Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-05-24
RAGPICKERS.
THE SQUALID HAUNrs OF PAR.
ISIAN CHIFFONNIERS
The Aristocracy of the Ragpicking
Profession-Thc Queer ImpIe-
ments They Usc-Qucen
of the Chinonniers.


sights to be seen in the ragpickers
quarter, writes Henry Hayne from Pari
to the New York Pres, but there ar,
also some Jolly folks among them who
are not yet halfway inclined to die o
OF starvation. Their "cities" are rarcl,
explored by travellers or visitors to tho
capital. First of all let me say there arr
big bugs" in the calm. just rs there
are swclls in other callings and profes
sions.
NO one seems to know exactly how
many chiitonniers there are in Paris, bu.
the general idea is that they number
40,0 QUO. Nearly all of these 90 out Mt
night seeking, in the rubbish and refuge.
In the swecpings of the lady's chamber,
IN the cast off of the cooks kitchen, in
thc debris that hospitals no longer need
and that the restaurants throw away.
their daily bread for themselves and for
their families, and also those articles of
value which legend has told them lie
hidden In the boxes or i'll the gutter. 1t
IS human mass, carrying "hottes" and
crooks" and little lanterns, that find,
its way through all our alleys, streets.
avenues and boulcvards, and that helms
night scavcngcrs to clean the town.
The "hottc' OF the ragpickcr is basket
sort of affair, constructed so that it will
sit well against his back, and it is he'd
III place by means of straps passing over
and on his shoulders, very much after
the fashion of the army knapsack. The
crook" is not exactly crooked; it is a
Tong stick tipped with sharp nail.
The lantern hangs low from his hand by
a strip or bit of iron; it is ncloged on
three sides, and holds lighted candle.
These arc the implements of the poorest
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fession have carts and horses, sack,
and boxes, in which they carry away all
refuge thus picked up.
There are three or four caLcnor;c: of
ragpickcrs, and the ''placlersn are quite
bourgeois" that is to say, they are re-
specialize, well-to-do individuals. They
not only work on their own nc cunt and
| get the highest market value for their
wares, but they employ others to help
them in their nightly labor. They are
independent persons who might be
called ladies and gentlemen, Mt the mercy
OF no hard task master, unless it be the
project of police, whose order troubles
them MS much III proportion rs il does
the poorer classes engaged in this calling.
The second class are those who dispose
Of their findings at so much per pound,
the good with the bad, to the 'placiers',
or brokers. The lowest of them all are
the ragged, almost ba: efooted persons of
both sexes that go about with "hotte"
on back and raking stick, constantly
looking for bite to eat OF rag worth
picking up. They have to cover many
miles of Improbable pavement, and that,
100, IN all aorts OF weather, to earn Il
small pittancc.
The chiifonnicrs themselves are not n
a IN Crnr lAS l.,,A Al
of the town miserable population lust
as thicving and as sneaking as any YOU
will find in the new world. should
be afraid to go i'll the midst of the
most notorious of these alleys, called
'cities"
Some of these 'citics, however, have
n very agreeable appearance, and such is
the one which was established some
years ago by the "femmc Culotte." She
was woman, thus called because she
always wore masculine attire. She is
dead now, but when she lived she ruled
ragpickers us If she were their Queen.
and 1T is said she left considerable
fortune behind her. There arc 100 to
800 tenants in tic "Culottc city" district,
and rents are higher there than else
where.
These "placiers'' are important func
tionaries i'll the rag picking trade. For
monetary consideration they make ar
Engagements with house keepers and con
cicrgcs so that the pans can be visited
before the arrival of the scavcngers'
rarts, and thus they obtain the first
pick. 1t is they also who pay the high
est market prices and who are the most
independent i'll the business. Invent in
side one of these brokers' houses and he
showed me the soup his wife was pre
pairing for their dinner. On the stove
stood an earthen pot, or ''petitc mar.
mite, and III this was stewinu n mess
that did not have pleasant odor.
wondered what il was. and was shown
that it consisted of potatoes. some few
ieeks, bit of pork, part of IL chicken.
cabbage leaves and n lump of garlic In
the corner OF the room lay "hotte, "or
professional basket. full of paper and
many kinds Of rubbish, while on Il shelf
against the wall was such curious col
lection of articles that | might have
been led to suppose that the broker wa,
a collector OF broken glasses. There were
decanters with the tops off, pieces of
lamp globes, mirrors, and a multitude
of disabled champagne goblets. lie re-
fused to tell me how much he earned
but he said that q man and a woman to-
Rether would be doing very we'll if they
made as much as forty cents daily. That
would be $3.50 per week, and out of this
sum they would have to pay rs much rs
ninety cents for rent every Sunday.
Echind his house, reached through :.
very narrow alley, were some miserable
nuts where the poorer ragpickers dwell.
went inside one of these. and saw IL
Soung woman surrounded by four or
live children, all of whom had faces that
were pale and worn, and to whom she
was giving the few morsels of food
which she had picked up the night be-
fore. She told me she was widow and
could not call herself unhappy.
81 have cart, and ] have a stanch
friend in my dog" she said. awe wo- !,
together, and when the weather is no.
too bad can earn forty and sometimes
sixty cents" In another hut found !,
colored woman, and she, too, was a rag
picker. She certainly is n good hearted
person, for while able to earn no more
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