"I had my ups and downs when I came back, but I didn't marry, as it was too bad to bring another person into poverty besides myself. I've smoked a pipe when I was troubled in mind and could not get a bite to eat, or a drop of gin to drink, but how would it be if I had a young daughter? What good would it do to smoke if she wos hungry and I had nothing to eat for her. I used to sell cherries and strawberries, and then I gave that up and went into the old shoe trade. It paid better, but sometimes I hadn't a penny-piece for two days at a time, and I would have to sell my stock to get my grub.
"The regular sort of men's shoes are not a werry good sale. I gets from ten-pence to five shillings a pair, but the high priced ones is always soled or heeled and covered with mud. I gets from one shilling to two-and-sixpence for cloth in the shoes, when they are in decent trim. Blucher's brings two shillings and upwards, and Wellington's about the same. I have sold children's shoes as low as three-pence and as high as one and sixpence. I carry a wooden seat with me so that a man who wants to buy from me can sit down and try on a pair anywhere. People who havn't got any money to throw away generally likes to get their second-hand boots or shoes as big as you have them, cos wy, when they take them in the rain if they are a tight fit they can't put them on."
On an average the one-eyed boot and shoe seller informed me that he made about four to seven shillings a week, and he called it a very good week when he managed to make ten shillings profit.
Dog-sellers, of whom there are about two hundred in London, always choose the most public places for their stations.
Down in Parliament street, opposite the Horse Guards, in Trafalgar square, at the base of Nelson's Monument, in Upper Regent street by the Coliseum, on the steps of the Bank and the Royal Exchange, on Waterloo Bridge and along the Thames Embankment, and in fact wherever a large open space may be found, or a well known public building located, the dog-fancier may be noticed with a poodle between his legs, a black and tan under one arm and a spaniel under the other, and by his side, it is more than probable that a basket will be placed full of live, kicking, and sagacious pups, of different colors and of as many breeds.
These dog-sellers are the keenest street traders to be found in London, and dramatists and playwrights are never weary of making sketches and amusing characters of dog fanciers.
Some years ago, two rascals, bearing the names of "Ginger" and "Carrots," made themselves famous for the number of dogs stolen by them. At last it was impossible for any canine to escape these fellows, and so industrious did they become in the pursuit of them that they were arrested by the police and sent to the House of Correction for six months, which is the penalty for stealing one dog, yet "Ginger" and "Carrots" had, in their career, stolen thousands of unsuspecting yelpers from their owners.
In one year 60 dogs were reported lost, 606 stolen, 38 persons were charged with dog stealing, 18 of whom were convicted, and 20 discharged.
It is a fact worth noting, that, excepting in rare cases, the dog stealers do not affiliate with or frequent the company of house-breakers, or thieves of any other class. Dog stealing among professionals is looked upon as a noble science, and deserving of long and arduous practice.