The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-09-01
NEW YORK RAG PICKERs.

NEW YORK RAG PICKERS.
The sooms above ground in Bone alley,
where the rag pckers Of New York exist,
are used only for the ordinary purporses
Of living. Business which begins 10 the
street, is here resumed only in the cellar,
whence it is transferred to the roof and
is finished around the corner. Under the
buildings are a dozen or more vaults, OK.
tending beneath the pavement, and light
ed only by the narrow gratings above
them. The air in these vaults is impure
to the last degree, and is damp aud chill.
ing. There is neither floor nor tiles in
them, and their clay bottoms are simy
and covered with mould. Here, couchcd
upon their knees. the old and young are
busy from seven O'Clock IN the morning
till uoondoy i'll asserting the contents OF
their sacks, which have been emptied
upon the earth These consist Of cotton
and wooleu rags, paper, lat, bones, crusts
of bread, old bottles and occasional scraps
of leather aud metals They ire separa-
ted and placed in little piles, All this
work is completed by twelve o'clock, at
which hour the bone dealer arrives in the
alley to make his daily purchases
Bones are brisk at present at sixty
cents per barrel.
The little heaps OF cotton aud WOODEN
rags are scraped together and transported
to the roof Of the building, where they
are suspended upon the lines They are
usually quite wet, and the object in hang.
ing them up is TO get rid OF the foreign
matter that cIings to them and which
wind and rain will remove. They arc
not suffered to remain long exposed, as
too much heat would dry them and reduce
their weight 10 an Improbable figure
On Friday or Saturday afternoons they
are gathered in separate bales and bund-
les and carried to the ragdcatrs in the
ncighborhood or to a large warehouse in
Third street near Lewis The nriccs
paid vary from time TO time, but are u>h.
ally at the rate Of two and one fourth
cents per pound for cotton and three cents
per pound for woolen. At this rate the
Htu, "oiH'n hui cuiiui'n cuSiStu cali
an average OF about eight dollars II week
Fat is sold to the soapmakcr-, tn,
usual price being two cents pound
Bread crusts are eagerly purchased by
Long Island countrymen. who come after
them with market wagons aud carry
them away as food for hogs. for which
purpose they have value of 81 80 pei
hundred weight
Empty bottles of every description
make up no small share of rag picker
daily collection, both in volume ant
weight They are carefully packed
among the rags to prevent breakuge, anC
are sold at seven to eight cents per dozen
The bottle merchant resides opposite Bon
alley, and his place Of business is curl
osity He receives miscellaneous collec
tious and assorts them after purchase
There you will find wine bottles which
have contained the choisest importatons
with the remnants of their labels careiull
preserved ; ink bottles, glue bottles, mu
cilage bottles and babic, nursing bottles
blue bottles and green bottles the small
est OF crystal vlals and the largest an
most uncouih OF all kinds of Germa
Selizer jugs; patent medicine bottles an
the most astounding names Of mlraculou
liquids east on the sides. These max
up the contents of the shop. Broke
glass is bought here at half cent pt
pound
Many OF the rag, that fol their wa
into the garbage barrels AMI the gutter
are pregnant with couiagion. llrrhl.'
or ,hough'le>s people have. instead ,
destroying them by,tire, thrown them iu'
the street. They are not rlran-rh - ii
water with which they becour ,liUrtt,',
nor does the filth which uIinrhc- la thri
destroy Infection la fact the street pr,
duces precisely the roudton required i'
the earliest possible ecrminn''nn of wha
ever seeds Of disease and i-ath may
I concealed iu them. Selected from tt
. grease, bones AMI glass, jumbled togeth,
= in the sack OF the rag picker, they a
\ removed from the vaults Of the cellars
the roof for the purporse Of drying. at
the air which fans them reeds the lunl
n alike Of .he poor and the rich--of II
/ factory girl aud the millionaire's daugh
Z er. Often in the adjoining tenement
I some poor wretch dying longs for brea
h of fresh air in his close and overhead,
/. room, and prays that the windows m;
4 be opened TO admit the breeze that
, watches curling the smoke from the chiI
neys and rus.ing the clothes drying
an adjacent roof. The easement is ope
A ed, only to admit the poisonous breath
>. the wind that has rioted with the dead
rags aud comes to the lips OF the suffer
only TO cool them forever Surround
o by malaria arising from filthy quite
painting under heat that j.. simply
Il incondescent stencil. breathing an aeri
A poison. they gradually lose their hold
. life. and sink away from lis noise a
A fever into the quiet aud chill of the gray
> The nature Of the good angels is
humble. loving and kindly nature !
= angels is fiue, tender. kind heart.
e if we could iiud man who had a hei