Chapter 123 of 137 · 3993 words · ~20 min read

Part 123

-----------+---------------+------------+------------------------ Obtained of| Price per | Average | Parties the Street| pound | Yearly | to Buyers. | weight, &c. |Money Value.| whom sold. -----------+---------------+------------+------------------------ | | £ _s. d._| 1-500th | 6_d._ per lb. | 7,290 0 0 |Sold to brass-founders | | | and pewterers. „ | 4_d._ „ | 4,860 6 8 | Do. do. 1-200th |1/4_d._ „ | 2,246 13 4 |Do. to iron-founders | | | and manufacturers. none | 1_d._ „ | 260 0 0 |Do. to manufacturers. 1-500th |1-1/2_d._ „ | 7,280 0 0 |Do. to brass-founders | | | and pewterers. „ | 5_d._ „ | 6,075 13 4 | Do. do. | |----------- | | |28,182 13 4 | | |=========== | none | 11l. each | 1,320 0 0 |Sold to Jew dealers. „ | 25s. a set | 750 0 0 |Do. to costers and | | | small tradesmen. „ | 7s. a pair | 210 0 0 | Do. do. „ | 6s. per pair | 234 0 0 |Do. to costers | | | and others. „ | 1_d._ per lb. | 5 12 0 |Do. to cab-masters | | | and to Jews. „ |1/2_d._ „ | 5 12 0 |Do. to Jews. „ | 25s. each | 195 0 0 |Do. to cab-masters. „ | 3l. per pair | 180 0 0 |Do. to omnibus | | | proprietors. „ | 30s. per set | 216 0 0 |Do. to cab-masters. harness- | 4s. a set | 8,320 0 0 |Do. to little master makers | | | harness-makers. none | 4s. „ | 203 0 0 | Do. do. „ | 9_d._ „ | 78 0 0 | Do. do. and | | | marine stores. „ | 9_d._ „ | 138 13 4 | Do. do. do. „ | 6_d._ „ | 52 0 0 | Do. do. „ | 2_d._ „ | 34 13 4 | Do. do. do. „ | 4_d._ „ | 985 12 0 |Do. to Jews and also | | | to gunsmiths. „ |1s. 6_d._ „ | 72 0 0 |Do. to tailors’ | | | trimming-sellers. „ |2-1/2_d._ „ | 560 0 0 |Do. to Jews. | |----------- | | |13,560 2 8 | | |=========== | 1-1000th |1/2_d._ per lb.| 9,706 13 4 |Sold for manure and to | | | nail up fruit-trees. 1-500th |1/2_d._ „ | 6,066 13 4 |Do. to paper-makers | | | and for quilts. 1-1000th | 2_d._ „ | 9,706 13 4 |Do. to paper-makers. none | 1_d._ „ | 186 13 4 |Do. to chance customers. 1-500th |1/2_d._ „ | 606 13 4 |Do. for oakum and sacking | | | to mend old sacks. | |----------- | | |36,898 13 4 | | |=========== | all | 18s. per cwt. |11,232 0 0 |Do. to shopkeepers. 1-100th | 2_d._ per doz.| 520 0 0 |Do. to doctors | | | and chemists. 1-200th | 6_d._ „ | 780 0 0 |Do. to Brit. wine | | | merchants & ale stores. none | 6_d._ „ | 120 0 0 |Do. to ale and | | | porter stores. 1-1000th |1/4_d._ per lb.| 16 5 0 |Do. to glass | | | manufacturers. none |3/4_d._ each | 22 10 0 |Do. to Italian | | | warehouses, &c. „ | 2_d._ per doz.| 173 6 8 | Do. do. | |----------- | | | 1,632 1 8 | | |=========== |

