The Newsboy

The Girl, Present Day, 1854

Later that day, a girl was walking through town, looking for some fresh fruit. She had seven ha'pennies to spend, so she was looking for something cheap but still ripe. Apples were all over the street, various vendors were calling out things like, "Apples! Get your apples here, only three pennies a dozen!" or "Fresh Apples, fresh and delicious, at a great price!" Why? Well, because it was in season, of course! Fall was halfway through. It was almost November. Harvest was good all over London.

She went over to a specific vendor on the left side of the cobbled street. There was a sign that read Tom Green's Fruit Shop. That meant that this man must be somewhat smart; not everyone knew how to read in 1851. She was fortunate to have learnt it at a very young age; her father had taught her.

Smart vendors could be good or bad: being smart, that could mean that they knew all the tricks to make a bad fruit look good, or it could mean that they weren't just another dumb seller who just wanted to make money. Sometimes they sold for fun, after going to college and actually getting a degree in something.

Now that was something different: if being able to read was unusual, then going to college was much more unusual. She picked up an apple. It looked average. But at least they were only a ha'penny for two. That was a pretty good price. She picked out four exceptionally good-looking ones. They were Golden Delicious apples. Those were usually a pretty expensive type, too . . . she wondered why this guy was selling them for so cheap. And she asked him that exact question.

"Pardon me, sir," she began, and the seller turned around, "but might I ask you why you are charging but a ha'penny every two apples when these Golden Delicious are normally over a penny each? Almost a shilling a dozen!"

She waited for his answer.

Tom looked to be an older fellow. Those didn't usually try to trick you out of your money as much as those newbies. The man smiled. "I'm glad you asked that," he told her. "I haven't been able to brag this fact to anyone yet! And I don' wanna seem boastful."

The girl tilted her head at him curiously.

"Y'see, I've had the biggest crop this year that I've—well, the biggest crop I've ever seen! New apples bloomin' daily, all sorts! Mostly the 'delicious ones, red and golden, and then there's also some gala, ha'penny fer two, like th'delicious, and then I got some honeycrisp too. Those are my favorite, y' know, and I haven't had too many of those, so I'm not sellin' those ones. But the others? Why, I got four acres of crop and it just keeps comin'! I might not be chargin' as much, but I'm sellin' out every day! I'ma hafin to go home every night fer more stocks!"

"Wow," the girl said. He was so happy. She turned around and picked out three gala apples as well. She set them on the counter and the seller smiled. "That'll be three ha'pennies, miss," he told her cheerily. She fished out of her pocket the required amount of money, thanked him, and said, "It was pleasant doing business with you, sir. I'll be back when I run out of apples!"

Tom laughed as she walked away.

Now to find some pork. Was there any for less than five ha'pennies? No, of course not . . . any meat, even pork, cost at least a pound. Great. She had five ha'pennies, or two pennies and a ha'penny to spare. A pound was twenty pennies. She hadn't had that kind of money for a long time. She sighed. It would take her four more days to make that much. It made most sense to just spend the rest of today's earning's now, on some other type of food. Ah, granola to her left . . . that did look tempting. Only two ha'pennies a pound? She bought two pounds.

With one ha'penny left, she scanned the market for bargains. She held her bag of food close to her side, her hand holding the bottom. Her bags were always prone to break—being poor, she made them herself with scraps of fabric she picked off of the ground around the weaving cart . . . most of it loose pieces of scratchy wool. Plus, pickpockets weren't uncommon in London in the 1800s. The apples were heavy. She tossed her ha'penny to a beggar and started on to her own home.