 Section 15 of London Labour and the London Poor, volume 2 by Henry Mehue. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Gillian Henry. Of the street sellers of coke. Among the occupations that have sprung up of late years is that of the purchase and distribution of the refuse cinders or coke obtained from the different gasworks which are supplied at a much cheaper rate than coal. Several of the large gas companies burn as many as 100,000 tons of coal per annum and some even more. And every ton thus burnt is stated to leave behind two childrens of coke returning to such companies 50% of their outlay upon the coal. The distribution of coke is of the utmost importance to those whose poverty forces them to use it instead of coal. It is supposed that the 10 gas companies in and about the metropolis produce at least 1,400,000 childrens of coke which are distributed to the poorer classes by vans, one-horsed carts, donkey carts, trucks and itinerant vendors who carry one and in some cases two sacks lashed together on their backs from house to house. The van proprietors are those who, having capital, contract with the companies at a fixed rate per children the year through and supply the numerous retail shops at the current price adding thruppings per children per carriage. Thus speculating upon the rise or fall of the article and in most cases carrying on a very lucrative business. This class numbered about 100 persons and are to be distinguished by the words coke contractor painted on a showy ground on the exterior of their handsome, well-made vehicles. They add to their ordinary business the occupation of conveying to their destination the coke that the companies sell from time to time. These men have generally a capital or a reputation for capital to the extent of £400 or £500 and in some cases more. And they usually enter into their contracts with the companies in the summer when but small quantities of fuel are required and the gas works are incommodated for want of space to contain the quantity made. They are consequently able by the command of means to make advantageous bargains and several instances are known of men starting with a wheelbarrow in this calling and who are now the owners of the dwellings in which they reside and have goods, vans and carts besides. Another class to whom may be applied much that has been said of the van proprietors are the possessors of one-hosh carts who in many instances keep small shops for the sale of greens, coals and so on. These men are scattered over the whole metropolis but as they do not excessively obtain their living by vending this article they do not properly belong to this portion of the inquiry. A very numerous portion of the distributors of coke are the donkey cart men who are to be seen in all the poorer localities with a quantity shot in the bottom of their cart and two or three sacks on the top or fastened underneath for it is of a light nature. Ready to meet the demand, crying coke, coke, coke morning, noon and night. This they sell as low as tuppence per bushel coke having in consequence of the cheapness of coals being sold at the gas works by the single sack as low as seven pins and although there is here a seeming contradiction that of a man selling and living by the loss such is not in reality the case. It should be remembered that a bushel of good coke will weigh 40 pounds and that the bushels of these men rarely exceed 25 pounds so that it will be seen that by this unprincipled mode of dealing they can seemingly sell for less than they give and yet realise a good profit. The two last classes are those who own a truck or wheelbarrow or are the fortunate possessors of an athletic frame and broad shoulders who roam about near the vicinity of the gas works soliciting custom obtaining ready cash if possible but in most cases leaving one sack on credit and obtaining a profit of from tuppence, thruppence, forpence or more. These men are to be seen going from house to house cleverly regulating their arrival to such times as when the head of the family returns home with his weekly wage and in possession of ready cash enough to make a bargain with the coke contractor. Another fact in connection with this class, many of whom are women, who employ boys to drag or carry their wares to their customers is this, when they fail through any cause they put their walk up for sale and find no difficulty to obtain purchasers from 2 pounds to as high as 8 pounds, 10 pounds and 12 pounds. The street sellers of coke number in all not less than 1,500 persons who may be thus divided van proprietors 100 single horse carts 300 donkey cart men 500 trucks, wheelbarrows and physical force men 550 and women about 50 who penetrate to all the densely crowded districts about town distributing this useful article. The major portion of those who are of anything like sober habits live in comfort and in spite of the opinion held by many that the consumption of coke is injurious to health and sight they carry on a large and increasing business. At the present time coke may be purchased at the gas factories at 6 shillings per children but in winter it generally rises to 10 shillings so that taking the average 8 shillings it will be found that the gas factories of the metropolis realise no less a sum than 560,000 pounds per annum by the coke produced in the court of their operations and 4 shillings per children being considered a fair profit it will be found that the total profit arising from its sale by the various vendors is 280,000 pounds it is impossible to arrive with any degree of certainty at the actual amount of business done by each of the above named classes and the profits consequent on that business by dividing the above amount equally among all the coke sellers it will be found to give 186 pounds per annum to each person but it will be at one scene that the same rule holds good in the coke trade that has already been explained in connection with coals those possessing vans reaping the largest amount of profit the one horse cart men next then the donkey carts, trucks and wheelbarrows and least of all the backers as they are sometimes called concerning the amount of capital invested in the street sale of coals it may be estimated as follows if we allow 70 pounds for each of the 100 vans it will give 7,000 pounds 20 pounds for each of the horses gives 2,000 pounds 300 carts at 10 pounds each gives 3,000 pounds 300 horses at 10 pounds each 3,000 pounds 500 donkey carts at a pound each 500 pounds 500 donkeys at a pound each 500 pounds 200 trucks and barrows at 10 shillings each 100 pounds making a total of 16,100 pounds to this must be added 4,800 sacks for the 100 vans at 3 shilling sixpence each 840 pounds 3,600 sacks for the 300 carts 630 pounds 3,000 sacks for the 500 donkey carts 525 pounds 1,652 sacks for the 550 trucks and backers 288 pounds 15 shillings 300 sacks for the 50 women 52 pounds 10 shillings making a total of 18,336 pounds 5 shillings which being added to the value of vans, carts and horses employed in the street sale of coals namely 6,865 pounds gives a capital of 252,015 pounds employed in the street sale of coal and coke the profits of both these trades added together namely that on coals 43,758 pounds and the profit on coke 280,000 pounds shows a total profit of 323,758 pounds to be divided among 1,710 persons who compose the class of a tinerant coal and coke vendors of the metropolis the following statement as to the street sale of coke was given by a man in good circumstances who had been engaged in the business for many years quote I am a native of the south of Ireland more than 20 years ago I came to London I had friends here working in the gas factory and after a time they managed to get me into the work too my business was to keep the coals to the stokers and when they emptied the retorts to wheel the coke in barrels and empty it on the coke heap I worked for 4 or 5 years off and on at this place I was sometimes put out of work in the summertime because