Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-06-29
CHIFFONNIERS.


From the Pail Mall Gazette.l
Who has not seen in Paris, toward six
in the evening in winter, rather later in
the spring and summer seasons, the
prowling figure of muddy man, who
stops to consider the heaps of refuse
emptied by the side of the pavement,
fumbles amid them with crook, and
transfers as much of their contents as
he thinks worth the while into deep
mouthed basket on his back2 he is the
chiffonnier, or certihcated ragman-a
person whose existence is involved in
Just enough of nocturnal mystery to
make him an object of wondering inter-
est to grown.up world, and of hideous
terror to misbehaved small people. His
clothes are an amalgamation Of blouse,
patches, rents and strings, such as CalloL
or Gavarni might have sketched for him;
his cap belongs to the fashions of no
recorded time or people; he has some
such sobriquet as Bijou or Bibi which
fits him oddly, like his cap; and his
countenance is as often as not illustrated
with red nose and black eye. Fol
low him, however, and you will not see
him deviate from that reltilineal course
which is the outward sign of sobriety.
He sinks by, straight, silent and stealthy
as a shadow If darkness has set in,
the lantern which bangles by rope from
his left hand glimmers in the distance,
like a will-o ths-gi9p; end II you ask
any question of the man he vii answer
you civilly but curtly, and pass on.
Foreigners, policemen new to the work,
or people against whom he had acci-
dentally run ct street corner, have oc-
casionally treated BUou, OF Bib, as o
vagabond; but this is a mistake. He is
no vagabond. He carries in his pocket,
and carefully imbedded in a tin box,
which is the only olssg thing about him,
the license which is at once the charter
of hia independence, the cause of his
eventide piyiliiy and soberness, and the
n .tent which raises hiE during the hours
when ssz applies bis crook VoeaHoas to
the level of d municipal funotionary.
Go to the prefecture de police some
morning, and see one of those obllging
detectives who hang about its neighbor-
hood to show you the Naitlng-room OF
the Chercheurs de LiYrets.' fon may
90 in without the detective if you like
but q guide will help you to distinguish
categories in the mysterious gatherings
of postulants there, and to make the
visit more instructive. The room is a
common one, with white-washed walls,
hard forms, black stove, and copy OF
police regulations hanging on the wall
within a fat wire cage, as K it were
feared somebody would steal it. 1t is
not a large room, and the license-seekers
do not remain there long before being
admitted to
AN INNER CHAMBER,
where clerks cross.question them, ex-
anime their certificate of character and
identity, levy a payment, and order
them to call another day. But, short as
is the time, there is enough of II TO
fraction the company into groups as dis
tinct, reciprocally disdaInful, and stud
iedly unconscious of one another, ss
any in a wstering-place assembly room;
and what makes all this the more per-
feet is, that the groups seem 10 despise
one another on exactly the same OBJ
seure but absolute principles as their
betters in the upper walks Of society.
Thus, here is = young zas with bow
legs, who has come TO take out a cab
mans license. BE has passed the ex-