ROCKZALT
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I read with much interest the article on the Census of 1871 in The Spectator of October 29th. Even in 1871 the lonely workers were few, though they ranged from H.M• the Queen to the solitary Vegetable Ornament Cutter, in the case of women, while there was but one male, a steeplejack. In 1937 mass production has reached such a pitch that one can scarcely contemplate even one male or female ploughing a solitary furrow. Yet only yesterday I met in a crowded thoroughfare in Southwark one who must surely plough alone. I was waiting to cross a road where trams, buses and motors rushed continuously by, when in the midst of them I saw the oddest little vehicle. It was a minute cart drawn by a piebald pony and driven by a gnome-like man. Its side was completely covered by the sign ROCKZALT. From an iron pole which ran from front to back hung some tiny sacks. There are doubtless many uses for rocksalt, but who purchases it by the thimbleful ? Has the small vendor, perchance, a son whose ambition—or his father's for him— is to be a ROCKZALT merchant ?—Yours faithfully,
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