they don't want as many hands then there's not near so much gas burned in summer and then of course it takes less hands to make it well at last I got to be a stoker I had better wages then and a couple of pots of beer in the day it was dreadful hard work and as hot I as if you were in the inside of an oven I don't know how I ever stood it be my soul I don't know how anybody stands it it's the divils place of all you ever saw in your life standing there before them retorts with a long heavy rake pulling out the red hot coke for the bare life and then there's the rake red hot in your hands and the hissing and the bubbling of the water and the smoke and the smell it's fit to melt a man like a roll of fresh butter I wasn't a bit too fond of it at any rate for it'd kill a horse so I said to the wife I can't stand this much longer Peggy well behold you Peggy begins to cry and wring her hands thinking we'd starve but I knew a great deal better than that for I was two or three times drinking with some of them that carry the coke out of the yard in sacks to sell to the poor people and they had twice as much money to spend as me that was working like a horse from morning to night I had a pound or two by me for I was always saving and by this time I knew a great many people round about so off I goes and asks one and another to take a sack of coke from me and being down in the yard and standing a drop of drink now and then for the fillers I always got good measure and so I used to make four sacks out of three and often three out of two well at last I got tired carrying sacks on me back all day and now I know I was a fool for doing it at all for it's easier to drag a truck with five or six sacks than to carry one so I got a second hand truck for little or nothing and then I was able to do five times as much work in half the time at last I took a notion of putting so much every Saturday night in the saving bank and faith sir that was the lucky notion for me although Peggy wouldn't hear of it at all at all she swore the bank would be broke and said she could keep the gold safer in her own stocking that them gentlemen and banks were all a set of ligards and only desaved the poor people into giving them their money to keep it themselves but in spite of Peggy I put the money in and it was well for me that I did so for in a short time I could count up 30 or 40 guineas in bank and when Peggy saw that the bank wasn't broke she was quite satisfied so one day I says to myself what the devil's the use of me breaking my heart morning noon and night dragging a truck behind me whenever so little a bit of a horse would drag ten times as much as I can so off I set to Smithfield and bought a stout stamp of a horse for 12 pounds ten shelling and then went to a sale and bought an old cart for little or nothing and in less than a month I had every farthing back again in the bank well after this I made more and more every day and finding that I paid more for the coke in winter than in summer I thought as I had money if I could only get a place to put a good lot in summer to sell in winter it would be a good thing so I began to look about and found this house for sale so I bought it out and out it was an old house to be sure but it's strong enough and done up well enough for a poor man besides there's the yard and see in that yard there's a happy coke for the winter I'm buying it up now for a nice penny when the cold weather comes again to make a long story short I needn't call the king my cousin I'm sure anyone can do well if he likes but I don't mean that they can do well breaking their heart working devil a one that sticks to work will never be a hapenny above a beggar and I know if I'd stuck to it myself I'd be a great deal worse off now than the first day for I'm not so young nor near so strong as I was then and if I hadn't lifted off in time I'd have nothing at all to look to in a few years more but to end my days in the workhouse bad luck to it end quote of the street sellers of tan turf tan turf is oak bark made into turf after its virtues have been exhausted in the tan pits to make it into turf the manufacturers have a mill which is turned by horsepower in which they grind the bark to a considerable degree of fineness after which it is shaped by a mould into thin cakes about six inches square put out to dry and harden and when thoroughly hardened it is fit for sale and for all the uses for which it is intended there is only one place in London or its neighbourhood where there are tan pits in Bermondsey and there only is the turf made there are not more than a dozen persons in London engaged in the sale of this commodity in the streets and they are all of the tribe of the costar mongers the usual capital necessary for starting in the line being a donkey and cart with nine shillings or ten shillings to purchase a few hundreds of the turf there is a tradition extant even at the present day that during the prevalence of the plague in London the houses where the tan turf was used in a great measure escaped that awful visitation and to this moment many people purchase and burn it in their houses on account of the peculiar smell and under the belief that it is efficacious in repelling infectious diseases from the localities in which it is used the other purposes for which it is used are for forming a sort of compost or manure for plants of the heath kind which delight in a soil of this description growing naturally among mosses and bogs where the peat fuel is obtained it is used also by small bakers for heating their ovens as preferable for their purposes and more economical than any other description of fuel sometimes it is used for burning under coppers and very often for keeping a light during the night on account of the slowness of its decomposition by fire for a single cake will continue burning for a whole night will be found in the morning completely enveloped in a white ash which on being removed discovers the live embers in the centre the rate at which the tan turf is sold to the dealers at the tan pits is from sixpence to ninepence per hundred cakes those at ninepence per hundred are perfect and unbroken while those at sixpence have been injured in some way or other many of the article however remains the same and by purchasing some of each sort the vendors are able to make somewhat more profit which may be on an average about fourpence hypny per hundred as they sell it at one shilling while seeking information on this subject I obtained the address of a person in T. Mewes T. Square engaged in the business running out of the square is a narrow street midway through leads on the right hand side to a narrow alley at the bottom of which is the Mewes consisting of merely an oblong court surrounded by stables of the very smallest dimensions not one of them being more than 12 feet square three or four men in the long waistcoats and full breeches peculiar to persons engaged among horses were lounging about and with the exception of the horses appeared to be the only inhabitants of the place. On inquiring of one of the loungers I was shown a stable in one corner of the court the wide door of which stood open on entering I found it occupied by a donkey cart containing a couple of hundred cakes of tan turf another old donkey cart was turned up opposite the tailboard resting on the ground the shafts pointing to the ceiling while a cock and two or three waggle-tailed hens were composing themselves to roost on the front portion of the cart between the shafts within the space thus enclosed by the two carts lay a donkey and two dogs that seemed keeping him company and were busily engaged in mumbling and crunching some old bones on the wall hung Jack's harness in one corner of the ceiling was an opening giving access to the place above which was reached by means of a long ladder on ascending this I found myself in a very small attic with a sloping ceiling on both sides in the highest part the middle of the room it was not more than six feet high but at