The Washington times., 1895-06-23

All forms of matter both animate and in
animate, are subject to the unalterable and
unvarying law of changes. AS with nations,
men, ideas, and institutions, so is IL with
the material conYeniences and comforts OF
life Wearing apparel lasts at most a season;
furniture machines, all loIms OF apparatus
aud appurtenances live rarely over score
OF years. Sooner or later, when these things
have outliyed their usefulness, they lind
their way to that strangely interesting
locality, the dump" This is the final
resting place of the cast-off clothes OF
civilization.
What mysteries, what mistakes OF mis-
guided men and women could they relate!
Crimes aud deeds so dark and foul that they
rose like a noXious smell and offensive
stencil to heavens gate. Cases in which
justice miscarried, and the innocent sur
fered in silence. These and countless other
wondrous stories could be told by the old
relegated objects if tongues were but given
to their aged rickety selves.
ONE OF THE DUMPS.
Almost under the shadow of that famous
place of by-gone days, the Van Ness mansion,
and the perhaps just as famous DAVE
Burns cottage at the foot OF Twentieth
street, is q tract OF ground more used for
dumping purposes at the present time
than any other around the Capital city.
Here daily come the dust and dirt re-
sulting from houseCleaning, the broken
and battered furniture, cast off clothes
and dresses, old books and pamphlets, and
the sweepings OF stores.
There is a small pile OF rubbish near tho
| entrance which eXemplifies the saying that
mans life is but a sham and II tells
| the story of his existence. First the re
mains of what was once plush-coVered
| wicker-work baby carriage peeps from
beneath an old coach, and a diiapidated
abandoned funeral heaTse suTmounts the
| whole
: Here and there are piles of old dresses,
| clothes and shoes. Every style of foot
| wear is there, from the tiniest knit sock,
| against which the infantile foot rebelled,
| 70 the stout boys shoe, the dandy patent
| leather, the aged and infirm mans easy
| felt shoe Every kind worn by man from
| earliest childhood until the earth reclains
! it's own, are iumhled and tangled together
! u an indescTibabe mass, where they have
| perhaps been emptied from some barrel.
BEE HIVES OF INDUSTRY.
or rags, remnants and the remains of
| dresses, gowns and cloaks, there is the
| greatest variety and diversity. Every form
| and fashion of female wearing apparel
| Is found in some tattered or torn con-
1 u4ltoH dLllbliB luc ltSitlS VI liAC NAuiiiHs ~
| must not be imagined that city dumping
| ground is deserted place Thcyare per
| feet bee hives of industry, and men, women
| and children daily work with uTelesS
| energy in the rubbish and find in these
| queer collections of discarded articles a
| source OF subsistence.
All day long wagons and carts drive up
and deposit loads of old furniture, clothes,
| and books, the results OF house-cleanins
and breaking up housekeeping, while early
| in the mornings and IN the afternoons
the delivery wagons of the great business
| houses dump the floor sweepings filled
| with countless small objects. Each fresh
| arrival is hailed with delight by the small
army of workers, and they Immediately
| proceed to rend and to disSect everything
| in sight. Many are the squabbles and
| quaTrels that take place over some espe-
cially desirable rag or bone, and the re-
porter saw modern instance OF that old
saw, while the two dogs fought another
came and filched the bone.
All OF the denizens OF the dump district
are armed with a short pointed hook with
Which they rake the debris. Rags, bones
and bottles are the things for which the
| pickers are looking, and a tin can is q
thing on which they fairly dote. The
former can be disposed OF to a dealer
who does business right on the grounds
The price paid for rags depends on the
quality OF the article and varies from
cents to So per hundred pounds. Fol
iron from 8 to 10 cents per hundred is
paid BY working all day these poor
souls make from 80 to 90 ceuts-a sun
which must provide food for a whole
| family.
TIN CANS A BONANZA.
The most profitable industry is the
gathering of tin cans and procuring the
old solder from them. The tin is roasted
IN fire which does the double duty ol
burning up the trash and purifying the
! atmosphere. The lead runs down into az
improyised trough, where it is cast into
a rough bar, which finds ready sale
Formerly the tin can was thrown away a'
Useless, but now the outer covering OF til
is removed by heat, and the substance
sold at a profitable price. This is the
highest place in the picker's profession
To attain the great distinction of being
lin man is the lofty object which an ash
raker sets before him at the outset of hi
career, and which inspires him all through
the different phases of his life as bone
collector, rag picker, empty barrel an(
scrap-iron gatherer, until at last he be
comes to be tin man.