Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-01-29
NO. 25.
Mistellaneous.
THE LONDON DUST.MAN.

There he goes A dusky gloom hangs
over the roofs OF great London city;
similar gloom fills my room and seems to
have touched all the furniture with smoky
age, and as look down from the window
into the gloomy street, see him coming
along slowly, and crying in a voice like a
plea for help in aillction: "Dust-oh =
dust oh ,-dust-oh !-dust-oh :"
When the London fog is gray we cannot
see him very far off, for he, too, is gray
from head to foot with ash-dust, and AS he
approaches Us he comes out of the mist
like phantom, though in reality he is
substantial, square built, deep chested fell
low, shod with enormous Blucher shoes
(the solts Of which are bright with nails)
and clad in a loose blouse and trousers
that are tied up about the knees The
blouse is open at the chest and is lifted TO
the waist by his big. brown hands, which
are tucked in his trouser pockets, and his
head is covered by the kind of hat that
sailors call a SOU wester. His only orna-
ment is pair of earrings; and with his
head thrown back he saunters along the
street by the side of his cart, repeating in
measured tones his cry, Dust -oh-oh 4!
dust-oh!'
Now and then he stops at house. and
his mate--he has IA mate who is AS much
like him as pea is like pea-descends into
the cellar, bringing forth the ashes and
refuse that have accumulated in twenty
four hours, and when the cart, which is
square, box-lke affair, is filled, he starts
for home with his load.
What a queer home it is 1t is on the
outskirts OF the city, lar away from the
finer streets and buildings. A large space
Of ground is AS gray and dusty as an Afri-
can or Western desert, and is broken by
mounds of ashes, some OF which are only
a few feet high, while others are almost
as high as houses quite as high in fact,
as the dismal little shanties on the edge OF
the reservation in which the dust man and
his fellows live. Other carts and other
dust-men are constantly coming and GO
ing, dumping one load and then another,
and as soon AS load is dumped it s at
tackled by crowd of men, women and
children, who with shovels, rakes and
hooks, turn it over and over, and raise
sitting clouds of dust.
The reader may think that the collec-
tons made by the dust man are valueless,
but such ia not the case.
There are more than SOC. 900 inhabited
| houses in London, consuming more than
3 100000 tons of coal a year, and besides
the ashes from the. great quantity of fuel.
| the dust man gathers the other refuse Of
| the houses. He is employed by con-
| tractor, who agrees with the corporation
| to remove the ashes, etc., out of the city,
| and the contractor divides every load into
| six parts, as follows: Soil, or fine dust,
| which is sold to brick-makers for making
| bricks and to farm ers for manure brieze
or cinders, sold to brick makers for burn
ing brick rags, bones and old metals,
sold to marine-slore dealers old tin and
iron vessels sold trunk k-makers for clamps;
bricks, oyster and other shells. sold for
| foundations and road building; and old
boots and shoes sold to the manufacturers
of Prussian blue.
Sometimes much more valuable things
| than these are found. and the reader may
remember the romance that Charles Dick
ems made out of London dust-man-
''Our Mutual Friend"
1t is in sitting the different parts OF
| load that men. women and children are
employed; they are as busy as ants mere
babies and wrnkled old danes take
part in the labor, and all OF them are 50
covered with dust and ashes that they
are anything but pleasant to contemplate,
| though, AS rule, they are useful, honest
and industrious members OF society.
"Dustie" is what the London Familiarity
call the dust-man, and only a few know
in what ignorance and poverty he lives.
One would think that he would work him.
self into a better occupation, but his dust
men for generations, and the generations
after him are not likely to change.-AteL-
ander Wainwright, 81. Nicholas for Feb
rH1TJJ