SOME STRANGE AVOCATIONS.
Said a witness under cross»examtnafion : ' I am an Early-culler. I call different tradesmen at early hours, from 1 till 5.30 in the mornins, and that is how I get my living. I gels up between 32 and 1 ; I goes to bed at 6 and sleeps till the afternoon, I call bakers between 1 J and 2 — tbe bakers are tbe earliest ofall. What sort of a living be made is not recorded, A pound a week, we should say, would be tho outside fi H ure, and to earn (hat ho would need a couple of scores of' customers The early caller's fee is wellearned, since but. for his intervention his client- wonld lose a day's pay, if not be thrown one of work altogether, by failiu; | to keei time. Not so deservim: of cv.» j couragement are the' tup-pennies.' carrying on their vecation in those quarters of Loiidon where pawnbrokers and peer people abound. They are feminine inters mediaries between tlie pawnbroker and f.'lks anxious to raise a loan on their beiou^ings, who, rathor than transact sucli business f or themselves, are willing to I pay 2-1, for every parcel conveyed to everybody's ' uncle ' or redeemed from his clutches. These go-betweens, it is averred, also receive a quarterly commission from the tradesmen tbpy favor with their patronage ; and so one way and another contrive to make a crmfortallo li.ing out cf their neighbours' neces* sides. Tnere are men in Paris, birds of v. fen 'her with the ch'ffonier, wlio so trom hospital to hospital collecting the linseed p'a-leiv that have served the turn of doctor c.nd patient ; afterwards pressing the oil 'rem the Indeed and di-p ■--mg of the linen, iu'u-r blenching il, to the p-;p v maker. O'hers midif a ec-upie of ! ran c.s a dav by colh-t o,g old corks, vUX.) j . ::; V iv, A'" - : tii- i : .■' ! I C',c<- •■ .i v c . . : v." ; ;.; . . , jmem. ' hy '■•■•■■' ■-: red, or •'• ■:, n. ,' V)XX -;r •:< t • v-i i ving iV l-i. e-i.e ;m > j .;<,(■; cv". of focj .:Oi!i h > b:!-.v oi ; t | c!ii- .vo.?> a>..i i'.u 'et.i'ig then n.i in tin ; tie :;.■-•. Anoher breeds ui-ugcts ;'.ir t ; .<- j I, ,-ii ').;..•... I' oi i.hjdiiii'gah-* ; and a | I .. liii'd •/)/.-■■■. v'7"--;?(/ (V asih'.ols boasts of scd- I
i:ig between thir'y and forty mil'ions cf worms every season for piseiiorial purpose. He owns a great pit at Mont* martre, wherein be keeps his store. Kvery daj lis scouts bring him fresh stock, for which he pays them from od to lod per pound, according to quality ; re* selling them to anglers nt just double those rates, and clearing thereby some*, thing over £300 a year: This curious advocation is not unknown in England. Somo twelve years ago. we arc told, Mr. Wells, a fishing-tackle maker ot Nottingham, in order lo ensure a constant supply of bait for his customers started a farm for the rearing of lobworms cockspurs, ring-tailed bradlings, and oiher worms in demand among the disciples or Walton, who abound in the old bice town. To keep his farm stocked men a -id hoys go ont at night collecting worms in the meadows and pistu"e«, a moist warm night yielding from 2000 io GOOO worms. As soon as >hey nre brought in they are pi teed in properly-selected moss fieldmoss for choice, to scour until Guy become little more tban skin — fredily caught worms heing too tender for (he anulers to haodle ; while " when a worm is properly educated he is as tough as a bit ol india rubber, and behave- ns a worm should do wh m put upon the hook," When this condition is attained the worms are pa'ked in moss and put up in light canvas bags for the nmrket. This worm merchants does not entirely depend upothe industry of his collectors but breeds !ar<re quantities himself in his own gardun — the component parts of his brceditg. heap being a secret he not unnaturally keeps to bim«"H. — Ch timber's Journal,
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Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 20 October 1880, Page 2
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663SOME STRANGE AVOCATIONS. Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 20 October 1880, Page 2
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