bt. of old clo’men|6_s._ each | 187,200 0 0|Sold to old clo’men | | | and wholesale dealers. „ |3_s._ 3_d._ per| | | pr. | 50,700 0 0| Do. do. „ |7_d._ each | 9,100 0 0| Do. do. „ |2_d._ „ | 390 0 0|Do. to wholesale and | | | wardrobe dealers. | | | „ |2_s._ per pair | 1,560 0 0|Do. to old clo’men | | | and wholesale dealers. „ |4_s._ 2_d._ | 625 0 0|Do. to wholesale | each | | and wardrobe dealers. „ |10_s._ „ | 500 0 0|Do. to wholesale dealers. „ |7_d._ per pair | 45,500 0 0|Do. to wardrobe dealers | | | and second-hand | | | boot and shoe makers. | | | | | | none |1_s._ per dz. | 32,400 0 0|Do. to Jews and gunsmiths | pr. | | to temper gun-barrels. „ |5_s._ „ | 130,000 0 0|Do. to translators. bt. of old clo’men|4_d._ each | 31,200 0 0|Do. to dealers and | | | master hatters. „ |3_s._ a suit | 540 0 0|Do. Jew dealers. | | | „ |4_d._ each | 10,400 0 0|Do. to old clo’men | | | and wholesale dealers. | | | „ |1_d._ per pair | 3,272 10 0|Do. to wholesale | | | and wardrobe dealers. | | | „ |3_d._ „ | 1,170 0 0| Do. do. | | | „ |1_s._ 9_d._ | | | each | 41,107 10 0| Do. do. „ |7_d._ „ | 27,405 0 0| Do. do. „ |5_d._ per pair | 5,437 10 0| Do. do. | | | „ |3_d._ a doz. | 195 15 0| Do. do. „ |1-1/2_d._ each | 1,639 11 8| Do. do. „ |4_d._ „ | 8,700 0 0| Do. do. | | | | | | | | | „ |4_s._ „ | 1,040 0 0|Do. to wholesale dealers. „ |6_d._ „ | 35,235 0 0| Do. do. | | | „ |1_s._ 2_d._ „ | 27,405 0 0|Do. to wholesale | | | and wardrobe dealers. | | | „ |1_s._ 2_d._ „ | 15,220 0 0| Do. do. | | | „ |1_s._ 2_d._ „ | 7,612 10 0| Do. do. | | | all |5_d._ „ | 10,300 0 0|Do. to Jews and old | | | umbrella menders. | +--------------+ | | 675,555 6 8| | +==============+ | | | | | | „ |2-1/2_d._ per | 812 10 0|Do. to merchants to | lb. | | re-make into tea. costers and |1_d._ „ | |Do. to brewers to fine | | | their ale. fishmongers | | 16 5 0| all |1_s._ a doz. | 333 6 8|Do. to Jews, hatters, | | | and furriers. none |1-1/2_d._ per | | | lb. | 390 0 0|Do. at marine stores. „ |3_d._ „ | 650 0 0| Do. do. 1-1000th |1/4_d._ „ | 105,625 0 0|Do. for manure, | | | knife-handles, &c. all |1_d._ per | | | gallon | 10,433 6 8|Do. to pig-dealers. | | | none |2_s._ 6_d._ per| 112,500 0 0|Do. for manure and | ld. | | to brickmakers. „ |5_d._ per | 16,666 13 4|Do. to farmers, | bushel | | graziers, and | | | gardeners. | | | „ |10_s._ per load| 375,000 0 0|Do. for manure. | +--------------+ | | 622,427 1 8| | +==============+ | | | | | | „ |3_s._ „ | 21,147 9 0| Do. do. | | | „ |2_s._ 6_d._ „ | 2,352 2 6| Do. do. | | | „ |8_d._ per cwt. | 2,151 17 4|Do. to the poor. „ |1_s._ per pail | 2,600 0 0|Do. to tanners and | | | leather-dressers. street-finders |8_d._ per lb. | 74 13 4|Do. to Jews in | | | Rosemary-lane. | +==============+ | | 28,326 2 2| | +--------------+ |Gross Total |1,406,592 1 6|

Curious and ample as this Table of Refuse is--one, moreover, perfectly original--it is not sufficient, by the mere range of figures, to convey to the mind of the reader a full comprehension of the ramified vastness of the Second-Hand trade of the metropolis. Indeed tables are for reference more than for the current information to be yielded by a history or a narrative.

I will, therefore, offer a few explanations in elucidation, as it were, of the tabular return.

I must, as indeed I have done in the accompanying remarks, depart from the order of the details of the table to point out, in the first instance, the particulars of the greatest of the Second-Hand trades--that in Clothing. In this table the reader will find included every indispensable article of man’s, woman’s, and child’s apparel, as well as those articles which add to the ornament or comfort of the person of the wearer; such as boas and victorines for the use of one sex, and dressing-gowns for the use of the other. The articles used to protect us from the rain, or the too-powerful rays of the sun, are also included--umbrellas and parasols. The whole of these articles exceed, when taken in round numbers, twelve millions and a quarter, and that reckoning the “pairs,” as in boots and shoes, &c., as but one article. This, still pursuing the round-number system, would supply nearly _five_ articles of refuse apparel to every man, woman, and child in this, the greatest metropolis of the world.

