A LONDON FAIR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1061, 25 February 1911, Page 7

A LONDON FAIR.

■THE'CALEDONIAN MARKETS. [By Evelyn Isitt.] 1 1 (For The Dominion.) Going about London ono. happens on market Streets in nil 6orts of unexpected directions, streets lined with tho barrows of hawkers, who sell anything you want, from fresh meat and vegetables to old clothes and old books, and who often carry a large 6ta'ck, which they wem to dispose of profitably.. In tho East End one expects, of course, to soo quito important markets, but the others 0110 comes on unexpectedly, . tho little market off Victoria Street,those in tho back streetß of Soho, tho, loiir niorket in Leather Lano, off Ilolborn, anu the inost fascinating ono iu Farringdon Street, which runs uelow tho level of ltolborn, a curious placo whero they have barrows filled with the most extraordinary collections of small ironmongery, nnd barrow-loads of. bdoka going for nothing at all. The day I discovered It there was a beautiful calf;bourid copy of Lempriero's Classical, Dictionary, almost new, marked sixpence, Quito unable to beliovo that was the price, I wandered along tho lino of stalls, pricing , other books, returniug to the dictionary .at last, only to find that, ono of tho students haunting tho place'had already snapped it up, and. two volumes of n fino edition of Snakespearo at-the same prico were small consolation for losing that prize.' . . Copenhagen Fields.

.Those markets. are interesting till ono has been but 'to Copenhagen Fields, and after that they dwindle, away almost to nothingness in one's retard, for tho fair held out there (every. Friday is almost like a little town, ,so numerous aro tho vendors. - The • average, Londoner of the better class does not .seem to know much about it though, according to ono woman wo met them,- it/attractß. people from twenty miles around, and it is, X believe, a lineal descendhnt; of ( tho 'fairs that used to bo held nearer tho city in Shakespeare's day. , i ...I'was withV Wellington ' girl'when someone told:, frijtucly that .she had heard -,tho most wonderful bargains (wero to bo picked ,up there, especially, in tho '..way'of china and bid silver, ana that it was worth going out to see. So we went. Somewhere near'the Angel at Islington wo found ik policeman, who directed us to tho Caledonian Markets, in Copenhagen Fields, the largest cattle markets in tho world, and informed us. that it was "a rag fair," and after further directions by men and littlo boys, and ladies coming. out of public-houses with beer jugs under their arms and tears in their voices, round this corner, .'and down that lane, we carte at last to tho Friday Fair, a sight, indeed, worth seeing. It is an enormous open space; nearly filling one of tho quarter-mile squares, 011 my map. Half , tho huge area was packed with sheep, peris or cattlo ;stalls,; and everywhere, except in l tho, pens, hundreds of dealer? .wero displaying their goods, whilo a- shifting crowd of peoplo wandered' up and.down the long lanes, and through tho' great covered, markets. • "Rag fair" most inadequately.described this vast market/where they wero selliug ironmongery, 6ilvor ' and, .plated ware, glass, china, such cliina'fls 0110 never sees fyr sale in-,tho colonies, .toys, boots old furniture, carpets', toys,' produce; livo stock, in the shnpo of fowls, donkeys, and linnets, aud the most-extraordinary collection of odds and ends that ono could imagine.

A Dull, Grey Crowd.. Aud the crowd was not such as. ono associates with the idea of.fuirs,'though this was perhaps partly due to tho blustering weafher. • .-lt-was>h rdtill,fgi'cy,,"UM: happy-lobking crowd, maiuly composed'of men, who drifted aimlessly, ftlwuti -buyjngc little, but perhaps finding- a colourless entertainment in looking on: while others tried to sell. The few children who dragged' after. their .parents had incipient colds, or ..toothache, or wero ' worrying about tho general, elections. They did not eniile, and tho dealers, too, teemed inert, and spiritless, so. that it was cheering to coino across anyone of them briskly pushing his wares. - ■ •; Ono largo corner of tho market- out in tho. open field was set asidp for tho dealers in antiquo china and silver, and it was here that 'tho welMresscd treas-ure-hunters spent their time. Silver thero was in plenty, old silver, and cheap elec-tro-plate and moro or.lcss«damngOd china, but it would bo n" foolish amateur who would purchaso blindly from such wellseasoned dealers.. Let it'l» said ationco that wo did not pick" up any-wonderful, bargaius, that on tho other'hand we felt suro fancy priccs were asked for all the things that tempted .us, quaint pewter mugs, a hugo copper jar of most artistic, shape, old.tiles, tlib' most desirable, of which wero unfortunately broken, littlo silver ornaments', and bits of old chiua, a pair of brass liorses .for bracket supports. and a bronze relief of Dickens.'.-' And such inducements wero held out to lis to buy. Tlio tiles bid como from the houso of a great "architect" who had just died, tho jug was. front "a gentleman's house in Sloane Souaro'' tho brass horses "from Park' Lane." "Want of money, that's what's thn matter with me." said a cheery gentleman who was-trying to dispose at a sacriitco of scraps of pewter, silver, and ' gtnss.' Wo tried to make liim understand that it was nur trouble too. but bo was very deaf and could not understand enough to sympathiso or moft oiir case: • Ono liueo tankard tempted us sorely. Jt was of earthenware, a man's ei»'| ( " bend with' ruddy, face e.nd full' white whiskers, nn antiquo'. cheery object to coutemnlale on n shelf:,'-' " : . "That's tho Doofc of Norfolk sanl the. man. nmlthinking. it might be Elizabeth's old ambitious beheaded Duke.' Ave' nearly bought tho : thine f"r old times take, but when ho added: "Tho present Dook" we felt it would be rudo to cre;M any member of' the Tlouf> of Lords with such irn emnty lieid and so "Riue sadly away from that neighbourhood.

