The woman on the left is shooting dried peas at her client´s window using a tube as a pea shooter.
This profession was common in England and Ireland during the Industrial Revolution and remained until alarm clocks replaced it.
The knocker up used a long and heavy stick to wake people who required his/her services by knocking on their doors or windows. They wouldn´t leave their client´s house until they were sure the job was well done and people wouldn´t go back to sleep. Some were unemployed, some had other jobs.
They were popular enough for some authors to include them in their works:
"…Mr. Wopsle, being knocked up, was in such a very bad temper …"
Charles Dickens. Great Expectations
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