I will put this matter in another light. There are about 35,000 Jews in England, nearly half of whom reside in the metropolis. 12,000, it is further stated on good authority, reside within the City of London. Now at one time the trade in old clothes was almost entirely in the hands of the City Jews, the others prosecuting the same calling in different parts of London having been “Wardrobe Dealers,” chiefly women, (who had not unfrequently been the servants of the aristocracy); and even these wardrobe dealers sold much that was worn, and (as one old clothes-dealer told me) much that was “not, for their fine customers, because the fashion had gone by,” to the “Old Clo” Jews, or to those to whom the street-buyers carried their stock, and who were able to purchase on a larger scale than the general itinerants. Now, supposing that even one twelfth of these 12,000 Israelites were engaged in the old-clothes trade (which is far beyond the mark), each man would have _twelve hundred and twenty-five_ articles to dispose of yearly, all second-hand!

Perhaps the most curious trade is that in waste paper, or as it is called by the street collectors, in “waste,” comprising every kind of used or useless periodical, and books in all tongues. I may call the attention of my readers, by way of illustrating the extent of this business in what is proverbially refuse “waste paper,” to their experience of the penny postage. Three or four sheets of note paper, according to the stouter or thinner texture, and an envelope with a seal or a glutinous and stamped fastening, will not exceed half-an-ounce, and is conveyed to the Orkneys and the further isles of Shetland, the Hebrides, the Scilly and Channel Islands, the isles of Achill and Cape Clear, off the western and southern coasts of Ireland, or indeed to and from the most extreme points of the United Kingdom, and no matter what distance, provided the letter be posted within the United Kingdom, for a penny. The weight of waste or refuse paper annually disposed of to the street collectors, or rather buyers, is 1,397,760 lbs. Were this tonnage, as I may call it, for it comprises 12,480 tons yearly, to be distributed in half-ounce letters, it would supply material, as respects weight, for _forty-four millions, seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand, four hundred and thirty_ letters on business, love, or friendship.

I will next direct attention to what may be, by perhaps not over-straining a figure of speech, called “the crumbs which fall from the rich man’s table;” or, according to the quality of the commodity of refuse, of the tables of the _comparatively_ rich, and that down to a low degree of the scale. These are not, however, unappropriated crumbs, to be swept away uncared for; but are objects of keen traffic and bargains between the possessors or their servants and the indefatigable street-folk. Among them are such things as champagne and other wine bottles, porter and ale bottles, and, including the establishments of all the rich and the comparative rich, kitchen-stuff, dripping, hog-wash, hare-skins, and tea-leaves. Lastly come the very lowest grades of the street-folk--the _finders_; men who will quarrel, and have been seen to quarrel, with a hungry cur for a street-found bone; not to pick or gnaw, although Eugène Sue has seen that done in Paris; and I once, very early on a summer’s morning, saw some apparently houseless Irish children contend with a dog and with each other for bones thrown out of a house in King William-street, City--as if after a very late supper--not to pick or gnaw, I was saying, but to _sell_ for manure. Some of these finders have “seen better days;” others, in intellect, are little elevated above the animals whose bones they gather, or whose ordure (“pure”), they scrape into their baskets.

I do not know that the other articles in the arrangement of the table of street refuse, &c., require any further comment. Broken metal, &c., can only be disposed of according to its quality or weight, and I have lately shown the extent of the trade in such refuse as street-sweepings, soot and night-soil.

The gross total, or average yearly money value, is 1,406,592_l._ for the second-hand commodities I have described in the foregoing pages; or as something like a minimum is given, both as to the number of the goods and the price, we may fairly put this total at a million and a half of pounds sterling!

CROSSING-SWEEPERS.

That portion of the London street-folk who earn a scanty living by sweeping crossings constitute a large class of the Metropolitan poor. We can scarcely walk along a street of any extent, or pass through a square of the least pretensions to “gentility,” without meeting one or more of these private scavengers. Crossing-sweeping seems to be one of those occupations which are resorted to as an excuse for begging; and, indeed, as many expressed it to me, “it was the last chance left of obtaining an honest crust.”

The advantages of crossing-sweeping as a means of livelihood seem to be:

1st, the smallness of the capital required in order to commence the business;

2ndly, the excuse the apparent occupation it affords for soliciting gratuities without being considered in the light of a street-beggar;

And 3rdly, the benefits arising from being constantly seen in the same place, and thus exciting the sympathy of the neighbouring householders, till small weekly allowances or “pensions” are obtained.

