St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-06-07
WORK OF HOUSEKEEPING.


A Trade In Which Skill and Expe-
rience Count for Much In the
-..-' Salvage.
"Housewrecking," said a dealer in sec.
ond-hand building materials, according
to the New York Sun, ''has come to be
a trade which men follow steadily
just as they do any other employ
ment, working at it the year round
and year in and year out.
''Thereare some hundreds OF house.
wreckers, take them altogether, in
New York, men who are constantly
engaged in pulling down buildings or
in handling the secondhand mate
rial, and in all the various branches
of this work skill and experience
count, as they do in any work.
''It might seem as though any man
that has strength enough for it could
go into house with crowbar and
rip up the floor, and SO he could, but
an unskilled and inexperienced man
would split and splinter the stuff
and make it useless for anything but
kindling wood, while capable man
would take up flooring, tongued and
grooved stuff, it might be, in the
same time, without injuring it, get
ting it up in such condition that it
could be sold again for flooring.
Zone way of doing the work would
result in a loss to the dealer in mate
rial who had contracted to remove
the building, and the other in a
profit. So, while it might look as
if the work of demolishing build
ing was being carried on without a
thought of anything but getting it
down and out of the way, as mat.
ter of fact care is constantly exer-
cised to get the stuff out in such con-
dition that it can be used again and
so can be sold again.
"In pulling down walls, and that
sort Of thing, there is call not only
for strength and skill, but for courage
andnerveas we'll. Housewrecking is of
course hazardous employment. and
the rates of insurance on those en-
gagged in it are high.
1.-THE beginners at this work start
on the ground level knocking the
plaster off bricks, carrying out stuff,
and so on, and piling bricks, and
that sort of thing. From this they
get into bar work and up onto. the
various floors of building at work
OF one sort and another, and finally
onto the walls.
cat first in the various employ
ments in the business above ground
they work where there are still re-
naming floors, or at least floor
beams, but coming gradually, If they
are able to do the work, to standing on
the top of bare and unprotected
wall, where an ordinary and inexpe-
rienced man would have difficulty in
keeping his balance at all, but where
the housewrecker not only does that.
but works away all the time with
crowbar.
"But not even every housewrecker
Is up to that by any means. Some
men, in fact, never get above the
ground.
stake, for instance, the case OF q
high wall standing alone, after fire,
and it might be actually moving
when the wind struck it. Out of 200
men there would be only two or
three men who could walk along and
work upon the top of this wall, and
these men would be daredevils.
"Housewreckers work for one
concern a1d another as opportunity
offers; one concern may have in
hand at one time but little tearing
down, while another has lot Of it
going on, with consequently In
creased demand for wreckers. But
the big dealers in secondhand ma
terials aim to keep all their best
men at any rate permanently en-
ployed."
His Objection.
"Prisoner," said the stern old
Judge, "the jury, by vote of II to
| /, has found you guilty of smashing
all the windows and running the
stock of ten millinery stores. Have
you anything to say before sentence
is passed upon you?"
81 have" announced the prisoner,
rising to his feet.
"Say it."
81 protest, your honor, against this
verdict. I was not tried by jury
of my peers"
"On what do you base that objec.
tion?"
"Why, only one of 'em is married
Baltimore American.
Immense New Zealand GeyseP.
In Rotomahona, New Zealand, there
is an immense geyser, which covers
an area an acre in extent, and con
| Sfant1y throws columns of water tC