The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-09-13
Among Paris Isag-Pickers.

GrCat precautions are Dolng taken Dy Cne
sanitary authorities 10 prevent the cholera
from being introduced into France. The
harbor. master at every port has had in-
structions to submit every suspected vessel
to quarantine, and every guarantee has
been given those who are anxious for the
public health. If the cholera can only be
imported, the Parlsians have nothing to
appl chend, but if the fell disease Is OF
spontaneous generation, fostered by bad
drainage and by the odor arising from
fermentlng garbage. the hot weather will
soon produce an epidemic calculated 10
dcclmate the densely populated quarters of
| the city. The smell in the streets at night
| Is becoming worse and worse, aud those
| who venture further towards the fortlf1ca-
| tions on the northern side are half suffO-
| Gated by the pesilential air they are
compelled to breathe. The lodging-houses
| arc to be vigorously vlsited and disinfectcd
| by order of the Prefect Of Police, but
| nothing ls likely to be done to introduce
proper sanitary measures III the industrial
| quarters. such az tnn Route dc Ia Revolte,
| whero the men employed in the sugar
! retineries mingle with the rag-plckers
nuidled together in huts and surrounded
by the rags, bones, etc., which make up
the midnight harvest of the chlff >nnler.
aao5r. which hangs like some leprous sore
| against the walls of clean and smart
grocery store kept by woman who wears
noon, and has the custom of all her neigh.
bOrs.
No one would ever think that such a
clean, neat establishment as this grocery
shop could adjoln the dark, dismal-looking
Guuette where the rag picker spends his
money In drinking aud gambling. The
| walls are covered with roughly executed
sketches. There is the portrait of the
''MaLelot," or sailor-the Garibaidi OF the
rag-pickers. He has been oil around the
world in mau-ot war, and had served in
the coastlng trade en- board merchantman
| in the days when pira es swept the main
and neither asked for nor gave quarter. He
spun yarn Oh yarn, showed them his breast,
| arms and body covered with scars, and
told them how often he bad looked death
In the face. He was the nero of his COM
radcs, and when he died they bought the
tin panniken from which he had 80 often
drunk and hung it above his portrait sur
grounded by wreath of immortelles pur-
chased by subscription. Robesplerrc,
painted in colors, has his place on the
walls. Henri Rochefort starcs at the COM
pany along with Victor Hugo. M. Thlers
and the Pope, beside the death Of Louis
XVI and the legend of the Wandering Jew.
The sketches are rough and grotee1na. Int
there ls nothing unslghtly or indecent, and
the artist who has drawn Napoleon l
| in great coat and cooked hat has not been
offended at the counter manifestation made
by some rival who has gwen vent to his
anti. Bonspartlst ideas by INNING a cap of
l[,Ny lo
underneath It. Among the customers of
| the assonaneoir is female ragpcker, said
to have been one of the fashionable beauties
who astonished the citizens of Paris with
their splendor and magnldcence when
Charles K sat on the thtone Of the Bour.
hons. She tells those who listen TO her
how she lived, and age and misfortune
have by her. been attributed to tho Rcvo.
luton of July. When the battle was raging
In tho streets of Paris dozen years ago
she was busy among the combatants She
had no flag, no preferences, and the blouse
OF the Communist. the red uniform of the
soldier, and the gold lace and epauleltcs of
the officer were torn by her long lean claws
from the dying. Her wicker basket was
brought home again and again filled with
spoil, with blood stained shreds OF clothing
and with spent bullets. She Is one OF
those who wallow in the mire of the Route
dc la ltevoltn or lie basking in the sun on
tho dirty roadway. Her brilliant toilets
have been philosophically replaced by rags,
and she finds her daily bread in the gutter,
eating up the dry cr,lsts which have been
thrown into the street, or waiting for the
broken vicLuais distributed to the poor at
| early morn at the doors OF restaurants
where she was once an konorea guest.