the sides it was not more than three feet in this confined apartment stood a stump bedstead taking up the greater portion of the floor in a corner alongside the fireplace a small turn-up bedstead a little rickety deal table an old smoke-dried dutch clock and a poor old woman withered and worn were the only other things to be seen in the place the old woman had been better off and as is not uncommon under such circumstances she endeavored to make her circumstances appear better than they really were she made the following statement quote my husband was 83 years selling the Tanturf there used to be a great deal more of it sold than there is now people don't seem to think so much of it now as they once did but there are some who still use it there's an old lady in Kentish town who must have it regularly she burns it on account of the smell and has burned it for many years my husband used to serve her there's an old doctor at Hampstead or rather he was there for he died a few days ago he always bought a deal of it but I don't know whether he burned it or not he used to buy 500 or 600 at a time he was a very good customer and we miss him now the gardeners buy some of it for their plants they say it makes good manure though you wouldn't think so to look at it it's so hard and dry my husband is dead three years we were better off when he was alive he was a very sober and careful man he never put anything to waste my youngest son goes with the cart now he don't do as well as his father poor little fellow he's only 14 years of age but he does very well for a boy of his age he sometimes travels 30 miles of a day and can't sell a load sometimes not half a load and then he comes home of a night so footsore that you'd pity him sometimes he's not able to stir out for a day or two or something for a living there's nothing to be got by idleness the cart will hold 1000 or 1200 and if he could sell that every day we'd do very well it would leave us about three shelling sixpence profit after keeping the donkey it costs ninepence a day to keep our donkey he's young yet but he promises to be a good strong animal and I like to keep him well even if I go short myself or what could we do without him I believe there are one or two persons selling Tanturf who use trucks but they're strong besides they can't do much with a truck they can't travel as far with a truck as a donkey can and they can't take as much out with them my son goes off a morning to Bermondsey for a load and is back by breakfast time from this to Bermondsey is a long way then he goes out and travels all round town and Hampstead and what with going up one street and down another by the time he comes home at night he don't travel less than from 25 to 30 miles a day I have another son the eldest he used to go with his father when he was alive he was reared to the business but after he died he thought it was useless for both to go out with the cart so he left it to the little fellow and now the eldest works among horses he don't do much only gets an odd job now and then among the ostlers and earns a shilling now and then they're both good lads and would do well if they could they do as well as they can and I have a right to be thankful for it end quote the poor woman notwithstanding the extraordinary place in which she lived and the confined dimensions of her single apartment I ascertained that the two sons slept in the stump bedstead of the turnip was nevertheless cleanly in her person and apparel and superior in many respects to persons of the same class and I give her statement verbatim as it corroborates in almost every particular the statement of the unfortunate seller of salt who is afflicted with a drunken disorderly wife and who is also a man superior to the people with whom he is compelled to associate the spirit made this assertion bad as I'm off now if I had only a careful partner I wouldn't want for anything concerning the dogs that I have spoken of as being with the donkey there is a curious story during his rounds the donkey frequently met the bitch and an extraordinary friendship grew up between the two animals so that the dog at last forsook its owner and followed the donkey in all his travels for some time back she has accompanied him home together with her puppy and they all sleep cosily together during the night Jack taking his special care not to hurt the young one in the morning when about to go out for the day's work it is of no use to expect Jack to go without his friends as he will not budge an inch so he is humoured in his whim the puppy when tired is put into the cart he is living along the way the poor women not being able to feed them the owner of the dogs came to see them on the day previous to my visit off the street sellers of salt until a few years after the repeal of the duty on the salt there were no street sellers of it it was first taxed in the time of William III and during the war with Napoleon the impost was 15 shillings the bushel or nearly 30 times plus of the article taxed the duty was finally repealed in 1823 when the tax was at the highest salt was smuggled most extensively and retailed at Forpins or Forpins-Hapney the pound a license to sell it was also necessary street salt selling is therefore a trade of some 20 years standing considering the vast consumption of salt and the trifling amount of capital necessary to start in the business it might be expected that the street sellers would be a numerous class but they do not number above 150 at the outside the reason assigned by a well informed man was that in every part of London there are such vast numbers of shopkeepers who deal in salt about one half of those employed in street salt selling have donkeys and carts and the rest use the two wheeled buster monger to which class street salt sellers generally belong the value of the donkey and cart may be about £2.05 shillings on an average so that 75 of the number possessing donkeys and carts will have a capital among them equal to the sum of £168.15 shillings the barrows of the remainder are worth about 10 shillings each which will amount to £2.10 shillings to sell 300 weight of salt in a day is considered good work and this if purchased at 2 shillings per 100 weight gives for stock money the sum total of £45 thus the amount of capital which may be reasonably assumed to be embarked in this business is £251 £5 shillings the street sellers pay at the rate of 2 shillings per 100 weight for the salt and retail it at £3 which leaves one shilling one penny profit on every 100 weight one day with another taking wet and dry for from the nature of the article it cannot be hawked in wet weather the street sellers dispose of about 2.5 hundred weight per day or 18 tonnes 1500 weight per day for all hands which deducting Sundays 5,825 tonnes in the course of the year the profit of one shilling one penny per 100 weight amounts to a yearly aggregate profit of £6,310 8 shillings and 4pins or about £42 per annum for each person in the trade the salt dealers generally endeavour to increase their profits by the sale of mustard and sometimes by the sale of rock salt which is used for horses but in these things they do little the most profit they can realise in a day averaging about 4pins the salt men who merely use the barrow are much better off than the donkey cart men the former are young men active and strong well able to drive their truck or barrow about from one place to another and they can thereby save the original price and subsequent keep of the donkey the latter are in general old men broken down or weak or lads the daily cost of keeping a donkey is from 6pins to 9pins if we reckon 7pins as the average it will annually amount to £11 8 shillings and a penny the year which will reduce the profit of £42 to about £30 and so leave a balance of £11 8 shillings and a penny in favour of the truck or barrow man there are 9 or 10 places where the street sellers purchase the salt moors at Paddington who get their salt by the canal from Staffordshire