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FORK OR A FIRE SHOVEL
Since Fireplaces were the only means of heating and cooking, there was a
good business done in peddling shovels, forks, pokers and so forth. In the
early days these implements were generally made of iron. Later other metals
were used. FIRE IRONS.
As a rule
these peddlers were old women. They wore full-skirted dresses with tight
fitting waists and white cotton kerchiefs around the neck, and the customary
white apron. A wide brimmed hat was worn over a wimple, as shown. The wimple
of white linen covered the forehead, neck, chin and sides of the face.
Medieval women when out of doors always wore it. These women had a very
simple cry, which never seemed to vary: "Buy a Fork or a Fire Shovel."
ADT131 Price $225.00 |
 
DISPENSER OF MINTWATER
In the early 1830’s there was a man in New York who peddled Mint Water. This
was a concoction made from mint leaves and rum---similar to a mint julep.
He, armed with a jug and a measure, walked the streets of New York selling
mint-water by the pint or quart. Used in moderation, mint-water was
considered beneficial. If used too freely it was said to excite an “unholy
love” for ardent spirits. In England fresh mint was sold by the “Herb-wife”,
and her cry of “Come buy my mint, my fine green mint!” echoed through the
London streets. Or sometimes the cry was: “Buy Rue! Buy Sage! Buy Mint! Buy
Rue! Buy Sage! Buy Mint! A farthing a bunch”
ADT137 Price $210.00 |
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Johnnie Apple seed is so well known as hardly to need any description. He
was born in Springfield, Mass. in 1775. When he was about 25 years old the
desire to wander to the new country of the West grew upon him. He was not an
especially attractive man in either face or dress. He wore scarcely any
clothes – sometimes just an old sack with holes for his legs and arms. In
winter and summer he went bare-foot. On his head in lieu of a hat, he wore a
tin saucepan in which he cooked his food when mealtime came.
He traveled
by boat, by foot and sometimes on horseback. His sacks of apple-seeds were
collected from cider mills in New York and Pennsylvania. He carried with
him a rifle, a hatchet, a rake, a hoe, and a coil of rope, fishing tackle, a
bag of meal, a lump of salt, a small sum of money and his Bible. He preached
both to settlers and Indians.
In 1838 it was estimated that the seed he had planted had grown into
fruit-bearing trees over an area of 100,000 square miles. He spent 46 years
traveling over the country-well beloved by all.
Item ADT143 Price $195.00 |
 
Another unique solicitor of foods was the seller of meat for Cats’ and
Dogs’. He walked the streets daily and supplied his regular customers with
bones, meat, tripe, hearts and liver for their pets. He was extremely
popular and had only to enter a neighborhood in order to be immediately
surrounded by the cats and dogs of the street without waiting for his cry of
“Cats’ and Dogs’ Meat.”
Item ADT 144 Price $225.00 |
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