 | OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF STATIONERY, LITERATURE,
AND THE FINE ARTS. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 |  |
OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF CONUNDRUMS.
Among the more modern street sales are
"conundrums," generally vended, both in the
shops and the streets, as "Nuts to Crack,"
when not in the form of books. This is an-
other of the "broad-sheets," and is sufficiently
clever and curious in its way.
In the centre, at the top, is the "Wonderful
Picture," with the following description: "This
Picture when looked at from a particular point
of view, will not only appear perfect in all re-
spects and free from distortion, but the figures
will actually appear to stand out in relief from
the paper." The wonderful picture, which is
a rude imitation of a similar toy picture sold
in a box, "with eye-piece complete," at the
shops, presents a distorted view of a church-
spire, a light-house, a donjon-keep, castellated
buildings backed by mountains, a moat on which
are two vessels, an arch surmounted by a Bri-
tannia, a palm-tree (I presume), and a ram-
part, or pier, or something that way, on which
are depicted two figures, with the gestures of
elocutionists. The buildings are elongated,
like shadows at sunset or sunrise. What may
be the "particular point of view" announced
in the description of the Wonderful Picture,
is not described in the "Nuts," but the follow-
ing explanation is given in a little book,
published simultaneously, and entitled, "The
Nutcrackers, a Key to Nuts to Crack, or Enig-
matical Repository:"
"The Wonderful Picture. — Cut out a piece of
cardboard 2½ inches long, make a round hole about
the size of a pea in the top of it; place this level with
the right-hand side of the Engraving and just 1½ inches
distant from it, then apply your eye to the little hole
and look at the picture, and you will find that a beau-
tiful symmetry pervades the landscape, there is not
the slightest appearance of distortion, and the different
parts appear actually to stand up in relief on the
paper."
Below the "Wonderful Picture" are other
illustrations; and the border of the broad-
sheet presents a series of what may be called
pictorial engravings. The first is,
The answer being evidently "Diocese." No.
26 is
"Pinafore" is the solution. Of the next "hie-
roglyphic" — for a second title to the "Nuts"
tells of "200 Hieroglyphics, Enigmas, Conun-
drums, Curious Puzzles, and other Ingenious
Devices," — I cannot speak very highly. It
consists of "AIMER," (a figure of a hare at full
speed,) and "EKA." Answer. — " America."
In the body of the broad-sheet are the
Enigmas, &c., announced; of each of which I
give a specimen, to show the nature of this
street performance or entertainment. Enigma
107 is —
I often rise and fall;
I've got no feet, yet clogs I wear,
And shoes, and boots, and all."
should manifestly have been placed first.
The "Conundrums" are next in the arrange-
ment, and I cite one of them:
"Why are there, strictly speaking, only 325 days in
the year?"
lent and never returned." The "Riddles" fol-
low in this portion of the "Nuts to Crack." Of
these, one is not very difficult to be solved,
though it is distinguished for the usual gram-
matical confusion of tenses:
"A man has three daughters, and each of these
have a brother. How many children had he?"
I select one of the best:
I'm sinful in the sight of heaven,
To every virtue I'm opposed,
Man's weary life I've often closed.
If to me you prefix two letters more,
I mean exactly what I meant before."
The other parts of the letter-press consist of
"Anagrams," "Transpositions," &c.
When a clever patterer "works conundrums"
— for the trade is in the hands of the pattering
class — he selects what he may consider the best,
and reads or repeats them in the street, some-
times with and sometimes without the answer.
But he does not cripple the probable quickness
[Description: 915EAF. Page 286.]
type. He puts the matter, as it were, personally.
"What gentleman is it," one man told me he
would ask, "in this street, that has —
A nose like a pen-knife, and a voice like a fox?'
go on with the patter, thus," he continued,
"What lady is it that we have all seen, and
who can say truly —
And stronger than all the momentum of might?'
Queen,' for they seem to think that the mo-
mentum of might couldn't fit any one else.
It's `thought' as is the answer, but it wouldn't
do to let people think it's anything of the sort.
It must seem to fit somebody. If I see a
tailor's name on a door, as soon as I've passed
the corner of the street, and sometimes in the
same street, I've asked —
`Why is Mr. So-and-so, the busy tailor of this (or
the next street) never at home?'
same questions for other tradesmen, and for
gentlemen and ladies in this neighbourhood, and
no gammon. All for a penny. Nuts to Crack,
a penny. A pair of Nutcrackers to crack
'em, only one penny."
Sometimes this man, who perhaps is the
smartest in the trade, will take a bolder flight
still, and when he knows the residence of any
professional or public man, he will, if the allu-
sion be complimentary, announce his name, or
— if there be any satire — indicate by a mo-
tion of the head, or a gesture of the hand,
the direction of his residence. My ingenuous,
and certainly ingenious, informant obliged me
with a few instances: — "In Whitechapel
parish I've said — it ain't in the print, it was
only in the patter — `Why won't the Re-
verend Mr. Champneys lay up treasures on
earth?' — `Because he'd rather lay up treasures
in heaven.' That's the reverend gentleman
not far from this spot; but in this sheet — with
nearly 100 engravings by the first artists, only
a penny — I have other questions for other
parsons, not so easy answered; nuts as is hard
to crack. `Why is the Reverend Mr. Popjoy,'
or the Honourable Lawyer Bully, or Judge
Wiggem, — and then I just jerks my thumb, sir,
if it's where I know or think such people live
— `Why is the Reverend Mr. Popjoy (or the
others) like two balloons, one in the air to the
east, and the 'tother in the air to the west, in
this parish of St. George's, Hanover-square?'
There's no such question, and as it's a sort of
a `cock,' of course there's no answer. I don't
know one. But a gentleman's servant once sung
out: `'Cause he's uppish.' And a man in a
leather apron once said: `He's a raising the
wind,' which was nonsense. But I like that
sort of interruption, and have said — `You'll not
find that answer in the Nutcrackers,' only a
penny — and, Lord knows, I told the truth when
I said so, and it helps the sale. No fear of any
one's finding out all what's in the sheet before
I'm out of the `drag.' Not a bit. And you
must admit that any way it's a cheap pen-
north." That it is a cheap harmless penny-
worth is undeniable.
The street-sale of conundrums is carried on
most extensively during a week or two before
Christmas; and on summer evenings, when
the day's work is, or ought to be, over even
among the operatives of the slop employers.
As the conundrum patterer requires an au-
dience, he works the quieter streets, preferring
such as have no horse-thoroughfare — as in
some of the approaches from the direction of
Golden-square to Regent-street. The trade is
irregularly pursued, none following it all the
year; and from the best information I could
acquire, it appears that fifteen men may be
computed as working conundrums for two
months throughout the twelve, and clear-
ing 10s. 6d. weekly, per individual. The cost
of the "Nuts to Crack" (when new) is 5d. a
doz. to the seller; but old "Nuts" often answer
the purpose of the street-seller, and may be had
for about half the price; the cost of the "Nut-
crackers" 2s. to 2s. 6d. It may be calculated,
then, that to realize the 10s. 6d., 15s. must
be taken. This shows the street expenditure
in "Nuts to Crack" and "Nut-crackers" to be
90l. yearly.
| OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF STATIONERY, LITERATURE,
AND THE FINE ARTS. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 | |