Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-19

| where there il q dump for such refuse.
No sooner was the load deposited at the
dump than swarm Of children women, and a few
men gathered about the unpleasant collection
Of waste material and helped themselves with
avidity to whatever they considered valuable
in it. Some picked up bones and morsels Of
fat. with which they filed pals, carry
ing the stuff fast it was sorted out
in this way to fertilizer factory close by,
where they received one cent for every two
pounds. Such bones ground mp make the
most expensive sort Of fertilizer, while the fat
Is available for soap among other things.
Other searchers among the debris carefully
appropriated selected cabbage leaves, potatoes,
pieces Of bread, DC. They we're foraging for
| the pigs. No one seemed to mind the favors
Of the dump, which mingled in one indescrib-
able bouquet under the warm rays of mid
summer sun On the contrary, every body
seemed to enjoy what evidently possessed for
them something of the element OF attraction
found in gambling. For there was no telling
what treasures might be disclosed by the raking
and hoeing over of these fragments from
thousand houses. Lo! from one Of the hunters
for spoil yah, yah!' of delight goes up az
she displays solid silver oyster fork just
extricated from the rubbish.
HOW vALUABLEs GET INTO THE DUMP.
Such valuables are not infrequently found at
garbage dump. 1t quite often happens when
an entertainment is given at some great house
that spoons or forks get mixed up by careless
servants with the waste food that goes from
the tables to the city scavenger. In this and
other ways not only silverware but various ar
ticles Of worth reach the refuse pile. Some
times bits Of unbrokep and handsome crockery
reward the searcher at the foot of South Capitol
street. At the other dumping place, & street and
9th, no one is allowed to pick the rubbish over.
1t Is put on q scow and conveyed down the
river, where it is utilized in the raw state for
fertilizing Virginia farms, being strewn over
the land and plowed in. The scow takes one
load per day, averaging about fifteen tons.
contractor has the job from the health depart
ment of keeping the District scavenged. He
attends to the whole business and sells the gar
bage by the ton to planters.
GARBAGE COLLECTORS VIEWS.
1.-THE wust point about my perfession is the
bother get from crank women" said q gar
bage man to a STAR reporter. '.Seems to me
they all have spite to take out on US fellers
never talk back at EN-, cause it wouldn't do
no good; but jest let EN- chin an chin and
pay no sorter attention. One thing makes me
kinder tired You know, it very often happens
that the cook at house has some arrangement
with countryman who comes and gets what
stuff she has for his pigs regular. Sometimes
the cook gives the stuff to the countryman out
OF friendship, but most times he paws her a
dollar week or so, accordin' to how much she
has. Now, in n case like that the cook refuses
to give the garbage to US. and we quit goin
TO that house after while, seein' that it's no
use. Then comes a time when the countryman
suddenly stops comm to the house. and the
garbage gifts thick. The fust thing we know
there is trouble about it. We don't hear any
thing ourselves from the cook or the
folks i'll the house, but complaint is
made to the health department. and we are
held responsible. In hot weather we make
more money than in winter, cause people pay
us often so cents or rs cents q week to collect
their garbage evory day, instead Of the twice q
week we're Obliged to. It's astonishin' how much
some folks object to the smell of garbage. 1
don't see nothin' specially disagreeable about
it. used to go to a fiat house where several
families lived every day about o'clock in the
evening. bat had to choose another time,
cause the landlord said that the folks was ali
at dinner at that hour and that they didn't like
to have q howl Of 'swill! swillT come up the
dumb-waiter shaft just as they was sittin' down
to the meal. Some people are SO cranky bout
things, 20 know"
In Paris where nothing is permitted to be
wasted, use is carefully made Of every fragment
of garbage. All the refuse food of the city is
dumped into great pits built for the purpose
and covered layer after layer with lime and
earth. When it has become entirely inoffen-
sive through natural processes, it is taken
fromthe pits and utilized for fertilizing pur-
poses.