University of Virginia Library

MARRIAGE AND CONCUBINAGE OF
COSTERMONGERS.

Only one-tenth — at the outside one-tenth — of
the couples living together and carrying on the
costermongering trade, are married. In Clerk-
enwell parish, however, where the number of
married couples is about a fifth of the whole,
this difference is easily accounted for, as in
Advent and Easter the incumbent of that parish
marries poor couples without a fee. Of the rights
of "legitimate" or "illegitimate" children the
costermongers understand nothing, and account
it a mere waste of money and time to go through
the ceremony of wedlock when a pair can live
together, and be quite as well regarded by their
fellows, without it. The married women associ-
ate with the unmarried mothers of families with-
out the slightest scruple. There is no honour
attached to the marriage state, and no shame to
concubinage. Neither are the unmarried women
less faithful to their "partners" than the mar-
ried; but I understand that, of the two classes,
the unmarried betray the most jealousy.

As regards the fidelity of these women I was
assured that, "in anything like good times,"
they were rigidly faithful to their husbands or
paramours; but that, in the worst pinch of
poverty, a departure from this fidelity — if it pro-
vided a few meals or a fire — was not considered
at all heinous. An old costermonger, who had
been mixed up with other callings, and whose

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prejudices were certainly not in favour of his
present trade, said to me, "What I call the work-
ing girls, sir, are as industrious and as faithful
a set as can well be. I'm satisfied that they're
more faithful to their mates than other poor
working women. I never knew one of these work-
ing girls do wrong that way. They're strong,
hearty, healthy girls, and keep clean rooms.
Why, there's numbers of men leave their stock-
money with their women, just taking out two or
three shillings to gamble with and get drunk
upon. They sometimes take a little drop them-
selves, the women do, and get beaten by their
husbands for it, and hardest beaten if the man's
drunk himself. They're sometimes beaten for
other things too, or for nothing at all. But they
seem to like the men better for their beating
them. I never could make that out." Not-
withstanding this fidelity, it appears that the
"larking and joking" of the young, and some-
times of the middle-aged people, among them-
selves, is anything but delicate. The unmarried
separate as seldom as the married. The fidelity
characterizing the women does not belong to
the men.

The dancing-rooms are the places where
matches are made up. There the boys go to
look out for "mates," and sometimes a match is
struck up the first night of meeting, and the
couple live together forthwith. The girls at
these dances are all the daughters of coster-
mongers, or of persons pursuing some other
course of street life. Unions take place when
the lad is but 14. Two or three out of 100 have
their female helpmates at that early age; but
the female is generally a couple of years older
than her partner. Nearly all the costermongers
form such alliances as I have described, when
both parties are under twenty. One reason why
these alliances are contracted at early ages is,
that when a boy has assisted his father, or any
one engaging him, in the business of a coster-
monger, he knows that he can borrow money,
and hire a shallow or a barrow — or he may have
saved 5s. — "and then if the father vexes him or
snubs him," said one of my informants, "he'll
tell his father to go to h — l, and he and his gal
will start on their own account."

Most of the costermongers have numerous
families, but not those who contract alliances
very young. The women continue working down
to the day of their confinement.

"Chance children," as they are called, or
children unrecognised by any father, are rare
among the young women of the costermongers.