A costermonger who sold asparagus
c. 1850 · London, England · A costermonger who trimmed and sold asparagus. When Mayhew explained how it is eaten, he replied that he had supposed it was swallowed down like the macaroni he once saw eaten on a stage. The costers called asparagus “grass”.
“Well, now, sir, about grass, there’s not a coster in London, I’m sure, ever tasted it; and how it’s eaten puzzles us.”
Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, vol. 1 · the costermongers
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An apple girl of eighteen
c. 1850 · London, England · Taken down by the journalist Henry Mayhew. The speaker is a girl of eighteen who sold apples in the street.
“I know where heaven is; it’s above the clouds, and they’re placed there to prevent us seeing into it. That’s where all the good people go, but I’m afeerd,”--she continued solemnly--“there’s very few costers among the angels--’specially those as deceives poor gals.”
Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, vol. 1 · “The Life of a Coster Girl”
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us