Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1890 — TINDERS AND KEEPERS. TOLSTOI. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TINDERS AND KEEPERS.

TOLSTOI.

THE PERQUISITES OF THE RAGPICKER’S PROFESSION. A Quaint Trad- that Teals with the Flotsam and Jetsam of a Great City —What the World Loses aud What the World Finds.

HE carelessness and extravagance .of residents of llarge cities have [given rise to a 'new industry dur'ing the past few years, and no better name has been found to designate the followers of this modern avocation than that of

•Finders.” What is a “finder?” You would propound the query indefinitely among the higher ranks of society without obtaining a satisfactory answer, but the reporter or policeman, the average man about town, generally know some-

thing of this new and strange class, which probably came into existence in the guise of an indigent tramp or beggar, and has been recruited since from the ranks of ragpickers, garbage-col-lectors, and the like, until, in a city like Chicago, many thousands make the

•finding” business a part of their daily •labor. A finder is a seeker, and a seeker a man who finds. Finds what? A living. Where? In the dust-heap, in the gar-bage-box, along the streets —above the surface, under the surface —on the water and under the water. Keen •eyes, quick hands, a knowledge of trivial values, a further knowledge of the laws of flotsam and jetsam, all tho requisites to success in this unique calling, and precocious children, shrewd peddlers, professional junkmen, and vagrants generally comprise: the bulk of the class. At first, the finder began business on

the beach at fashionable watering places. The action of the tide played ■strange freaks with the valuable stray ■coins and general articles dropped, thrown away, or lost by frequenters of the sandy shore. What yesterday cov■ered up to-day unearthed, and one professional claimed to have ended a season of keen picking in the sand several hundreds of dollars ahead. The business then spread to the large Eastern cities. At the first break of day the virions finders would pursue various routes. Here would be a package dropped from some swift wagon in the darkness, maybe only a whip, a strap, a blanket, a cushion, a milk-can cover, a bag of oats; but all was fish that came to the finder’s net, and occasionally a freight or express parcel, a fine silk hat, an overcoat, a pocket-book, a watch, a revolver would reward his vigilance. The gutters were •carefully scanned. The scene of a street fight revealed a lost pin or ring; the scene of a robbery, a purse dropped by the thief in his flight. Spectacles, umbrellas, gloves, wraps, and the like were most frequently found near theaters. Stray coins were sure to be obtained along the street-car lines, and the early sweepings from saloons usually panned •but more than one sawdust-covered quarter or dime. Soon, however, every “thirsty tramp, who was not too busy emptying out stale beer from kegs or ■rdbbing clothes-lines in the early dawn, ■“got onto the racket,” as the saying •goes, and the streets were pretty Veil scanned between dawn and sunrise. Then the trade became less lucrative and more systematic and difficult Various lines developed themselves, and accidental findings were abandoned for a legitimate trade in the seeking Hfife. The eager seeker waiting for daylight found that, the,work of civilization had denuded his calling of half its original interest. He would hasten forth on hit •quest to discern his accustomed course already gone over. The street-sweeping

machine hr.d preceded him, and car tracks, gutters and pavement were spick and clean as a kitchen floor. Dust, coins and all had been disturbed by the streols wee per, and wagons had carted away the refuse. Then a regular system of operation was begun by the professional finder. He learned where the city dumping grounds were located. Much like a gold miner, he considered them his own personal claim, but invaders came. A fight or a division of spoil was necessary. The latter system came into vogue, and a visit to the various spots where the refuse of the city is dumped is likely to reward the observer with some very curious sights. In a great city like Chicago the sweeping of the streets comprise many hundred wagon loads daily. Some of this refuse is loaded on scows that are towed out into the lake, where it is dumped, but most of it is used to fill in abandoned quarries, streets below grade, and the like. The finders’ work at a spot being filled up is as business-like as that of a miner. So many people want their front yards filled up with dirt that numerous loads of street dust designed for the dumping grounds never reach their intended destination. This saves time to the cartman, and secures him tobacco money. Most of the stuff, therefore, that reaches the dumping grounds, consists of the contents of ash-boxes, garbage barrels, and the sweepings of alleys. When a load arrives, the gang of pickers, usually numbering about half a dozen, surround the wjagon. As soon as the refuse reaches the ground, they be- j gin poking in and out the load, spreading it about, prodding it with their long hooked sticks. One man looks for bones only, another for glass, a third for iron, a fourth for rags, a fifth for paper, a sixth for bottles. Having secured each his portion of the plunder, they adjourn to a spot near by, where they have a roaring fire burning. Surrounding it each man has his heap. If a piece of wood with an iron bolt through it is found, it is placed on the fire. In some loads from hotels some good pieces of food or fruit are found, and this comprises the lunch of the finders. By nightfall they have gathered quite a bagful of truck, often finding such valuabes as rings, coins, knives, forks, spoons, dishes, copper bottoms of kettles, and especially scraps of

