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Aiken, South Carolina, circa 1905. "A South Carolina huckster." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
The sheaf man is here! We were fresh out.
Minimal transportation what with a steer for power wearing a cloth collar pulling a minimally equipped wagon. Apparently being a huckster didn't appear to provide much more than subsistence living although he appears to care how he dresses. Being a huckster was not a shady profession, just one that worked on the fringes of local economies and provided goods and services to those even further down the socio-economic ladder by barter or tiny cash exchanges.
I love houses in town that still had outbuildings. Behind the fence in the side yard of the house, the small structure on the left is perhaps a chicken coop, or was at least used for some purpose that didn't require tighter construction to keep out air, light or vermin. The building on the left is too small for a kitchen or an office; it is perhaps a wash house.
Hmmmmmm. If he's a "huckster," what exactly is he peddling? The bundles in his wagon remind me of the seagrass used to make the hand-woven baskets that the Gullah ladies sell along the sides of the road around Charleston, S.C. But if he makes baskets, why doesn't he have any samples on display? And those types of baskets would take hours to produce, I'd think. Does he just repair baskets?
Equipped with power ... "steering"!
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