Who is Two Young Costermonger Brothers from London Labour and the London Poor and what is their importance?

London Labour and the London Poor contains many brief profiles of individual workers. However, they are almost all unnamed, identified only by their occupations. Today, these individuals would probably be given fictitious names, but Mayhew handles the problem by avoiding names altogether.

The two most startling are two young brothers who worked as costermongers or unlicensed street vendors. A wealthy man took pity on the two boys, and took them into his home, providing them with a hot meal. He promised to provide the boys with food and shelter as long as they would work. The gentleman set the boys the task of moving a huge pile of straw from one storage shed to another, one straw at a time. The two brothers quickly rebelled at this mindless, repetitive, boring and pointless task. The gentleman took this as a sign that the London poor were lazy and not interested in working. He overlooked the fact that most of them worked hard every day, selling items on the street, without any improvement in their circumstances.