Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XI.—April, 1851—Vol. II.Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XI.—April, 1851—Vol. II.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
The donkey-barrows, from their number and singularity, force you to stop
and notice them. Every kind of ingenuity has been exercised to construct
harness for the costers' steeds; where a buckle is wanting, tape or
string make the fastening secure; traces are made of rope and old chain,
and an old sack or cotton handkerchief is folded up as a saddle-pad.
Some few of the barrows make a magnificent exception, and are gay with
bright brass; while one of the donkeys may be seen dressed in a suit of
old plated carriage-harness, decorated with coronets in all directions.
At some one of the coster conveyances stands the proprietor, arranging
his goods, the dozing animal starting up from its sleep each time a
heavy basket is hoisted on the tray. Others, with their green and white
and red load neatly arranged, are ready for starting, but the coster is
finishing his breakfast at the coffee-stall. On one barrow there may
occasionally be seen a solitary sieve of apples, with the horse of some
neighboring cart helping himself to the pippins while the owner is away.
The men that take charge of the trucks, while the costers visit the
market, walk about, with their arms full of whips and sticks. At one
corner a donkey has slipped down, and lies on the stones covered with
the cabbages and apples that have fallen from the cart.
The market itself presents a beautiful scene. In the clear morning air
of an autumn day the whole of the vast square is distinctly seen from
one end to the other. The sky is red and golden with the newly-risen
sun, and the rays falling on the fresh and vivid colors of the fruit and
vegetables, brighten up the picture as with a coat of varnish. There is
no shouting, as at other markets, but a low murmuring hum is heard, like
the sound of the sea at a distance, and through each entrance to the
market the crowd sweeps by. Under the dark Piazza little bright dots of
gas-lights are seen burning in the shops; and in the paved square the
people pass and cross each other in all directions, hampers clash
together, and excepting the carters from the country, every one is on
the move. Sometimes a huge column of baskets is seen in the air, and
walks away in a marvelously steady manner, or a monster railway van,
laden with sieves of fruit, and with the driver perched up on his high
seat, jolts heavily over the stones. Cabbages are piled up into stacks,
as it were. Carts are heaped high with turnips, and bunches of carrots,
like huge red fingers, are seen in all directions. Flower-girls, with
large bundles of violets under their arms, run past, leaving a trail of
perfume behind them. Wagons, with their shafts sticking up in the air,
are ranged before the salesmen's shops, the high green load railed in
with hurdles, and every here and there bunches of turnips are seen
flying in the air over the heads of the people. Groups of apple-women,
with straw pads on their crushed bonnets, and coarse shawls crossing
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