Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-06

the rag-pickers have their regular ac-
customed round; there are certain
neighborhoods where they are known
and favored-somc others highly fav-
orable to their vocation. The vicinity
of the restaurant at certain hours is
harvest ground for bones and remnants;
rags are most plentiful in the narrow
er and poorer quarters, but the servants
of the private houses arc the peculiar
patrons of the rag-pickers. Nearly
every house has its barrel for refuse,
which is emptied late at night or early
in the morning in piles in the alleys.
Here one may often see as he passes
the corner of an alleyway in the night
tine, dim lanterns moving iitfully here
and there; the rag-pickerS have reached
the scene of operations and are ferret
ing among the piles with their
sticks and tanning all sorts of
odds and ends in their baskets.
three or four at the same pile, sell
dom speaking to each other and rarely
guarding. BY one or two in the after
noon the rag-picker has filled not ONLY
his bag or basket trimming full, but
likewise his pockets. the tops OF his
boots-if boots the poor fellow has
the crow of his hat. the old s%uspender
which passes around his body in place
OF a belt, the space between waistcoat
and body-every available nook. in
short, about him; and thus crammed.
he returns home for the next part of
his work.
At home he has. if a passably well to
do and orderly rag-picker, an arrange
mcnt by which he may keep his goods
in separate rcccptacles. Often at one
side OF this modest apartment there is
a row of wooden boxes fastened to-
gether-one for cloth rags, one for pa
per, n for scraps of iron. one for
bones, and so on. The boxes are large
and hold, perhaps, the results of a
weeks picking. Arrived at home with
his gains, he empties the mess upon
the floor, and, slit ne down beside it,
asserts it and deposits each portion
into the proper box. 1t is customary
when the rag-pickers carry on the bust
ness as l have described, for the manu-
f%acturers to send men about to their
homes once or twice Il week to pur-
chase what they have gathered, pay
ing them on the spot, and themselves
conveying the material away. The
prices which the ragman receives are
slight enough: but at least there is
a steady demand for that which he
has to sell, and his luck. if VARYING,
seldom altogether fails him. For pa
per and rags he gets three cents a
pound: for bones, scraps of meat. veg
etables or bread, fifty cents q bushel:
old boots and shoes and scraps of
leather have no set price, but are
bought usually for fuel. and bring from
two to four cents a pound; iron is sub
iected to the same ariableness, as iron
isdcarcr or%chcapcr in the general mar
ket. The active and skilled rag-picker
often makes ten or twelve dollars a
week. Such cases are, however. en-
ccptional, the great majority of rag
pickcrs receiving no more than four or
five dollars q week. As in all trades
or occupations, there are many grades
among the rag-pickcrs; there is a
chance here as well as in other walks
of life for energy, capac'ty and indus
try to command the highest price. The
incomes l have stated illustrate the ex-
t.cmes, the best class Of workmen in
rag-picking deriving from it as good
Il living as others do in different
branches of manual labor; while the
lowest rag-picking stratum, the lazy,
the stupid. just make enough to drag
along a precar.ous existence from day
to day, living almost literally from
hand to mouth. Too many OF them
only earn their paltry pittance to
hasten to the low bar-rooms in the
Bowery OF down by the Ever. where
they soon make an end of it by spend
ING their last penny in drink. But
those who look upon rag pickers as a
class us degraded, d~issipated, motive
less people utterly mistake them.
Humble as their ~avocation is they are
often found not humbled by it.
The total number Of people pursuing
this vocation in New York city is esti-
mated at about fourteen hundred, of
which a considerable majority are
women; and it is observed that the
women do quite as we'll as the men.
and not seldom are the more skillful
and successful OF the two. There are
also some children who have early been
forced by their parents into rag-pick-
ing. 1t is interesting to take note of
what becomes of the miscellaneous
materials which the rag-pickers man
age to gather in the various d districts,
odd holes . and corners of the great
city. Here arc a few of their destina-
tons: The old rags and paper. after
being sorted and resorted until the DIFF
ferent qualities are divided into sepa-
rate bundles. finally reach, through
the great dealers, the paper manufact-
urer; and in no long time thereafter
emerge into the pr nting Offices, long
fair sheets pass through the great
creaking presses and appear at the
breakfast table as the morning papers.
OF the bones which are picked up in
the streets and picked up out of the re-
fuse barrels. the best become, after va
rious processes. umbrella and parasol
handles, snuff boxes and cigar cases;
these, too. are often turned into tooth
brushes. buttons and similar art Giles of
toilet or dress. The history of the
broken glass which is picked up in cv-
cry imaginable shape and form, in
every imaginable nook and corner,
eve repeats itself. and it is Phoenix
like, for it gets in the end to the
glass manufacturer again. who
soldiers it altogether, then twists and
turns it into old familiar shapes; the