Residents of Baltimore are familiar with the traditional call of what are known as arabbers -- street vendors who sell fruits and vegetables from horse-drawn carts.Twenty-five-year-old BJ Abdullah has been arabbing most of his life. He starts his day by loading his cart with local, freshly bought produce."I got cabbage, I got collard greens, I got string beans," calls out Abdullah.Customers can have the goods delivered at their doorstep or go to the cart when they hear the distinct sound.Many of the regular customers are elderly people who cannot walk to the market, while others just find them convenient."It's convenient, they come to you. You don't have to go out and get it," explains local arabber patron Veronica Cunningham.The origin of the word arabbers could have derived from the 19th century expression "street arabs",referring to people, mostly African-American men, who had access to the port and horses and could start arabbing as a small business.In recent years, the tradition began to decline and some stables have been shut down for building code violations.Animal rights activists also have complained that the horses are poorly treated.In 1994, a preservation society was formed to address these issues and preserve the tradition.President Daniel Van Allen said recent years have seen a revival of the historic trade."We've gone, in the past few years, from one to two wagons after one of the stables was shut down for urban renewal,