wellings at Battle Bridge Bailey of Thames Street and so on great quantities are brought to London by the different railways the street sellers have all regular beats and seldom intrude on each other sometimes happens especially when any quarrel occurs among them that they oppose and undersell one another in order to secure the customers during my enquiries on this subject I visited Church Lane, Bloomsbury to see a street seller about 7 in the evening since the alterations in St Giles Church Lane has become one of the most crowded places in London the houses, none of which are high are all old time blackened and dilapidated with shattered window frames and broken panes stretching across the narrow street from all the upper windows might be seen lines crossing and recrossing each other on which hung yellow looking shirts stockings, women's caps and handkerchiefs looking like soiled and torn paper and throwing the whole lane into shade beneath this ragged canopy the street literally swarmed with human beings, young and old men and women, boys and girls wondering about amidst all kinds of discordant sounds the footpaths on both sides of the narrow street were occupied here and there by groups of men and boys some sitting on the flags and others leaning against the wall while their feet, in most instances bare, dabbled in the black channel alongside the curb which being disturbed sent up a sickening stench some of these groups were playing cards for money which lay on the ground near them men and women at intervals lay stretched out in sleep on the pathway over these the passengers were obliged to jump in some instances they stood on their backs as they stepped over them and then the sleeper languidly raised his head growled out a drowsy oath and slept again with bloated countenances bloodshot eyes and the veins of their necks swollen and distended till they resembled strong chords staggered about violently quarrelling at the top of their drunken voices the street salt seller whom I had great difficulty in finding in such a place was a man of about 50 rather sickly in his look he wore an old cloth cap without a peak a sort of dun-coloured waistcoat patched and cobbled a strong check-shirt not remarkable for its cleanliness and what seemed to me to be an old pair of buckskin breeches with fragments hanging loose about them like fringes to the covering of his feet I can hardly say shoes there seemed to be neither soles nor uppers how they kept on was a mystery in answer to my questions he made the following statement to be anticipated from his dress or the place in which he resided quote for many years I lived by the sale of toys such as little chairs tables and a variety of other little things which I made myself and sold in the streets and I used to make a good deal of money by them I might have done well but when a man hasn't got a careful partner it's of no use what he does he'll never get on he may as well give it up at once money will go out ten times as fast as he can bring it in I hadn't the good fortune to have a careful woman but one who when I wouldn't give her money to waste and destroy took out my property and made money of it to drink where a bad example like that is set it's sure to be followed the good example is seldom taken but there's no fear of the bad one you may want to find out where the evil lies I tell you it lies in that pint pot and in that quart pot and if it wasn't for so many pots and so many pints there wouldn't be half so much misery as there is I know that from my own case I used to sell toys but since the foreign things were let come over I couldn't make anything of them and was obliged to give them up I was forced to do something for a living for a half loaf is better than no bread at all so seeing two or three selling salt I took to it myself I buy my salt at Moorish Wharf Paddington I consider it the purest I could get salt or tuppence the hundred weight or even cheaper but I'd rather have the best a man's not ashamed when he knows his articles are good some buy the cheap salt of course they make more profit we never sell by measure always by weight some of the street weights a good many of them are slangs I believe they are as honest as many of the shopkeepers after all everyone does the best he can to cheat everybody else I go two or three evenings in the week or as often as I want it to the wharf for a load I'm going there tonight three miles out and three miles in I sell considering everything about 200 weight a day I sold one and a half today but tomorrow Saturday I'll sell 400 weight and perhaps more I pay two shillings a hundred weight for it and make about one shilling a hundred weight profit on that I sold six penny worth of mustard today it might bring me in tuppence profit every little make something if I wasn't so weak and broke down I wouldn't trouble myself with a donkey it's so expensive I'd easily manage to drive about all I'd sell and then I'd save the expense it cost me seven pence or eight pence a day to keep him besides other things I got him a set of shoes yesterday I said I'd shoe him first and myself afterwards so you see there's other expenses there's my son too paid off the other day from the Prince of Wales after a four years voyage and he came home without a six pence in his pocket he might have done something for me but I couldn't expect anything else from him any example that was set to him even now bad as I am I wouldn't want for anything if I had a careful woman but she's a shocking drunkard and I can do nothing with her end quote this poor fellow's mind was so full of his domestic troubles that he recurred to them again and again and was more inclined to talk about what so nearly concerned himself than on any matter of business end of section 15 section 16 of London Labour and the London poor volume 2 by Henry Mehue this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gillian Henry of the street sellers of sand two kinds of sand only are sold in the streets scouring or floor sand and bird sand for birds in scouring sand the trade is inconsiderable to what it was sawdust having greatly superseded it in the gin palace the taproom and the butcher's shop of the supply of sand a man who was working at the time on Hampstead Heath gave the following account quote besides large quantities which went to brass founders and for cleaning dentist's cutlery for stone sawing lead and silver casting and such like this heath sir contains about every kind of sand but Sir Thomas won't allow us to dig it the greatest number of curbs filled now is eight or ten a day which I fill myself Sir Thomas has raised the price from three shilling sixpence to four shillings a load of about two and a half tonnes bless you Sir some years ago one might go into St. Luke's and sell five or six cartloads of house sand a week now a man may roar himself horse and not sell a load in a fortnight sawdust is used in all the public houses and gin palaces people sprung up who don't use sand at all and many of the old people are too poor to buy it the men who get sand here now are old customers who carry it all over the town and round Holloway, Islington and such parts twelve years ago I would have taken here six pounds or seven pounds in a morning today I have only taken nine shillings fine weather is greatly against the sale of house sand in wet dirty weather the sale is greater end quote one street sand seller gave the following account of his calling I have been in the sand business man and boy for forty years I was at it when I was twelve years old and I am now fifty-two I used to have two carts hawking sand but it wouldn't pay so I have just that one you see here hawking sand is a poor job now I send two men with that to your cart and pay one of them three shillings fourpence and the other three shillings a day now with beer money two shillings a week to the man at the heath and turnpike gates I reckon every load of sand to cost me five shillings add to that six shillings fourpence for the