There are no clamorous shoutings here. These
crowds of staid, well-dressed, respectable people fly no kites, deal
in no flimsy paper-schemes and shares. Their commerce is in corn,
flour, seeds--the sustenance of man, in short. There are sober
traders in realities, and the busy hum of voices has a smack of
healthy traffic in it. It would so appear at all events, if we care
not to look beneath the surface; and, in sooth, since the abolition
of the sliding-scale has rendered the corn-supply continuous and
regular as other staples, gambling to any ruinous extent has become
almost impossible.
There is another great change apparent here; albeit this has been a
very gradual one. A stranger will have remarked with surprise that
there are but few, very few, of the knee-breeched, top-booted,
double-chinned, jolly, old-class farmers amongst the numerous groups
who are either watching their sample-bags and waiting for customers,
or chewing and smelling handfuls of wheat and barley, and casting
what they do not swallow on the flags, already carpeted with grain.
Still in addition to a strong sprinkling of 'Friends,' there are, he
perceives, a goodly number of stalwart, handsomely-dressed
individuals, many of them wearing kid gloves, and carrying silk
umbrellas neatly ensconced in oil-skin cases. There is a group, one
of whom has just refused 45s. per quarter for a sample of prime
white wheat. If we approach nearer to them, we shall perhaps
discover their quality.
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