 | OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF EATABLES AND DRINKABLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 |  |
OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF GINGERBREAD-
NUTS, &c.
The sale of gingerbread, as I have previously
observed, was much more extensive in the
[Description: 915EAF. Page 200.]
formerly known in the trade as "toy" ginger-
bread is now unseen in the streets, except occa-
sionally, and that only when the whole has not
been sold at the neighbouring fairs, at which it
is still offered. But, even at these fairs, the
principal, and sometimes the only, toy ginger-
bread that is vended is the "cock in breeches;"
a formidable-looking bird, with his nether gar-
ments of gold. Twenty or thirty years ago,
"king George on horseback" was popular in
gingerbread. His Majesty, wearing a gilt
crown, gilt spurs, and a gilt sword, bestrode the
gilt saddle of his steed, and was eaten with
great relish by his juvenile subjects. There
were also sheep, and dogs, and other animals,
all adorned in a similar manner, and looking as
if they had been formed in close and faithful
imitation of children's first attempts at cattle
drawing. These edible toys were then sold in
"white," as well as in "brown" gingerbread,
the white being the same in all other respects
as the brown, except that a portion of sugar was
used in its composition instead of treacle.
There are now only two men in London who
make their own gingerbread-nuts for sale in
the streets. This preparation of gingerbread is
called by the street-sellers, after a common
elliptical fashion, merely "nuts." From the
most experienced man in the street trade I had
the following account: he was an intelligent,
well-mannered, and well-spoken man, and when
he laughed or smiled, had what may be best
described as a pleasant look. After he had
initiated me into the art and mystery of ginger-
bread making — which I shall detail separately
— he said,
"I've been in the `nut' trade 25 years, or
thereabouts, and have made my own nuts for
20 years of that time. I bought of a ginger-
bread baker at first — there was plenty of them
in them days — and the profit a living profit,
too. Certainly it was, for what I bought for 5s.
I could sell for 16s. I was brought up a baker,
but the moment I was out of my time I started
in the street nut trade for myself. I knew the
profits of it, and thought it better than the
slavery of a journeyman baker's life. You've
mentioned, sir, in your work, a musical sort of
a street-crier of gingerbread (see p. 160), and I
think, and indeed I'm pretty certain, that it's
the same man as was my partner 20 years back;
aye, more than 20, but I can't tell about years."
[The reader will have remarked how frequently
this oblivion as to dates and periods characterises
the statements of street-sellers. Perhaps no
men take less note of time.] "At that time he
was my partner in the pig trade. Dairy-fed,
d'you say, sir? Not in the slightest. The
outsides of the hanimals was paste, and the
insides on 'em was all mince-meat. Their
eyes was currants. We two was the original
pigs, and, I believe, the only two pigs in the
streets. We often made 15s. between us, in a
day, in pigs alone. The musical man, as you
call him — poor fellow, he dropped down dead in
the street one day as he was crying; he was
regular worn out — cried himself into his grave
you may say — poor fellow, he used to sing out
And a pig with a curly tail:
Here's a Yorkshire pig, and a Hampshire pig,
And a pig without e'er a tail.'
"When I was first in the trade, I sold twice
as many nuts as I do now, though my nuts was
only 12 a penny then, and they're now 40. A
little larger the 12 were, but not very much. I
have taken 20s. and 24s. many and many a
Saturday. I then made from 2l. to 2l. 10s. a
week by sticking to it, and money might have
been saved. I've taken between 7l. and 8l. at a
Greenwich Fair in the three days, in them times,
by myself. Indeed, last Easter, my wife and
me — for she works as well as I do, and sells
almost as much — took 5l. But gingerbread was
money in the old times, and I sold `lumps' as
well as `nuts;' but now lumps won't go off —
not in a fair, no how. I've been in the trade
ever since I started in it, but I've had turns at
other things. I was in the service of a Custom-
house agency firm; but they got into bother
about contrabands, and the revenue, and cut off
to America — I believe they took money with
them, a good bit of it — and I was indicted, or
whatever they call it, in the Court of Exche-
quer — I never was in the Court in my life — and
was called upon, one fine day, to pay to the
Crown 1,580l., and some odd pounds and shil-
lings besides! I never understood the rights of
it, but it was about smuggling. I was indicted
by myself, I believe. When Mr. Candy, and
other great houses in the City, were found
out that way, they made it all right; paid some-
thing, as I've heard, and sacked the profits.