two men the wear and tear and horses keep and to do a horse justice you cannot in these cheap times keep them at less than ten shillings a week in deer seasons it will cost fifteen shillings and you will find each load of sand stands me in a good sum so suppose we get a guinea a load you see we have no great pool then there's the licence eight shillings a year many years ago we resisted this and got Mr Humphreys to defend us before the magistrates at Clarkinwell but we were cast several hawkers were fined ten pounds and I was brought up before old Sir Richard Bernie at Bow Street and had to find bail that I would not sell another bushel of sand till I took out a licence soon after that Sir Thomas Wilson picked up the heath from us he said he would not have it cut about any more for that a poor animal could not pick up a crumb without being in danger of breaking its leg this was just after we took out our licences and as we'd paid dearly for being allowed to sell the sand some of us and I was one we waited upon Sir Thomas and asked to be allowed to work out our licences which was granted and we have gone on ever since very hard for their money Sir they are up at three o'clock of the morning and are knocking about the streets perhaps till five or six o'clock in the evening end quote the yellow house sand is also found at Kingsland and at the Kensington gravel pits but at the latter place street sellers are not supplied the sand here is very fine and mostly disposed of to plasterers there is also some of this kind of sand at Wandsworth in the street selling of house sand there are now not above 30 men employed and few of these trade on their own account reckoning the horses and carts employed in the trade at the same price as our Camden town informant sits on his stock we have 20 horses at 10 pounds each and 20 carts at 3 pounds each with 3 baskets to each at 2 shillings apiece making a total of 236 pounds of capital employed in the carrying machinery of the street selling of sand allowing 3 shillings a day for each man the wages would amount for 30 men to 27 pounds weekly and the expenses for horses keep at 10 shillings ahead would give for 20 horses 10 pounds weekly making a total of 38 pounds weekly or an annual expenditure for man and horse of 2496 pounds calculating the sale at a load per day for each horse and cart at 21 shillings a load we have 6,573 pounds annually expended in the purchase of house or floor sand bird sand or the fine and dry sand required for the use of cage birds is now obtained altogether of a market gardener in Hackney it is sold at 8 pence the barrel load as much being shuffled onto a costar's barrel as it will carry a good sized barrel holds 3.5 bushels a smaller size 3 bushels and the buyer is also the shoveler 3 fourths of the quantity conveyed by the street sellers from Hackney is sold to the bird shop keepers at 6 pence for 3 pecs the remainder is disposed off to such customers as purchase it in the street or is delivered at private houses to leave a regular supply the usual charge to the general public is a hipney or a penny for sand to fill any vessel brought to contain it a penny a gallon is perhaps an average price in this retail trade a man in a good way of business disposes of a barrel load once a week the others once a fortnight in wet or windy weather great care is necessary and much trouble incurred in supplying this sand to the street sellers and again in their vending it in the streets the street vendors are the same men as supply the turf and so on for caged birds of whom I have treated page 156 volume 1 there are 40 in number and although they do not all supply sand a matter beyond the strength of the old and infirm a few costar mongers convey a barrel load of sand now and then to the bird sellers which in addition ensures the weekly supply of 40 barrel loads calculating these at the wholesale or bird dealers price two shillings thruppence a barrel being an average we find 234 pounds yearly expended in this sand what is vended at two shillings thruppence costs but 8 pence at the wholesale price but the profit is hardly earned considering the labour of wheeling a heavy barrel of sand for miles and the trouble of keeping overnight what is unsold during the day of the street sellers of shells the street trade in shells presents the characteristics I have before had to notice as regards the trade in what are not necessaries or an approach to necessaries in contra distinction of what men must have to eat or wear shells such as the green snail, ear shell others of that class though extensively used for inlaying in a variety of ornamental works are comparatively of little value for no matter how useful if shells are only well known they are considered of but little importance while those which are rarely seen no matter how insignificant in appearance command extraordinary prices as an instance I may mention that on the 23rd of June there was purchased by Mr. B. Shell dealer at a public sale in King Street Covent Garden a small shell not 2 inches long broken and damaged and with all what is called a dead cell for the sum of 30 guineas it was described as the conus glory Mary and had it only been perfect would have fetched 100 guineas shells such as conches, carories green snails and ear shells the latter being so called from their resemblance to the human ear are imported in large quantities as parts of cargos and are sold to the large dealers by weight con shells are sold at 8 shillings per 100 weight carories and clams from 10 shillings to 12 shillings per 100 weight the green snail used for inlaying fetches from 1 pound to 1 pound 10 shillings per 100 weight and the ear shell on account of its superior quality and richer variety of colours as much as 3 pounds and 5 pounds per 100 weight the conches are found only among the west India islands and are used principally for garden ornaments and grotto work the others come principally from the Indian Ocean and the China Seas and are used as well for chimney ornaments as for inlaying for the tops of work tables and other ornamental furniture the shells which are considered of the most value are almost invariably small and often endless variety of shape they are called cabinet shells and are brought from all parts of the world land as well as sea lakes, rivers and oceans furnishing specimens to the collection the Australian forests are continually ransacked to bring to light new varieties I have been informed that there is not a river in England but contains valuable shells that even in the Thames and shelling to 1 pound each I have been shown a shell of the snail kind found in the woods of New Holland and purchased by a dealer for 2 pounds and on which he confidently reckoned to make a considerable profit although cabinet shells are collected from all parts yet by far the greater number come from the Indian Ocean they are generally collected by the natives who sell them to captains and mates of vessels trading to those parts and very often to sailors all of whom frequently speculate to a considerable extent in these things and have no difficulty in disposing of them as soon as they arrive in this country for there is not a shell dealer in London who has not a regular staff of persons stationed at Graves End to board the homeward bound ships at the North and sometimes as far as the Downs for the purpose of purchasing shells it usually happens that when 3 or 4 of these persons meet on board the same ship an animated competition takes place so that the shells on board are generally bought up long before the ship arrives at London many persons from this country go out to various parts of the world for the sole purpose of procuring shells and they may be found from the western coast of Africa to the shores of New South Wales along the Persian Gulf in Ceylon, the Malacas China and the islands of the Pacific where they employ the natives in dredging the bed of the ocean and are by this means continually adding to the almost innumerable