"The Egg Man"

"The Egg Man" - Opa Jacob Heimering 

Jacob Heimering = Neltje Groot

Trijnte Heimering = Felicien Poulain (snr)

Jacob Poulain (snr) = Aaltje van den Berg

My great grandfather Jacob Heimering was a well known figure in Zaan Dyk, his job was going from door to door selling eggs, some people bought 1,  2, 3, 6 or a dozen eggs.  In those days everyone wore clogs, they were nice and dry in winter.  He also smoked a pipe which was very common, these days no one smokes a pipe.  Lots of tradesmen sold their wares from door to door, through the village streets, they sold vegetables, bread, and milk.  The milkman had a milk can with two measuring ladles hanging on the side, the housewife would come to the door with her milk-pot and he would scoop out the correct measurement of milk into her pot which she promptly put onto the stove to heat up.  Handicapped people would sell buttons, needles, cotton and hairpins, from a box hanging by a cord around their neck, which they would open up from the front, so the customer could see their wares.  After their meals people would leave their bones outside in a bucket for the rag and bone man to pick up.  I never found out what they made from the bones?  Vegetable scraps were never wasted they would be left in a bucket and collected by  the Schilleboer (the peel man) who fed the scraps or peels to his pigs.  The fishboer treddled a bike and cart, yelling out "ZOUTE EN ZURE HARING!"  translated means "SALTED AND PICKLED HERRING!"  I remember a man with one leg and a couple of fingers missing who went door to door busking playing the squeeze box (piano according) people would give him money for his music.  When he came to our house on a cold winter day my mother would invite him in for a cup of coffee and sandwich to warm him up, because his hands were so cold.  My mother could not give him money so this was the only way she could help him.  The money he earned was very meagre this was the only way he could make a living, there was no Social Benefits in those days.