Well; when I was called on, it wasn't, I assure
you, sir — ha, ha, ha! — at all convenient for a
servant — and I was only that — to pay the fifteen
hundred and odd; so I served 12 months and 2
days in prison for it. I'd saved a little money,
and wasn't so uncomfortable in prison. I could
get a dinner, and give a dinner. When I came
out, I took to the nuts. It was lucky for me
that I had a trade to turn to; for, even if I
could have shown I wasn't at all to blame about
the Exchequer, I could never have got another
situation — never. So the streets saved me: my
nuts was my bread.
"At this present time, sir, if I make, the year
through, 9s. a week, and my wife 1s. or 2s. less,
that's the extent. When the Queen opened
Parliament, the two on us took 10s. The Queen's
good for that, anyhow, in person. If the opening
was by proclamation" [so he called it, three or
four times], "it wouldn't have been worth while
going to — not at all. If there's not a crowd,
the police interfere, and `move on!' is the order.
The Queen's popular with me, for her opening
Parliament herself. I count it her duty. The
police are a great trouble. I can't say they
disturb me in the place (never mind mentioning
it, sir) where you've seen me, but they do in
[Description: 915EAF. Page 201.]
wicked; but, in the streets, there's no rest for a
man trying to make an honest living, as I'm sure
I do. I could pitch anywhere, one time.
"My chief dependence is on working-men,
who buys my nuts to take home to their young
'uns. I never sell for parties, or desserts, that
I know of. I take very little from boys — very
little. The women of the town buy hardly any
of me. I used to sell a good many pigs to them,
in some of the streets about Brunswick-square;
kept misses, and such like — and very pleasant
customers they was, and good pay: but that's
all over now. They never 'bated me — never."
To make about 56 lbs. of the gingerbread-nuts
sold by my informant, takes 28 lbs. of treacle,
7s.; 48 lbs. of flour, 14s.; ½ lb. of ginger, 4d.;
and ½ lb. of allspice, 4d. From 18 to 20
dozen of small nuts go to the pound. This
quantity, at 40 a penny, reckoning 18 dozen to
a pound, realises about 5d. per pound; or about
25s. for an outlay of 11s. 8d. The expense of
baking, however, and of "appurtenances," re-
duces the profit to little more than cent. per-
cent.
The other nut-sellers in the streets vend the
"almond nuts." Of these vendors there are
not less than 150; of them, 100 buy their goods
of the bakers (what they sell for 1s. costing them
4d.), and the other 50 make their own. The
materials are the same as those of the ginger-
bread, with the addition of 4 lbs. of butter, 8d.
per lb.; 1 lb. of almonds, 1s. 4d.; and 2 lbs. of
volatile salts, 8d. Out of this material, 60 lbs.
of "almond nuts" may be made. A split
almond is placed in the centre of each of these
nuts; and, as they are three times as large as
the gingerbread nuts, 12 a penny is the price.
To sell 36 dozen a day — and so clearing 2s. — is
accounted a "very tidy day's work." With the
drawback of wet weather, the average weekly
earnings of the almond nut-sellers are, perhaps,
the same as the gingerbread nut man's — 9s.
weekly. These almond nut-sellers are, for the
most part, itinerant, their localities of sale being
the same as in the "cake and tart" line. They
carry their goods, neatly done up in paper, on
trays slung from the shoulder. The gingerbread-
nuts are carried in a large basket, and are ready
packed in paper bags.
Some of the "almond" men call at the pub-
lic-houses, but the sale in such places is very
small. Most of those who make their own nuts
have been brought up as bakers — a class of
workmen who seem to resort and adapt them-
selves to a street trade more readily than others.
The nuts are baked in the usual way, spread on
tin trays. To erect a proper oven for the pur-
pose costs about 5l., but most of the men hire
the use of one.
I have already specified the materials required
to make 56 lb. of gingerbread nuts, the cost
being 11s. 8d. To that, the capital required to
start in the business must be added, and this
consists of basket, 6s.; baize cloth, 1s.; pan for
dough, 1s.; rolling-pin, 3d., and baking-tins, 1s.
In all about 21s. To begin in a small way in
the "almond" line, buying the nuts ready made,
requires as capital: tray, 2s.; leather strap, 6d.;
baize, 1s.; stock-money, 1s. 6d. — in all 5s. The
sale is prosecuted through the year, but hot
weather is unfavourable to it, as the nuts then
turn soft.
Calculating that 150 of these street-dealers
take 17s. each weekly (clearing 9s.), we find
6,630l. spent yearly in "spice" nuts in the
streets of London.
| OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF EATABLES AND DRINKABLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 | |