varieties which are already known to show the extraordinary request in which shells are held in almost every place while I was in the shop of Mr J C Jamrach Naturalist and agent to the Zoological Society at Amsterdam one of the largest dealers in London and to whom I am indebted for much valuable information on this subject a person a native of high Germany was present he had arrived in London the day before and had purchased on that day a collection of shells of a low quality for which he paid Mr Jamrach £36 to this he added a few birds placing his purchase in a box furnished with a leather strap he slung it over his shoulder shook hands with Mr Jamrach and departed that the next morning he was to start by steam for Rotterdam then continue his journey up the Rhine to a certain point from whence he was to travel on foot from one place to another till he could dispose of his commodities after which he would return to London as the great mark for a fresh supply he was only a very poor man but there are a great many others far better off continually coming backwards and forwards who are able to purchase a larger stock of shells and birds and who in the course of their perigranations wander through the greater part of Germany extending their excursions sometimes through Austria the Tirol and the north of Italy a visit to the premises of Mr Jamrach of Ratcliffe Highway or Mr Samuel Upper East Smithfield would well repay the curious observer the front portion of Mr Jamrach's house is taken up with a wonderful variety of strange birds that keep up an everlasting screaming in another portion of the house are collected confusedly together heaps of nondescript articles which might appear to the uninitiated worth little or nothing but on which the possessor places great value in a yard behind the house emured in iron cages are some of the larger species of birds and some beautiful varieties of foreign animals while in large presses arranged around the other rooms and furnished with numerous drawers are placed his real valuables the cabinet shells the establishment of Mr Samuel is equally curious in London the dealers in shells keeping shops for the sale of them amount to no more than 10 they are all doing a large business and are men of good capital which may be proved by the following quotation from the day books of one of the class for the present year, namely shells sold in February £275 shells sold in March £471 shells sold in April £1,389 shells sold in May £475 total £2,610 profit on same February £75 12 shillings profit in March £140 profit in April £323 profit in May £127 total £665 £12 shillings besides these there are about 20 private dealers who do not keep shops but who nevertheless do a considerable business in this line among persons at the west end of London all shell dealers add to that occupation the sale of foreign birds and curiosities there is yet another class of persons who seem to be engaged in the sale of shells but it is only seeming they are dressed as sailors and appear at all times to have just come ashore after a long voyage as a man usually follows them with that sort of canvas bag in use among sailors in which they stow away their clothes the men themselves go on before carrying a parrot or some rare bird and in the other a large shell these men are the duffers of whom I have spoken in my account of the sale of foreign birds they make shells a more frequent medium for the introduction of their real avocation as a shell is a far less troublesome thing either to hawk or keep by them than a parrot I now give a description of these men as general duffers and from good authority quote they are known by the name of duffers and have an exceedingly cunning mode of transacting their business they are all united in some secret bond they have persons also bound to them who are skilled in making shells in imitation of those imported from China and who according to the terms of their agreement must not work for any other persons the duffers from time to time furnish these persons with designs for shells such as cannot be got in this country which when completed the duffers conceal about their persons and start forward on their travels they contrive to gain admission to the respectable houses by means of shells and sometimes of birds which they purchase from the regular dealers but always those of a low quality after which they contrive to introduce the shawls their real business for which they sometimes have realised prices varying from 5 pounds to 20 pounds in many instances the street is soon discovered when the duffers immediately de-camp to make place for fresh batch who have been long enough out of London to make their faces unknown to their former victims these remain till they also find danger threatening them when they again start away and others immediately take their place while away from London they travel through all parts of the country driving a good trade among the country gentlemen's houses and they are also getting the sea ports such as Liverpool, Portsmouth and Plymouth end quote an instance of the skill with which the duffers sometimes do business is the following one of these persons some time ago came into the shop of a shell dealer having with him a beautiful specimen of a three coloured cockatoo for which he asked 10 pounds the shell dealer declined the purchase at that price saying that he sold these birds at 4 pounds but offered to give 3 pounds 10 shillings for it which was at once accepted while pocketing the money the man remarked that he had paid 10 guineas for that bird the shell dealer surprised that so good a judge should be induced to give so much more than the value of the bird was desirous of hearing further when the duffer made this statement I went the other day to a gentleman's house he was an old officer and when I saw this bird and in order to get introduced I offered to purchase it the gentleman said he knew it was a valuable bird and couldn't think of taking less than 10 guineas I then offered to barter for it and produced a shawl for which I asked 25 guineas but offered to take 15 guineas and the bird this was at length agreed to and now having sold it for 3 pounds 10 shillings it makes 19 pounds 5 shillings and not a bad day's work either off shells there are about a million of the commoner sorts bought by the London street sellers at 3 shillings a gross they are retailed at a penny a piece or 12 shillings a gross when sold separately a large proportion as is the case with many articles of taste or curiosity rather than of usefulness being sold by the London street folk on country rounds these rounds stretch halfway to Bristol or to Liverpool off the river beer sellers or pearl men there is yet another class of itinerant dealers who if not traders in the streets are traders in what was once termed the silent highway the river beer sellers or pearl men as they are more commonly called these should strictly have been included among the sellers of eatables and drinkables they have however been kept distinct being a peculiar class and having little in common with the other outdoor sellers I will begin my account of the river sellers by enumerating the numerous classes of labourers amounting to many thousands who get their living by plying their respective avocations on the river and to constitute the customers of these men there are first the sailors on board the corn coal and timberships then the lumpers or those engaged in discharging the timberships the stevedores or those engaged in stowing craft and the riggers or those engaged in rigging them ballast heavers ballast getters corn porters coal whippers watermen and lightermen and coal porters who although engaged in carrying sacks of coal to the shore where there are public houses nevertheless when hard worked and pressed for time frequently avail themselves of the presence of the pearl men to quench their thirst and to naval stimulate them to further exertion it would be a remarkable circumstance if the fact of