The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-12-28
OLD TRADING MART
OF LONDON STILL OPEN
Business Continues to Function
After Thousand Years.

Every morning at five o'clock sharp
tho ringing of q bell awakenS the old
est market In London, where for over
a thousand years buying and selling
have taken place.
Since three o'clock railway freight
cars have been gathering OUTSIDE
Billingsgate market till by the time
Ave o'clock comes there Is scarcely a
part of the road which is not occupied.
They have brought fish and VIII wait
to take fish away.
Unlicensed porters, with their
stuffed caps and fattened Dowlers,
hang about by the dozen. They are
not allowed inside the market-the
market having its w porters-but
wait outside for odd jobs.
A steady stream Of men begins to
surge into the market. Among the
first corners are the Jews. They buy
only the best fish and do not mind pay
ing for It. Soon the building fills rap
idly and before long every inch of the
floor is doing service, and still there
are more buyers to come.
Your small dealer with his tishbag
rubs shoulders with well-to-do shop
keepers and buyers for hotels, restau-
rants and other large concerns. o
ters, balancing piles Of boxes on their
quaint leathern hats, dart by you every
second.
Here and there a nun moves serene
ly among the throng and you notice
that a path always opens up before
her. They are never refused fish, for
the B~iIlingsgate t%ishmonger is ever
generous; you will go a long way to
find a more ~good-hearted fellow.
The piled-up stands glisten silgery
in the glare of the arc-lamps. There
are hake, cod, skate, haddocks, soles,
behring's, to say nothing of the cray
fish and bags of shrimps. In fact,
nearly ever fish is here In its seatOn.
You notice, too, that there are many
boxes af Danish fish. Owing to the
fact that the Danes, unlike the British,
do not gut their fish, the foreign prod
uce reaches the market in every fine
condition-often alive and conse-
quently has q rapid sale. No fish,
however, that is not absolutely fresh
is allowed to leave the market. 1t is
Immediately condemned by the food
Inspector.
On the river side of the market
there Is q continuous flow OF porters
to and from the fish boats. These
boats bring supplies straight from the
fishing fleet in the North sea to the
doors Of the market.
At this entrance are six sloping plat
forms, called forms" At the head Of
each form IS a salesman, around
whom gathers an eager crowd Of buy
ers. AS the porters bring in the boxes
Of fish they are placed on the form,
bought, and slid down to a ''heaver-
up" who shouts out to q clerk in a
box nearby the size of the fish, the
name Of the boat that caught it, and
the price obtained. Every box that is
sold is taken note of by a Checker"
who stands at the side of the form.
All this business is accompanied by
a continuous uproar Of voices. The
salesman, the buyers, and the HEAVIER
up all vie with one another-the heav-
er-up being especially vocal. But what
he says might be Greek, for all the
visitor can understand of it.
:. A f%luctuating market Is Bi~llingsgate,
and it is a clever head that can gauge
its ever-fckle balance.-LOndon An
swers.