Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-06-20
RAGS AND RAG PICKERS.
WHERE WORN RuBeERs, OLD TINS.
RAGS AND WHAT NOT co.

Visit to a warehouse Eeaped with Pick
tngs of All Kinds-sorters and Their
Deftness-A Pile of Old nuhbers nnd
Arstics.
Twas in my golden age of childhood
that there lived, if, indeed, she does not
yet, q bent and withered woman, wrinkled
as China crepe and merry as a iark's song.
Methinks It's as far back as the third time
tho pussy willows purred for ME when
first ! heard her shrill, CHEEKY call, "Raks,
raksl' From then till / was quite q blk
gerl. missey," old Mary was q welcome
arrival upon the domestic scene. was
reminded Of old Mary the other day by
seeing a woman walking briskly under a
heavy sack of rags. 1t was sunny, I was
strolling insensibly and followed her. She
entered a warehouse heaped with picldngs
Of all kinds. after hesitating q moment l
did the same. Things seemed novel, so
when the proprietor looked at me in rather
q surprised manner, | explained I'd like to
add to my slim stock of information re-
garding rags and rag pickers. Whereat
the clerk inquired interestedly, Are you
the woman who writesY' and a rag peddler
who had just dropped in leaned up against
the wall and gazed at me fxedly, and with
much the same expression as he would
wear in viewing q freak in the dime
museum.
"Oh, it's q great business" he remarked
FL mean the proprietor-as he glanced
over some letters before conducting me
over the establishment, stif it weren't for
rags there would be no paper, you would
have no Bible, no romance, no-love let
ters," he added in quite a courtly manner.
OF all the queer places, that w~arehousel
| elambered over the foot bills of rags,
separated by valleys rich with old iron,
zinc sheets, lead piping, brass wire, and
my eye rested upon Arctic mountains in
the background, perhaps / should say
mountains of arctics. 1t seemed | touched
rudely upon professional pride when /
asked if that immense bulk and the many
bales for shipping were brought in by rag
pickers. was informed that rag pickers
are those that go about the streets and
alleys or beg rags, which they usually sell
20 small merchants. Then there are rag
peddlers who own wagons and go about
among houses buying what they wish;
merchants buying from both these classes,
and himself, buying mostly from them.
/ asked the proprietor what under the
canopy he does with all this truck, and
\ Wdo GOId III ldu COlltSGCpS 61lll 1tlS0 1GG-
tories all over the country. Old metals
Rre returned to foundries; paper and rags
60 paper mills, and also ropes, which are
used for MANILA paper; vinegar and oil
barrels to be refilled; bits of leather and
old boots to soar factories, where the
grease is extracted for soap for my elegant
ladies' white hands; old bones to sugar
retineries, where, calcined, they purify
sugar and syrup, or bones may be shipped
for fertilizing. Old bottles are returned
to brewers, ETC., new cloth rags from
~tailors back to cloth factories, and rubber,
s'gums" as the Anglomaniacs term them,
to the factory in Massachusetts,.
That pile Of rnbbcrs and arctics reach.
ing to the ceiling did look odd. There
were tiny baby arctics and large scows
stranded side by side; those exasperating
run-down-at-the-heel rubbers which peo-
Pile had lost in the street and plenty which
had sprung q leak and been abandoned.
You've walked from many directions,
through many paths, upon feet shod in
righteousness and those taking hold on
hell. haven't your They present q good
Illustration of reincarnation doctrines,
they will be rid of the useless parts and
the impurity and their best parts sent to
the factory, whence they will shortly is
sue again, shining and new.
/ always used to deprecate throwing
a%rctics, etc, into the alleys, but now l
shall do all in my power to assist these
rag pickers to a plentiful spring crop.
They receive four centsea pound for them;
besides, quite a number of boys and girls
get employment in cutting off the rubber.
It's queer, baling them. Hundreds Of
them ara flung into a huge box lined with
burlap. Then q man on each side pumps
on a windlass-this may not be clear
enough, but that's what it looks like. When
the box was opened, / saw the rubbers
had been pressed out of all semblance.
The proprietor took me to another ware
house where Che rags were being sorted.
A long room was bordered with deep
boxes, in shape and size like tables, with
bottoms Of Sleeves for the dirt to sift
through. On either side stood women
rapidly sorting them, and ~unerringly
finging. the rags into various barrels
round about. They wore calico gowns
reaching to their feet, and kerchiefs on
their heads, to protect themselves from
the dust. They didn't seem to be paying
any attention to whether rags were linen,
wooden, mixed, what not. 1asked II of
them how she tells. "By the feeling.
We scarcely ever stop to tearit. We get
so that we can tell anything by touching
1t, even with or eyes shut"
"Easy learnt? Well. for those as has
the knack. Some girls pick it up in a
couple of weeks, some never can learn 1t.
Oh, it isn't disagreeable work when you're
used to it. Most rags is pretty clean.
Some" she pointed to a bin. 1t gave new
meaning to mems righteousness being
like 'sflthy rags."-"A. 3. Pr in Pioneer
Press.