so many persons continually employed in severe labour and who of course are at times in want of refreshment had not called into existence a class to supply that which was evidently required under one form or the other therefore river dealers boast of an antiquity as old as the naval commerce of the country the prototype of the river beer cellar of the present day is the bum boatman bum boats or rather baum boats that is to say the boats of the harbour from the german baum a haven or bar are known in every port where ships are obliged to anchor at a distance from the shore they are stored with a large assortment of articles such as are likely to be required by people after a long voyage previously to the formation of the various docks on the Thames they were very numerous on the river and drove a good trade with the homeward bound shipping but since the docks came into requisition and steam tugs brought the ships from the mouth of the river to the dock entrance their business died away and they gradually disappeared so that a bum boat on the Thames at the present day would be a sort of curiosity a relic of times past in former times it was not in the power of any person who chose to follow the calling of a bum boatman on the Thames the trinity company had the power of granting licenses for this purpose although they were restrained by some special clause in their charter or not from giving licenses indiscriminately it is difficult to say but it is certain that none got a license but a sailor one who had served his country and it was quite common in those days to see an old fellow with a pair of wooden legs perhaps blind of an eye or wanting an arm and with a face rugged as a rock flying about among the shipping by a boy whose duty it was to carry the articles to the purchasers on shipboard and help in the management of the boat in the first or second year of the reign of her present majesty however when the original bum boatman had long degenerated into the mere beer sellers and anyone who wished traded in this line on the river the trinity company having for many years paid no attention to the matter an inquiry took place which resulted in a regulation that all the beer sellers or pearl men should thence forward be regularly licensed for the river sail of beer and spirits from the waterman's hall which regulation is enforced to the present time it appears to have been the practice at some time or other in this country to infuse wormwood into beer or ale previous to drinking it either to make it sufficiently bitter or for some medicinal purpose this mixture was called pearl why I know not but Bailey the philologist of the 17th century so designates it the drink originally sold on the river was pearl or this mixture whence the title pearl man now however the wormwood is unknown and what is sold under the name of pearl is beer warmed nearly to boiling heat and flavoured with gin, sugar and ginger the river sellers however still retain the name of pearl men though there is not one of them with whom I have conversed that has the remotest idea of the meaning of it to set up as a pearl man some acquaintance with the river and a certain degree of skill in the management of a boat are absolutely necessary as from the frequently crowded state of the pool and the rapidity with which the steamers pass and repass twisting and wriggling their way through craft of every description the unskillful adventurer would run in continual danger of having his boat crushed like a nutshell the pearl men however through long practice are scarcely inferior to the watermen themselves in the management of their boats and they may be seen at all times easily working their way through every obstruction now shooting a thwart the boughs of a dutch galliot or sailing barge then dropping a stern to allow a steamboat to pass till the at length reach the less troubled waters between the tears of shipping the first thing required to become a pearl man is to procure a license from the watermen's hall which costs three shelling six pence per annum the next requisite is the possession of a boat the boats used are all in the form of skiffs rather short but of a good breath and therefore less liable to cap size through the swell of the steamers or through any other cause thus equipped he then goes to some of the small breweries where he gets two pins or small casks of beer each containing 18 pots after this he furnishes himself with a quarter two of gin from some publican which he carries in a tin vessel with a long neck like a bottle an iron or tin vessel to hold the fire with holes drilled all round to admit the air fuel burning and a huge bell by no means the least important portion of his fit out placing his two pins of beer on a frame in the stern of the boat the spiles loosened and the brass cocks fitted in and with his tin gin bottle close to his hand beneath the seat two or three measures of various sizes a black tin pot for heating the beer and his firepan secured on the bottom of the boat to wrap a black smoke he takes his seat early in the morning and pulls away from the shore resting now and then on his oars to rig the heavy bell that announces his approach those on board the vessels requiring refreshment when they hear the bell hail pearl ahoy in an instant the oars are resumed and the pearl man is quickly alongside the ship the bell of the pearl man not unfrequently performs a very important office during the winter when dense fogs settle down on the river even the regular watermen sometimes lose themselves and flounder about bewildered perhaps for hours the direction once lost their shouting is unheeded or unheard the pearl man's bell however reaches the ear through the surrounding gloom and indicates his position when near enough to hear the hail of his customers he makes his way airingly to the spot by now and then sounding his bell this is immediately answered by another shout so that in a short time the glare of his fire may be distinguished as he emerges from the darkness and glides noiselessly alongside the ship where he is wanted the amount of capital necessary to start in the pearl line may be as follows I have said that the boats are all of the skiff kind generally old ones which they patch up and repair at but little cost they purchase these boats at from £3 to £6 each if we take the average of these two sums the items will be boat £4 10 shillings pewter measures 5 shillings warming pot 1 shilling 6 pins fire stove 5 shillings gallon can 2 shilling 6 pins 8 shillings quart of gin 2 shilling 6 pins sugar and ginger 1 shilling license 3 shilling 6 pins total 5 pounds 19 shillings thus it required at the very least a capital of £6 to set up as a pearl man since the waterman's hall has had the granting of licenses there have been upwards of 140 issued out of the possessors of these many are dead some have left for other business and others are too old and feeble to follow the occupation any longer so that out of the whole number there remain only 35 pearl men on the river and these are thus divided 23 ply their trade in what is called the pool that is from execution dock to Ratcliffe Cross among the coal laden ships and do a tolerable business among the sailors and the hard working and thirsty coal whippers 8 pearl men follow their calling from execution dock to London bridge and sell their commodity among the ships loaded with corn potatoes and so on and 4 are known to frequent the various reaches below Limehouse Hall where the colliers are obliged to lie at times in sections waiting till they are sold on the coal exchange and some even go down the river as far as the ballast lighters of the Trinity Company for the purpose of supplying the ballast getters the pearl men cannot sell much to the unfortunate ballast heavers for they are suffering under all the horrors of an abominable truck system and are compelled to take from the publicans about whopping and Shadwell who are their employers large quantities of filthy stuff compounded