tin, which are pounded into a mass to make sash-weights. The regular ragpickers and junkmen of the city also do a thriving side trade in keeping a sharp lookout for stray valuables. The housewife, dazzled with a glittering array of new tin pans, very often trades off a vest or a coat of her faithful spouse, in which he has left a diamond stud, or a roll of bills, or the like. Old pieces of furniture with secret compartments all out of date and old stoves are often made the receptacles of treasures —instance the one in which a man recently built a lire, never dreaming that his wife had placed therein savings amounting to several hundred dollars, her thickheadedness being of a piece with the man who rolled four hundred dollars in a newspaper, enveloped it, put on a two-cent stamp, and directed it to his family in Germany. The packbroke open in the mailing room before it left the city. In the large warehouses, where rags are assorted by girls, very rich finds sometimes occur. A valuable diamond ring is an occasional windfall, and money and minor articles of jewelry very often reward a search through rejected garments. A dead baby was once unearthed from a package of rags, and important papers sometimes drift into this catch-all of cast-off clothing. Laundrymen who are disposed to be dishonest reap a rich harvest in studs, sleeve-buttons, and the like, and ready-made clothing men occasionally find a 101 lof money in a suit that some excited customer has tried on, and into the pockets of which he has. unwittingly transferred his cash. Another class of finders is the newspaper-grabbers. There were two men in Chicago some time ago who claimed to have made a living by gathering up newspapers left about by guests at hotels, and selling them to laundrymen for wrapping purposes. Not quite so honest are the golddust beaters, some of whom, it is alleged, let their hair grow long, grease it thoroughly, and, by running their fingers through it constantly, carry home what

amounts to quite a pile when combed out atlnight. Another line of finders include the conductors on street-cars. The number of articles left la omnibuses and street and railway cars is something increbible. Usually valuables lost in these public conveyances s r « taken to the company’s

headquarters, where they may be recorered by the loser. In winter, the streetcar barn men reap a rich reward for their perseverance in sitting the hay that is swept out of the cars, and many coins and valuables are lost between the car side and the window. The nautical finder is the true finder, after all. He Is termed a “wharf rat,” a “river pirate.” a “bird of prey;” but he plies an occupation that calls for hard work and application, all the same. His stamping-ground is the river, his outfit a broad scow, a pair of cars, and some poles, hooks, and ropes. If an anchor is lost he grapples for it, and very often brings up a valuable piece of junk—pulleys, metal, and often a watch or money. The temptation to cut a cable leads him into trouble many times; but the profession includes a fair average of honest workers. Another class fish only for fuel and loose lumber and the like. Any one may become a tinder. A story is told of a boy who found an abandoned horse. He nursed it to health, rigged up a rattle-trap wagon, and started out every day on the quest for building material. He stole nothing, but when he found a dimension stone on the prairie or in a rut he carted it home. Bricks the same, and piles of lumber

and nails were to be had for the seeking in the vicinity of new blocks of bouses. In a year he had the material to build a house, and he did it. The finding trade is an exciting ope, Sometimes a lucrative one, but the inexperienced had far better find employment, sure and regular, than start out in a line that makes a vagrant and a chance-worker of its votary, at the best.

The Famous Author of the “Kreutrtr Sonata.” Count Leo Tolstoi, the Russian author, is in reality the founder and leader of a new philosophical and religious sect. Although Emile Zola claims that he has only adopted and barbarized the ideas of the French realistic school, he is accepted in Russia as an original thinker and tho preacher of a new gospel. The Count con.es of an ancient aristocratic family, but he emphasizes his belief in the equality of man by discarding the fashionable trappings of the nobility and adopting a style of dress which is a sort of compromise between the costume of the moujik, or peasant class, and that of the nobles. He wears a loose-fitting black blouse, an ordinary trousers, a wide, brimiess slouch hat, and goes without collars, cuffs, or ornaments of any kind. Tolstoi wafc born on the estate where he now resides, at Yasnaia Poliana, in Southern Russia, and was educated at the Moscow University. lie entered the army and had the same chance of a brilliant career as other young Russian nobles, but his literary tastes and strong convictions gave him an aversion to military life. After filling an important civil function be finally resolved to devote himself to the propagation of his ideas through his books and by personal teaching and example among the peasantry in the neighborhood of his home. He has written numberless works, among the best

known oi which are “Anna Karenina,” “War and Peace.” “Before Tilsit,” “The Invasion,” “Borodino,” and his latest work, “Kreutzar Sonata.” which has called forth so much criticism. Tolstoi has had thirteen children born to him, of whom eight are now living, the youngest being only a few years old. He speaks English and French fluently, and is a close student of Western literature. But his chief studies are among the peasantry. At certain seasons of the year he receives large numbers of them, who come on pilgrimages to see him and to seek his advice, and recently he walked all the way from Moscow to his home, a distance of over two hundred miles, stopping in the peasants’ cabins on the way and sharing their humble fare. When he adopted his present mode of life he learned the trade of a shoemaker and has worked at it constantly ever since, besides laboring daily at ordinary farm and garden work. His food is of the simplest. He has given up the use of meat, wine, beer and tobacco, and about the only luxury he indulges in is tea.

“Faint heart never won fair lady,” or conquered difficulties, or achieved glory; but insolent assumption is more contemptible than a lack of moral courage. Be determined, fearless, energetic—not impudent. Stick up for your own rights with all your soul and all your strength, but’never infringe a hair’s-breadth on the rights of others. A good memory is a blessing, says a writer. And it is one that wealth cannot buy. Just look at a man who suddenly becomes rich. He cannot even remember the faces of his old friends. Some people are always agetting into a box, and asking you to lift the lid. We suppose a nose my be said to be broke wh*c it hasn’t got a scent,

A RAG-PICKER.

CITY DUMPING GROUND.

A RICH FIND.

RIVER PIRATES.

GIRLS FINDING A DIAMOND RING.

COUNT TOLSTOI.