London Labour and the London Poor, Volume 1
Mayhew, Henry
1861
The Public-House Hawkers of Metal Spoons, Etc.
THE public-house hawkers are never so prosperous as those who confine their calling to private houses; they are often invited to partake of drink; are not the most industrious class of hawkers, and, to use their own language, are more frequently than those who keep away from tap-room selling. The profits of the small hawkers in public-houses vary considerably. Some of them, when they have earned a shilling or , | |
345 | are content to spend it before they leave the taproom, and so they lose both their stock and profit. I do not mean to infer that this is the case with the whole of the public-house hawkers, for some among them strive hard to better their condition, and occasionally succeed; but there are too many who are content to drawl out their existence by always suffering to-morrow to provide for itself. The man who gave me the routine of small hawkers' business I found in a tap-room in Ratcliffe Highway. He was hawking tea-spoons, and all the stock he possessed was half-a-dozen. These he importuned me to purchase with great earnestness. He prayed of me to lay out a trifle with him. He had not taken a penny the whole day he said, and had nothing to eat. "What's much worse for such as me," he added, "I'm dying for a glass of rum." I might have his tea-spoons, he told me, at any price. If I would but pay for a glass of rum for him they should be mine. I assured him some bread and cheese would do him more good, as he had not eaten anything that day; but still he have the rum. With a trembling hand he threw the liquor down his throat, smacked his lips, and said "that there dram has saved my life." A few minutes afterwards he sold his spoons to a customer for sixpence; and he had another glass of rum. "" said he, "I'm all right for business; if I'd twopence more I could buy a dozen tea-spoons, and I should earn a 'bob' or yet before I went to bed." After this he grew communicative, and told me he was as good a hawker as there was in London, and he thought he could do more than any other man with a small stock. He had or times resolved to better himself, and had '' meaning he had made a vow to refrain from drinking; but he had broken out again and gone on in his old course until he had melted the whole of his stock, though twice it had, during his sobriety, amounted to , and was often worth between and It was almost maddening when he came to his senses, he said, to find he had acted so foolishly; indeed, it was so disheartening to discover all the result of his good resolutions dissipated in a moment, that he declared he never intended to try again. After having drunk out his stock, he would if possible commence with half-a-dozen Britannia metal tea-spoons; these cost him , and would sell for or When half-dozen were disposed of he would procure another, adding a knife, or a comb or . If entirely destitute, he would stick a needle in a cork, and request to know of "the parties" assembled in some tap-room, if they wanted anything in the ironmongery line, though the needle was all the stock he had. This was done for the purpose of "raising the wind;" and by it he would be sure to obtain a glass or of ale if he introduced himself with his "ironmongery establishment" among the sailors. Sometimes he would manage to beg a few pence, and then he would purchase a knife, pair of braces, or half-a-dozen tea-spoons, and begin to practise his trade in a legitimate manner. In answer to my inquiry he said he had not always been a hawker. His father had been a soldier, and he had worked in the armoury. His father had been discharged upon a pension, and he (the hawker) left the army with his parents. He had never enlisted while his father was a soldier, but he had since. His mother adopted the business of a hawker upon the receipt of his father's quarter's pension; and then he used to accompany her on her rounds. With the pension and the mother's exertions they managed to subsist tolerably well. "Being the only child, I was foolishly spoilt by my parents," he said; "and when I was a very young man— or —I became a great trouble to them. At I enlisted in the Fusileers, remained in the regiment months, and then, at my own request, was bought off. My mother sold off most of her stock of goods to raise the money (). When I returned home I could not think of trudging by my mother's side, as I had been used to do when carrying the goods; nor did I feel inclined to exert myself in any way for my own support. I considered my mother had a right to keep me without my working, and she, poor thing, thought so too. I was not only supported in idleness, but my mother would give me many a shilling, though she could ill afford it, for me to spend with my companions. I passed most of my time in a skittle ground. I was not what you might term a skittle sharp, for I never entered into a plot to victimise any person, although I confess I have often bet upon the 'greenness' of those who were silly enough to make wagers that they could not possibly win. Sometimes, after I had lost the trifle supplied me by my mother, I would return, and be blackguard enough to assume the bully unless my demands on her for a further supply were attended to. Poor thing, she was very meek, and with tears in her eyes she would grant my request. I often weep when I think how I treated her" (here the tears trickled down the man's cheek), "and yet, badly as I used her, in my heart I loved her very much. I got tired of the skittle grounds in consequence of getting into a hobble relative to a skittle swindle: some sharpers had obtained a flat; I was speculating in a small way, betting pennies and twopences in such a manner as always to win; I was practising upon the flat upon my own account, without having any connection with the others; they fleeced their dupe out of several pounds, and he made a row about it. The police interfered, and I was singled out as of the gang; the principals were also apprehended; they got months each, and I was accommodated with a month's board and lodging at the expense of the nation. I thought this at the time unjust, but I was as culpable as any of them, for at the time I only regretted I had not more money to stake larger wagers, and envied the other parties who were making a better thing of the business than I was. When I came out of jail, my poor mother treated me as a martyr. She thought I was as innocent as a child. Shortly after my release from prison my father died, and with him went the pension of course. I was then obligated to do something for myself. A few shillings' worth |
346 | of goods only were procured—for my father's funeral and my extravagances had sadly crippled my mother's means. I behaved very well for a short time. My mother then was often ill, and she never recovered the death of my father. In about a year after my father died I lost my mother; our stock of goods had dwindled down to a very poor lot, and I was obligated to ask relief of the parish towards her funeral expenses. When all was over, the value of my goods and cash did not amount to years have elapsed since my mother's death, and I don't think I have ever been, during the whole period, sober for a month together." |
While I sat in this top-room, I counted in the course of an hour and a quarter,— hawkers of sheep's trotters, who visited the place; sellers of shrimps, pickled whelks, and periwinkles; baked potato-sellers; song-hawkers; the same number with lucifer matches; and with braces, &c. Not of these effected a sale. | |
