09/05/2025
Some Q***r Ways of Getting a Living
PARIS, June 5, 1891
Na great city like Paris there are thousands of persons who have no trade or profession and who are obliged to resort to all sorts of tricks to get their daily bread. Some manage to accomplish this feat honestly, while others work uuscrupulously upon the credulity of their fellows. Vaudevillists and caricaturists repeatedly exercise their wit at the expense of the unfortunate ones whom necessity forces into strange and improbable callings. Doubtless these wits often exaggerate the reality, but the fact remains that there are quantities of poor wretches here who really get their living by pursuing the queerest and most ingenious occupations. If you question one of these tradeless individuals upon his
manner of living, he will reply: Oh, I have a dodge!" It is very rare that he will consent to give you more ample explanations. For common mortals his way of procuring food, clothing and lodging is decidedly enigmatical. These men who invent" dodges" generally live in furnished lodgings, where the chambers contain several beds. A "dodger" divines, so to speak, a man who is in the same line of business, and the similarity of their characters unites them on a common footing. They club together to get rid of the strange merchandise that others have invented. The one who creates does not reveal his manner of inventing to his partner, and this one in his turn conceals as well as he can the profits obtained by the sale. The mistrust is reciprocal. The principal dodgers are the street peddlers who hawk about the thousand and one ingenious toys that are constantly invented in this great city, who sell newspapers when they have a few francs in their pocket to buy a stock from the wholesale dealers in the rue du Croissant, or who traffic in theatre tickets during the evening. These types are generally well known. But their are others whose existence is almost ignored.
For instance, I was, until recently, often awakened at four o'clock in the morning by a shrill whistle intended to arouse a wine dealer and restaurateur near by, whose late hours prevented him from getting up as early in the morning as his business required. I have now got accustomed to this whistle, but at first I was disturbed, and, determined to know who was the person that came so regularly every morning to interrupt my slumber, I discovered, upon inquiry, that the whistler was one of those individuals who belong to the class known as réveilleurs, or men who go about rousing up workmen and others who are obliged to be at their post early and who do not feel sufficiently sure of themselves to get up without being called. The means of awakening these sleepy persons are numerous and agreed upon beforehand. Some are drawn from their slumbers by a shrill whistle, others by cat calls, violent sneezing, whip-snapping and various strange noises which are immediately understood by the interested parties. In the railway round houses there are always one or two réveilleurs employed by the company, whose occupation is to call the engineers and firemen of the early trains. They are obliged to be on hand two hours before the departure of the train. The
private awakener has a little note book with the names and addresses of his customers, and follows his route with the same punctuality as a letter carrier; he makes the cry agreed upon in front of every house where he is expected, and never goes away until he has seen a window opened or received a response. For this service he is paid one cent a day by each
person called up, and his average earnings are thirty cents a day. Some of these réveilleurs, as soon as they have finished calling the heavy sleepers, go to the Central Markets and give a helping hand to the market gardeners in unloading their wagons. Then, after taking breakfast, they visit the auction sales and try to get a job to carry home an object for the purchaser. In this way they make fifty or sixty cents a day.
Pursuing my enquiries still further, it came to my mind while visiting the dog show that has just closed, to investigate the traffic in man's best friend, for dog dealers—or stealers-are reputed to display considerable ingenuity in their struggle for life. The real dog dealers, those who have a store, and are more or less honest in their operations, are aided in their traffic by prowlers and clippers. Dogs do not generally cost the dealers much. The clippers, of whom they are the best customers, serve as indicators, and the prowlers charge themselves with the ex*****on of the order.. The clippers know where all the valuable dogs are owned, because they are employed to clip and embellish these choice animals. As soon as a dealer has a customer for a dog of a certain breed, he asks the clipper to procure the desired animal. The clipper not caring to have any difficulty with the persons who employ him, calls upon one of these street prowlers, and the dog demanded is stolen one day or another. The dealer gives two dollars to the clipper, who divides with his accomplice. As for the owner of the stolen dog, he will never see the animal again, so he asks the clipper to replace him. This industrious individual thus kills two birds-or two dogs-with one stone.
Dog stealers have two principal means of getting hold of the animal they want. First of all they find out the dog's habits, the liberty he is allowed, the hours that he takes an airing either alone or with a servant, and make their arrangements accordingly. They sometimes prowl around a house for a week before obtaining all the information they need. When they learn where they can meet the animal, they attract him by some sort of bait, or make him follow a bitch, which they lead with a string. In a narrow street it is easy to approach the dog and pat him. If he is not very savage, the offer of something to eat renders him
coufiding; the thief, who has a slip noose ready, passes it around the dog's neck, and the game is bagged. On the boulevards and in the public parks, where dogs usually follow their masters or mistresses without being held by a cord, the thieves always use a second animal, and as soon as the dog comes near enough to the decoy brute the lasso is thrown and the gallant captured.
