same strains,
almost the identical words, used always by
the takers. These buccaneer princes of the
gasoline torch who browse on the small
change of the public, never seem to vary
their line of talk;
Ladies' and gentlemen-I am not here to-
night to sell you anything. I merely go
ing to introduce 70 you a wonderful remedy
for cold, coughs, grip, blood disorders
and nervous Diseases This medicine has
cured sickness of As years standing, and
when all other remedies have failed
They tell about the various testimonials
and elaborate on the wonderful properties
of their remedy.
Just to Introduce 1t
Now just to introduce this article, the mer-
chant continues:
! have a few small bottles which I shall
pass out to you tonight and I am not go-
ing to ask you IS, nor SI nor SO, nor So, no,
nor 81. nor even 90 cents, nor so cents. But
tell you what am going to do ladies and
gentlemen. Listen: | am going to give to you
wOndarful IN aChl lad or
gentleman in the audience who passes me up
the small sum of % cents, two bits, one
quarter. Never until tonight has this won-
derful medicine been sold for less than S."
Such is the usual hand-out of English
slung by New York East slider or a West
ern- looking individual in a wide-brimmed
slouch hat, who fairly spills the words from
his mouth
These people seem to have been always
with us. If Time can honor a profession,
the street faker deserves Father Times
greenest laurels. No one knows who first
began curbstone oratory to sell ones goods,
but it probably commenced shortly after
curbstones were first laid In Ben Jonson's
and Shakespeares time, the "up-to to-date"
faker hourished.
In one of Jonsons plays produced in the
year 1906, see Volpone, disguised as Scoto
Mantuano, a mountebanlx doctor selling a
medicine on a platform erected on a street
corner, where he might catch a glimpse of
a coveted married woman from a nearby
window. AS the present-day faker usually
has lackey to catch and entertain the
audience, Vopone had such an assistant.
Volpone's Model Speech
Volpone addressed the throng in this pol
ished manner:
Most noble gentlemen, and my worthy
patrons; have nothing to sell, little or moth
ing to sell l protest, / and my six
servants are not able to make of this prec-
ious liquor so fast it Is fetched away
from my lodging by gentlemen of your city.
health, health! the blessing of the
rich, the riches of the poor! who can buy
thee at too dear rate, since there is no
enjoying the world without thee! Be not then
so sparing OF your purses, honorable GENTLE
men, as TO abridge the natural course of life
'Tis this rare extraction that hath
only power to dsperse all malignant
humours; most sovereign and approved
remedy; cramps, convulsions, paralysies
epilepsies, retired nerves. stopping of the
liver; and cures melancholia, hypondriaca,
being taken and applied according to my
printed recipes Twill cost you eight crowns
And zan Fritada, prithee sing a verse ex-
tempore in honor of 1t.
You all know honorable gentlemen | never
valued this vial at less than eight crowns;
but for this time, I am content TO be de-
prived Of II for six; six crowns is the price,
and less in courtesy l know you cannot Of
fer me. ask you not to the value of the
thing for then should demand of you a
thousand crowns.
Well, ] am in a humour at this time to
make present of the small quantity my
Golfer contains, to the rich i'm courtesy and
to the poor for Gods sake Wherefore now
mark; / asked you six crowns; and six
crowns at other times you have paid me
You shall not give me six crowns, nor Ave,
nor four, nor three, nor two, nor one nor
half ducat, no, nor a moccinigo Sixpence
II
price-for by the banner of my front will
not bate a bagatine-that l will have
only pledge OF your love to carry some-
thing from amongst you to show | am not
contemned by you. Therefore, now toss
your handkerchiefs cheerfully; and be ad-
vertised that the first heroic spirit that
deigns to grace me with handkerchief |
will give little remembrance of something,
beside, shall please 1t better than II / had
presented 1t with double pistoet"
Such was the faker's flow of language then