 | OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF MANUFACTURED ARTICLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 |  |
OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF WASH-LEATHERS.
The wash-leathers, sometimes called "shammys"
(chamois), now sold extensively in the streets, are
for the most part the half of a sheep-skin, or of
a larger lamb-skin. The skin is "split" by ma-
chinery, and to a perfect nicety, into two portions.
That known as the "grain" (the part to which
the fleece of the animal is attached) is very thin,
and is dressed into a "skiver," a kind of leather
used in the commoner requirements of book-
binding, and for such purposes as the lining of
hats. The other portion, the "flesh," is dressed
as wash-leather. These skins are bought at the
leather-sellers and the leather-dressers, at from
2s. to 20s. the dozen. The higher priced, or
those from 12s. are often entire, and not "split"
skins. The great majority of the street-sellers
of wash-leathers are women, and principally
Irishwomen. They offer their wash-leathers in
all parts of town, calling at shops and inns;
and at private houses offering them through
the area rails, or knocking at the door when
it is accessible. Many of these street-sellers
are the wives of Irish labourers, employed by
bricklayers and others, who are either childless,
or able to leave their younger children under
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poverty of the parents, or their culpable neglect,
is extreme, allow them to run at large in the
court or street, untended. The wives by this
street-trade add to the husbands' earnings. In
the respects of honesty and chastity, these women
bear good characters.
The wash-leathers are sold for the cleaning of
windows, and of plate and metal goods. Six-
pence is a common price for a leather, the higher
priced being sold at the mews and at gentlemen's
houses. The "chamois" sold at the mews,
however, are not often sold by the Irishwomen,
but by the class I have described as selling scis-
sors, &c., there. The leathers are also cut into
pennyworths, and these pennyworths are some-
times sold on Saturday evenings in the street-
markets.
There are, I am assured, 100 individuals
selling little or nothing else but wash-leathers
(for these traders are found in all the suburbs) in
London, and that they take 10s. weekly, with a
profit of from 4s. to 5s. There are, also, 100
other persons selling them occasionally, along with
other goods, and as they vend the higher-priced
articles, they probably receive nearly an equal
amount. Hence it would appear that upwards of
5000l. is annually expended in the streets in
this purchase.
| OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF MANUFACTURED ARTICLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 | |