The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1874-08-13
NUMBER 33.
9or non,,a Beadtrs.
ADVENTURES OF A RAG.

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You'vE seen, no doubt, miserable,
wretched girl picking dirty rags out OF
the gutter, putting them into horrid-
looking bag she has, and carrying them
off.
Well, the history of one of those rags,
its adventures and wonderful changes,
is more marvellous than any fairy. And
the best Of it is every word is true.
think you'll agree that it is marvel
Gus when l tell you that, nice, neat and
dainty as you may be, you may yet put
that horrid rag among your choicest
treasures.
You don't believe it! Well, haven't l
already told you lots of things you never
heard of? And do you think I've told
you all know? Wait a bit and see. Let
US follow the rag going off on the back OF
that poor girl. Having filled her bag,
she goes off ut once TO. An odd, disMAi
looking shop that you wouidnt ppt Jour
foot into, where wretchcd- hooking man
buys old iron, rags, bottles and, in fact,
nearly everything other people throw
away
lie weighs the rags, looks them over,
counts out her pay generally u few pen
nies), and she takes her bag gand goes out
Here we must bid her goodby, tor from
this moment the rag goes up in life,
while she, poor child, will pick rags to-
morrow and perhaps all her life, and
there'll be very little going up for her.
When the dealer has enough rags he
puts them up in bale and sends them
off to paper-mill.
Oh, yes! you knew paper was made OF
rags; didn't you?
Well, the first thing that happens to
them in that big, noisy place is to be taken
out of the bale, pulled over by lot of
girls and assorted. Silk rags go to one
corner, bits OF wooden to another, white
cotton to third and colored cotton to a
fourth. TO follow the rag We saw taken
from the gutter we should have to go to
the colored cotton corner
From the sorting room our dirty rag
will be carried, with lots of others, to the
where unfortunate girls sit at a sort of
bench on which are fixed sharp knives.
The girls cut the rags into shreds, split
ting open hens and taking off buttons.
This, rs you can guess, is fearfully dirty
work The room is full of dust and the
girls look quite respectable dirthcaps
themselves As soon as the rag is shred
ded it goes through a trap-door in the
floor and falls into big tub.
There! Aren't you glad it has come to
a washing-placeg 1t fairly makes one
feel dusty to think about handling such
things.
In that tub with plenty of limewatcr
it boils half a day and am sure it needs
it. Lime water, perhaps you know, takes
not only the dirt but every bit of color
out of things.
You girls who have made Skeleton
leaves" know all about it.
From the very thorough bath the rag
goes white and clean into the cutting
machine This wouldn't be very nice
place to fall into-and it's right on a
level with the floor, too. 1t is a large
round vat, with sharp knives revolving
all the time. They cut the rags into
threads, while clear water runs over
them all the time for five or six hours.
Don't think It's clear enough yet. Af
ter all this cutting and rnsing the water
is drawn off, some chemical stuff put in
and left for two hours. Then the water
is turned on and the knives begin again
and cut and grind for five or six hours
more.
OF course by this time, after all these
knives and chemicals and washings,
there's not a rag and hardly thread
left. 1t is IA mass of pulp looking more
like milk than anything else. Now it's
ready for most wonderful change.
1t is far more wonderful than any
fairy story to see this pulp go in at one
end of machine and sheets of paper
come out at the other. Let me tell you
how it goes The machine is all open
and you can see the whole operation.
The pulp goes from box through a
fine sieve--to catch any remaining
threads-and falls on belt of wire
gallze, which is all the time moving on
OF course it spreads out as thin as it can
and the water begins to drop through
the gauZe as it moves on.
But there's too much water With the
pulp, and to draw it out suddenly they
have a curious arrangement. The water
and pulp move on very comfortably to-
gether until they come to a certain box
they must go over The moment they
reach that mysterious box every drop of
water tears itself away and disappears
in the box leaving the pulp nearly dry
and looking very much like paper.
You won't be surprised at the funny
behavior of the water when l tell you
that a stcam-pump is all the time pump
ing the air out of the box, and the water
is sucked in to fill the vacuum.
Right here is put in the water mark
If you don't know what that is, hold
sheet of paper up to the light You'll
probably see straight or zigzag lines all
over it, or the name Of some man or pa
pcr-mill. That is the water mark, and it
is made on the paper by aroller on which
the pattern is cut
Now the pulp, having become paper,
runs off the gauzc belt on to one of felt,
which takes it between a pair of heavy
rollers. The rollers squeeze it SO dry
that it don't need carrying any more, and
it goes on alone between six or eight big
rollers which are hot and which make it
smooth and almost perfectly dry.
AS it comes out from the last roller it
runs against sharp knives which are set
there, and is split into long ribbons just
wide enough for the kind of paper it is
to be.
Now comes another bath Not to
clean it, for it is white as snow, but to
make it stiff and glossy. The bath is of
gelatine. The paper ribbons run through
the box Of gelatine, and between rollers
to dry them. On coming out they are
chopped into sheets by knife and hung
on a frame to dry.
Here they rest for some days, and it's
the first rest since the rag came out of
the gutter and started on its travels
After this the new sheets 20 into a