The Arizona sentinel., 1885-10-31

In no class or place of human eX-
istence does the maxim that necessity
is the mother of invention appear as
a more striking truth than among the
poor of great cites. To them intel
lectual, or social or political problems
are as nothing; there is an intenser
problem always confronting them
How to get bread" Their problem
is a much harder one, being practical,
and to be worked over and over again,
and solved anew, every weary day of
their lives. The motley professions of
the poor are an interesting object of
study, and if the poor are not them
selves philosophers, they are excellent
subjects for philosophical dissection.
How characteristic of each city, too,
are the little trades peculiar to eachi
There are many trades common to all.
and many only to be found in one. In
Paris, to supply the gourmands with
bread crumbs for their hams and cut
lets. the bread p ckers | e in wait near
the schools, and wheedle the bread out
of the boys which they have brought
for their noon lunch. Carts 90 round
to the back doors every morning and
gather the debris of the Partisan feastS,
carry it home, separate the conglomer-
ated mixtures, pick out the bread,
roast and grind it up and the diners
at the fashionable restaurants have it
nice and brown, upon the meats so
daintily set before them.
New York has its share of the desti-
tute and thedesperate. The metropolis
inherits the scourge of the older cap
itals; and though there are many
marked differences to be found be-
tween the low" -, c. sses. in the Ameri-
can and in j, European cities the
same broad fact''of extremes and too
often criminal poverty displays itself in
both. The most noticeable and in
struCt.vu difference between the Now
York poor ana the Partisan poor Is the
peculiar variegated form Oft. Another
difference Is that the poor of New 7 IOrk
are not spread over so large 3 Surfa-e,
but are more concentrated IN part cU.ar
quarters. The dangerous classes do
not tend to become fixed as in many
European cities. The constant hustle
and change of American life. the met
amorphoses in individual as in the ag-
gregate life, the rapidity and ease with
which one passes from one phase to
another of existence, the coming on
top of poor people and the descending
nctherward of the rich. have a n
dency to disturb the status and to alter
the conditions of all classes continu-
ally; reaching down in Their effects to
the lowest, and not leaving the highest
exempt from the vicissitudeS of which
this bubbllng and whirlpool are the
cause. The poor are thus not eternally
poor; one generation grovels in the
dust, the next mounts to fortune and
enlightenment; the father is sOt, beg
gar, rag-picker-maybe thiet and burg
lar-the son is book-keeper, merchant,
lawyer, perhaps clergyman. The same
family do not remain long in the
same houses or the same quar-
tiers. The husband leaves the
wife, the wife the husband; the children
abandon the disagreeable home, or are
caught up and trained by the various
charitable and educat onal associations;
some member of the fam ly is continu-
ally rising to opulence and respectable
ity. The families of the pauperS and
beggars and criminals are constantly
be ng broken up.
The rag-p cker requires little capital,
SO his name is legion. A basket and
stick with a thin end are his imple-
ments, the whole vast CITY his field of
operations; liberty to work his license;
the wastefulness of humanity his op-
pOrtunity; the ingenuity of man ICON
verting almost all things seemingly
useless and so rejected, into tair art
cles of certain and valued use) his mar
ket; bread and independence his re-
ward. Humble and groVeling as it is.
it is by no means the worst of trades.
The rag-pickers are divisIble, as is
the case with almost every trade, great
and small, into groups. Many confne
themselves to the mere gathering of
refuse, selling it to some one else in its
conglomerated state. Others prefer to
90 through the whole operat on, from
gathering the rubbish to selling it in
separate parcels of each kind to the
manufacturers who need it in this par
ticular business. To the latter. the
mere collection and selling of rags is
but a part of his avocation. Rags, in
deed, are but incidental, but one of
many branches. Beside them the rag
picker keeps a sharp lookout for all
kinds and bits of bone, every piece of
broken glass or old iron, every old boot
or shoe or strip of leather, and every
atom of coal, coaldust. charcoal, or
wood which may serve to burn as
fuel. The rag-picker begins his
work in winter, as well as summer,
very early in the morning; some
even begin in the middle Of the night.
The sooner the better, for the poor
are a multitude, and the rivalry for
dear life is bitter sharp, indeed. The
fashionables going to the parties or
balls at.ten o'clock may. if they will,
see the rag-pickers already at work
VIII ch is to last all night. and return
ing homeward at three or four in the
morning may, if the eyes be not too
heavy, observe new battalions of the
druid ging army coming upon the even
yet but half-gleaned field. Many of
the rag-pickers have their regular ac-
cusuomed round; there are certain
neighborhoods where they are known
end favored-some others highly fav-