Curious Walkinp Sticks. A pleasant looking woman on>the far side of the markets had a store of cunons walking sticks, heavy affairs with screw .tops, tho ufo of which she explained as she unscrewed ono and drew out a long glass phial. ■ "It's to put a littlo whisky or brandy in for when rou feels thirsty like,' sho said slyly. : • "Oh yes, lots * of gentlemen uses them. They • takes them to church in ease they comes on faint. Make father a present" sho added coaxingly as she held •out a handsome stick, but even that inducement failed. . • . In one almost deserted corner of tho yardu was a place set apart, for tho sale of horses and' donkeys, and thcro sbmo merry looking little donkeys were waiting for purchasers and pricking their Jong furry ears at the horses, sorry nags with roush shaggy coats who were. being put tlirouuh their paces in a .most strenuous wav. A man leading sonic poor beast', all long hoavv'curves would run in front tugging him vloleritlv, while another ran walloping behind. For a few minutes there would bo a lumbering scuttle, as of a horse in a milk-cart'rurinirig away, and then tho tfrn 'men would return breathless, with tho, fiery, siced, while the little donkeys put down their heads to conceal their smiles, and another spirited opimnl would bo brought out. Pitiful as'one felt for the poor, beasts one'lmd more admiration for the grey wooden liorso from a merry-go-round that stood a few vards nway waiting for a very improbable buyer, or the broken rnekimr horse in the covered market which looked thornuphly ashamed of tho company in which it found its"lf. Tlio briskest trade was being done in ' '•heap g]aß;ivare. odds and ends from Woken Fets, and in boots anil shoos. These stalls were crowdcd and apparently those buying boot? wero miito content to lea"*e the trving-on till thev "ot hop"> "iid tnle it for granted that they would fit.. KiMionwar" was in demand. and so wet"> holly wreaths ird mistletoe, but generally trado seemed dull. More Decorative. Tlio covered markets, whero a small Wellington gale was playing havoc with the flimsier things offered for sale, were more decorntivo than thoso on tho open grbtind could lie, oiid one seller of rugs and carpets bad his wares arranged tent fashion, with a brilliance of crimsons and warmth of dull red* and Hues that was quite Eastern in effect. Tho ladies selling hero snt In Innelv state on tho platform, looking dignified, and far more

bored thau their sisters chaffering 111 the open. Ono of them told us tlmt lor cicht years slio had been coming to this Friday market, and that on other days she sold from a barrow in the streets. "People oqnio from all around,' she said. "Dealers I mean, from all parts of .the town." "Do jo a Imvo any from tho markets near Commercial lioad?" I asked, those being the ones that had interested uio most. No duchess in "Punch' could liavo looked more dignified than the lady. "I really don't know if any arc here, slio said trigidly. "Those ore quite common people. .

Stories of Up: and Downs. Evidently I had mado a great mis* take, and it seemed a good tunc to eay good-bye, and return to tho less distinguished company of tho open markets. There wcro lew sellers of old clothes, but hero and thero 011 the ground between other stalls lay little heaps of soiled finery, rags so worn and pitiful tliat it seemed impossible anyone should care to buy them, but after all that was whut one felt about half tho merchandise, tno old horso collars, the hopelessly broken jugs and bowls, tho household Tubbish that could bo put to 110 iinaginablo use. How bitter must be the poverty of their purchasers, how perscrvinij tho researches of thoso who had collected them, anu how radiantly optimistic thoso who had rented a spot hero whereon to display them. Stori6s by tha thousand must have bolonged to thoso collections, stories of tho ups and downs, more especially tho downs of fortune, nnd stories to be continued in yet inoro pitiful chapters. Not all tho stalls were Tcmimscent of better days, ,'nor ' were all tho _ goods second-hand. Thero were barrows loaded with delightful toys, teddy bears, dolls with pink cheeks and bright o}' cs ■ to charm tho. heart of any „child, beautiful pyramids of. shining tinware, and, abovo all, crates full of fat cluckiug fowls, very vourig and plump'and full of all virtues. Near'these was a barrow where a man was, selling tiny linno.ts in cages for threepence each, and displaying the beauty of each bird by taking it from its cage j and spreading' its littlo winps out and smoothing its: slender head. Round him had gathered a. group of men with lined, weather-beaten faces, and the keen interest thoso faces expressed as they watched tho tiny creatures was what wo remembered best as', wo camo away from tho great Friday fair.