The first curious point in connexion with this subject is what constitutes the “_property_,” so to speak, in a crossing, or the _right_ to sweep a pathway across a certain thoroughfare. A nobleman, who has been one of her Majesty’s Ministers, whilst conversing with me on the subject of crossing-sweepers, expressed to me the curiosity he felt on the subject, saying that he had noticed some of the sweepers in the same place for years. “What were the rights of property,” he asked, “in such cases, and what constituted the title that such a man had to a particular crossing? Why did not the stronger sweeper supplant the weaker? Could a man bequeath a crossing to a son, or present it to a friend? How did he first obtain the spot?”

The answer is, that crossing-sweepers are, in a measure, under the protection of the police. If the accommodation afforded by a well-swept pathway is evident, the policeman on that district will protect the original sweeper of the crossing from the intrusion of a rival. I have, indeed, met with instances of men who, before taking to a crossing, have asked for and obtained permission of the police; and one sweeper, who gave me his statement, had even solicited the authority of the inhabitants before he applied to the inspector at the station-house.

If a crossing have been vacant for some time, another sweeper may take to it; but should the original proprietor again make his appearance, the officer on duty will generally re-establish him. One man to whom I spoke, had fixed himself on a crossing which for years another sweeper had kept clean on the Sunday morning only. A dispute ensued; the one claimant pleading his long Sabbath possession, and the other his continuous every-day service. The quarrel was referred to the police, who decided that he who was oftener on the ground was the rightful owner; and the option was given to the former possessor, that if he would sweep there every day the crossing should be his.

I believe there is only one crossing in London which is in the gift of a householder, and this proprietorship originated in a tradesman having, at his own expense, caused a paved footway to be laid down over the Macadamized road in front of his shop, so that his customers might run less chance of dirtying their boots when they crossed over to give their orders.

Some bankers, however, keep a crossing-sweeper, not only to sweep a clean path for the “clients” visiting their house, but to open and shut the doors of the carriages calling at the house.

Concerning the _causes which lead or drive_ people to this occupation, they are various. People take to crossing-sweeping either on account of their bodily afflictions, depriving them of the power of performing ruder work, or because the occupation is the last resource left open to them of earning a living, and they considered even the scanty subsistence it yields preferable to that of the workhouse. The greater proportion of crossing-sweepers are those who, from some bodily infirmity or injury, are prevented from a more laborious mode of obtaining their living. Among the bodily infirmities the chief are old age, asthma, and rheumatism; and the injuries mostly consist of loss of limbs. Many of the rheumatic sweepers have been bricklayers’ labourers.

The classification of crossing-sweepers is not very complex. They may be divided into the _casual_ and the _regular_.

By the casual I mean such as pursue the occupation only on certain days in the week, as, for instance, those who make their appearance on the Sunday morning, as well as the boys who, broom in hand, travel about the streets, sweeping before the foot-passengers or stopping an hour at one place, and then, if not fortunate, moving on to another.

The regular crossing-sweepers are those who have taken up their posts at the corners of streets or squares; and I have met with some who have kept to the same spot for more than forty years.

The crossing-sweepers in the squares may be reckoned among the most fortunate of the class. With them the crossing is a kind of stand, where any one requiring their services knows they may be found. These sweepers are often employed by the butlers and servants in the neighbouring mansions for running errands, posting letters, and occasionally helping in the packing-up and removal of furniture or boxes when the family goes out of town. I have met with other sweepers who, from being known for years to the inhabitants, have at last got to be regularly employed at some of the houses to clean knives, boots, windows, &c.

It is not at all an unfrequent circumstance, however, for a sweeper to be in receipt of a weekly sum from some of the inhabitants in the district. The crossing itself is in these cases but of little value for chance customers, for were it not for the regular charity of the householders, it would be deserted. Broken victuals and old clothes also form part of a sweeper’s means of living; nor are the clothes always old ones, for one or two of this class have for years been in the habit of having new suits presented to them by the neighbours at Christmas.

The irregular sweepers mostly consist of boys and girls who have formed themselves into a kind of company, and come to an agreement to work together on the same crossings. The principal resort of these is about Trafalgar-square, where they have seized upon some three or four crossings, which they visit from time to time in the course of the day.

One of these gangs I found had appointed its king and captain, though the titles were more honorary than privileged. They had framed their own laws respecting each one’s right to the money he took, and the obedience to these laws was enforced by the strength of the little fraternity.

One or two girls whom I questioned, told me that they mixed up ballad-singing or lace-selling with crossing-sweeping, taking to the broom only when the streets were wet and muddy. These children are usually sent out by their parents, and have to carry home at night their earnings. A few of them are orphans with a lodging-house for a home.