especially for their use for which they are charged exorbitant prices being thus and in a variety of other ways mercilessly robbed of their earnings so that they and their families are left in a state of almost utter destitution one of the pearl men whose boat is number 44 has hoops like those used by gypsies for pitching their tents these he fastens to each side of the boat over which he draws a tarred canvas covering waterproof and beneath this he sleeps the greater part of the year seldom going ashore except for the purpose of getting a fresh supply of liquors for trade or food for himself he generally casts anchor in some unfrequented nook down the river where he enjoys all the quiet of a Thames hermit after the labour of the day to obtain the necessary heat during the winter he fits a funnel to his fire stove to carry away the smoke and thus warmed he sleeps away in defiance of the severest weather it appears from the facts above given that 210 pounds is a gross amount of capital employed in this business on an average all the year round each pearl man sells two pins of beer weekly independent of gin but little gin is thus sold in the summer but in the winter a considerable quantity is used in making the pearl the men purchase the beer at four shillings per pin and sell it at four pins per pot which leaves them a profit of four shillings on the two pins and allowing them six pins per day profit on the gin it gives one pound seven shillings per week profit to each or a total to all hands of 47 pounds five shillings per week and a gross total of 318 pounds profit made on the sale of 98,280 gallons of beer besides gin sold on the Thames in the course of the year from this amount must be deducted 318 pounds ten shillings which is paid to boys at the rate of three shillings six pins per week it being necessary for each pearl man to employ a lad to take care of the boat while he is on board the ships serving his customers during the tears this deduction being made leaves 61 pounds two shillings per annum to each pearl man as the profit of his years trading the present race of pearl men unlike the weather beaten Tars who in former times alone were licensed are generally young men who have been in the habit of following some river employment and who either from some accident having befallen them in the course of their work while they are preferring the easier task of sitting in their boat and rowing leisurely about to continuous labour have started in the line and ultimately superseded the old river dealers this is easily explained no man labouring on the river would purchase from a stranger when he knew that his own fellow workman was afloat and was prepared to serve him with as good an article besides he might not have money and a stranger could not be expected to give trust but his old acquaintance would make little scruple in doing so in this way the customers of the pearl men are secured and many of these people do so much more than the average amount of business above stated that it is no unusual thing to see some of them after four or five years on the river take a public house spring up into the rank of licensed victuollers and finally become men of substance I conversed with one who had been a coal whipper he stated that he had met with an accident while at work which prevented him from following coal whipping any longer he had fallen from the ship's side into a barge and was for a long time in the hospital when he came out he found he could not work and had no other prospect before him but the union I thought I'd be by this time toes up in stepney churchyard he said and grinning at the lid of an old coffin in this extremity a neighbor a waterman who had long known him advised him to take to the pearl business and gave him not only the advice but sufficient money to enable him to put it in practice the man accordingly got a boat and was soon afloat among his old workmates in this line he now makes out a living for himself and his family and reckons himself able to clear one week with the other 14 shillings to 20 shillings I should do much better he said if people would only pay what they owe but there are some who never think of paying anything he has between 10 pounds and 20 pounds due to him and never expects to get a farthing of it the following is the form of license issued by the waterman's company incorporated 1827 bum boat height 5 feet 8 inches 30 years of age dark hair sallow complexion 2nd and 3rd victoria cap 47 section 25 I hereby certify that blank off blank in the county of middlesex is this day registered in a book of the company of the master wardens and commonality of waterman and lighterman of the river Thames to use, work or navigate a boat called a skiff named blank number blank for the purpose of selling disposing of or exposing for sale to and amongst the seamen or other persons employed in and about any of the ships or vessels upon the said river any liquors, slops or other articles whatsoever between london bridge and lime house whole but the said boat is not to be used for any other purpose than the aforesaid waterman's hall james banyan clark beside the regular pearl men or as they may be called bum boat men there are two or three others who perhaps unable to purchase a boat and take out the license have nevertheless for a number of years contrived to carry on a traffic in spirits among the ships in the Thames their practice is to carry a flat tin bottle concealed about their person with which they go on board the first ship in a tier where they are all well known by those who may be there employed if the seamen wish for any spirit the river vendor immediately supplies it entering the name of the customer served as none of the vendors ever receive at the time of sale any money for what they dispose of they keep an account till their customers receive their wages when they always contrive to be present and succeed in getting what is owned to them what their profits are it is impossible to tell perhaps they may equal those of the regular pearl man for they go on board of almost every ship in the course of the day when their tin bottle is empty they go on short to replenish it doing so time after time if necessary it is remarkable that although these people are perfectly well known to every pearl man on the river who have seen them day by day many years going on board the various ships and are thoroughly cognisant of the purpose of their visits there has never been any information laid against them nor have they been in any way interrupted in their business there is one of these river spirit sellers who has pursued the avocation for the greater part of his life but he is a native of the south of Ireland now very old and a little shriveled up man he may still be seen every day going from ship to ship by scrambling over the quarters where they are lashed together in tears a feat sometimes attended with danger to the young and strong yet he works his way with the agility of a man of twenty gets on board the ship he wants and when there where he not so well known he might be thought to be some official sent to take an inventory of the contents of the ship for he has at all times an ink bottle hanging from one of his coat buttons a pen stuck over his ear spectacles on his nose a book in his hand and really has all the appearance of a man determined on doing business of some sort or other he possesses a sort of ubiquity for go where you will through any part of the pool you are sure to meet him he seems to be expected everywhere no one appears to be surprised at his presence captains and mates pass him by unnoticed and unquestioned as suddenly as he comes does he disappear to start up in some other place his visits are so regular that it would scarcely look like being on board ship if old D. the whisky man as he is called did not make his appearance sometime during the day for he seems to be in some strange way identified with the river and with every ship that frequents it End of section 16