The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1877-03-08
NUMBER 10.
John jerks JeiIles.

Some twenty-five years ago Chicago
man made a fortune. lie bad not cent
II capital, and In ilye years be made
600, 900. He was a garbage gatherer
He became manufacturer Of lellies
simply because he WAA a garbAgeg gatherer
Garbage and jelly made his fortune
Now, bis children spend the summer at
Long Branch and Saratoga, where they
are creHo de Ia creme they smile ~
tie now-rich, 90 To- Europe every second
year as old American nobility, aud are
spoken If on two continents IL terms oi
awe and esteem. That il what garbage
gathering did.
OLD John jerks (Which was not bis
namel did not think that il was tive busi-
ness uf municipality 10 gather gar
bage He conceded, as Senator I'd
munds and Mr.. C0nkling do, that all
government il founded on compromise;
but old John jerks allowed that the
municipality Of Chicago should com
promise wits him 90 the extent Of max
Ing barter 0f the public health for the
public garbage. John Thought i beneath
the dignity of q great local government
10 90 into tie garbage business; he IN
sisted that the doctrine Of Thomas
Jelferson-to wit Government shall
DO nothing for the citizen which the citl-
zen can do f0= himself, clearly applied
i0 sWill; aud old john jerks el0quence
WINS successful, as ii should lave been.
He theTeup0n put d misspelled notice on
the court h0use front 10 the effect that be
would call between certain h0urs. every
second day, ii the back door ~ the
houses la enel-and-such streets, 10 re-
move the refuse vegetable and animal
matter which might be conveniently de-
posted for his arrival; be charged the
moderate sum of ten cents per week
per capita, aud never complained If old
bottles, scraps Of iron, cast-0if shoes,
old tin cans. pans, or pals, oT even dis.
carled garments, happened 70 have found
their way into the garbage barrel.
Al first. he tried o. get along with q
wheelharr0w, then he borrowed New
f0undland dog from . neighbor ION APP
probation" as the shopkeopers say
when they send two velvet cloaks instead
Of one; and huge square box on four
clumsy wheels cut out of a tree trunk,
aud drawn by the shaggy cur, rolled
noisily through tine alleys aud stopped At
every back door for dump. old John
jerks kept the dog "on appreciation =
until the vehicle which he drew became
too small. when he returned him, unRp-
proved. and invested the proceeds of the
old bottles. scraps and rags in lnnk
creature that Was probably descendant
Of the anchitherinm and al ancestor Of the
horse. With the cash which lac had
amassed ut the rate of ten cents per
week per capita, Mr.. jerks (he was Mr..
jerks now hired Frenchman who had
served M anapprenticeship in apharmacy nj
Paris. and who was acquainted with seY-
eral things worth knowing. Mr.. jerks
employed a deputy To gather the gar
bage; small boy ~ separate the animal
aud vegetable matter from the tin. the
glass, and the rags, aud he and the
Frenchman worked fifteen hours day
in a shed. ont az the roof oi winch arose
a stoye.pipe whose steady smoke indl-
Gated industry within. Mr.. jerks and
the French druggist were making lellies
apple. ounce. calf sfoot, grape, cur
rant. blackberry. etc, and, a. the artl-
cle was comparatively new In the West.
and the price low. "JenlE' Jelhes = OBJ
tanned n wide circulation Mr.. jerks
became "a rich that be was characterized
in tie local print NJ Cur highly re-
speciei fellow townslnan, John jerks,
ESQ. and might have gone as minister
Ia tue Tuileries just m well as not had
NOT a comparatively premature death
robbed diplomacy Of bis valuahle ser
Viegs