There is another means which requires great dexterity. It consists in cutting the cord or chain of dogs that are led, and carrying off the animal before its owner is aware of the theft. This is a risky dodge and does not always succeed. It is generally tried in crowds and with small dogs. These animals are always getting between the legs of pedestrians, and their owners-for the most part women-let go of the string in order that the animal may free himself. Then the toutou runs from one person to another, seeking to recognize his mistress. If he has the misfortune to wander a few steps away he is at once seized by the prowler, who is on the watch, and who conceals him under his coat. Whilst the woman is looking for her dog in one direction, the thief scoots off in another. When the dog is led by a man, the trick is not so easy. However, it succeeds sometimes. If, when the theft is discovered, the dog has no cellar, the stealer pretends that he found the animal wandering in the street and is taking him to the pound. So the owner is obliged to go to the pound and claim his property. This visit costs him nine francs, two of which are given to the person bringing the animal there. If the dog, when stolen, had a collar and plate bearing the owner's name and address, the thief first tries to take it off; but if he does not succeed he runs great risk of being arrested. When this case happens, he pretends that he was carrying the dog to the address marked on the collar. This excuse is not always accepted.
Stolen dogs that are to be sold to dealers are first rendered unrecognizable. If the animal has long hair, he is clipped; if he is black and white, the stealer blackens him all over with a dye mixture that holds its color for several weeks. Short-haired dogs have their ears and tails cut. The dealers who sell these dogs may be frequently seen in the Champs-Elysées, the Bois de Boulogne or in the public gardens, leading five or six animals at a time. Other dealers make their trades at the dog markets, of which there are two: on Sunday afternoons at the horse market on the Boulevard Port-Royal, and on Tuesdays at the bird market on the Quai aux Fleurs. The dealers pay a tax of three cents for each place occupied by a dog.
These strange occupations constitute a subject that might be pursued indefinitely, for every day some new dodge is discovered. Perhaps I may describe some others in a future letter, but to-day I will conclude by saying something about the cravat-knot tiers. The employees in the fashionable hair-dressing shops are called salonniers, and they not only cut hair in the latest style, but sell linen collars and at the same time tie the knots of the cravats worn by the purchasers of the collars. This operation is, it appears, a very important one, for the "artist" is expected to make the knot in such a way that it will harmonize with the cut of the collar and with the physiognomy of the person wearing it. Certain rich and fashionable young men take delight in making themselves remarked by their eccentricity; their supreme idea of elegance is not to do anything like the common run of mortals. They adopt expressions among themselves which frequently find their way with the general public; they decide each year the cut of trousers, the shape of the shoe, the form of the hat, the length of the overcoat; in short, of the whole of the masculine toilet.
Now, the way a cravat is tied is a very important matter for a gentleman in evening dress. Swells recognize each other by this mark of good taste. They know in looking at a neck-tie if its wearer is or is not a customer of such or such a hair-dressing salon. If the knot is wanting in the distinctive stamp, its wearer is regarded as a profane and does not enjoy the familiarity accorded to those who have passed through the hands of a celebrated salonnier. We all know how quickly fashions spread and how easily excessive notions are adopted. Young men who would consider that they were compromising themselves in going into a barber shop and who, nevertheless wish to appear with their cravat tied in the most approved fashion, have the salonniers come to their apartments. Whenever there is a grand fête, these "artists" get into a cab at six o'clock in the evening and begin their round. In two hours they can tie the cravats of some twenty fashionable young men and thus earn from eight to ten dollars, each knot being paid for at an average price of fifty cents, or nearly half what the cravat is worth. The employer takes twothirds of the receipts and the assistant the other third. This facility of
earning so much money in a short time prompts salonniers to work on their own account as soon as they obtain the promise of employment from a sufficient number of customers. Then they devote themselves exclusively to tying cravats. They hire a small apartment where they can receive their customers, for a great many fashionable young men prefer to have their cravats tied at the salonnier's, as it costs less than to have him come to their house.
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It is rare that the form of a cravat knot lasts for an entire season. new style is quickly imitated, and as soon as everybody begins to wear a tie that was at first the privilege of a select few, the fashionable ones abandon it. Then the salonniers are obliged to find something novel, either a change in the shape of the knot, or of the cravat itself. They alter a fold or make it in a new place, round, or point the ends, make one end longer than the other; in short, they have a thousand and one ways for distinguishing their customers from the other persons who go about in society. Frequently these changes are made at the suggestion of clubmen who, when the knot suits them, adopt the new shape, and, on the morrow it is worn by all the men belonging to their set. It is during the Winter months that these tiers of cravat knots are kept continually employed, but they are never wholly idle. In the Summer they go to the principal watering places, and manage to make their expenses. Taking one month with another they earn from a thousand to twelve hundred dollars a year. CHARLES SEYMOUR.
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