Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1894 — BESIDE MARBLE FRONTS. [ARTICLE]

BESIDE MARBLE FRONTS.

I In Exclaalva Astor Stroet an “Unemployed* Founds a Plebeian Ingrain. In this moving and spring cleaning time grounds on which carpet can be beaten are quoted high on domestic exchanges and their valuA is sure to [ be as far above par as is Yerkes’ street railway stock in parts of the city where houses are thick. It was in one of these parts the other day that one of the “unemployed” who had been hired for the occasion by a family that was wrapping up its penates and other bric-a-brac in burlap, preparatory to a shift in flats, went forth looking for a bit of grass on which to pound an ingrain. In fact, it was in the most exclusive section of the North Side. On Astor street the “unemployed” spied a vacant lot. He made for it and presently his stout three feet of rubber hose, which be had nailed to a broom handle, was raising a cloud of dust. It floated lazily towards the windows of the two splendid mansions that walled the grass plot in on either side. “Whose carpet are you beating?” was the testy query that was shortly pelted down on the pounder. “Oh, it’s one I’ve got a job to clean” he replied with meek indifference. This was too much for the irate questioner. “That land is outs,” she said, with the hauteur of Clara Vere de Vere, “and don’t you bring another carpet there to beat. ” “No, I won’t, but I guess I’ll finish this one,” and the rubber hose continued its plebeian thud in the aristocratic street until the carpet had yielded up its dust. Then the “unemployed" took his renovated burden and went back to the stuffy flat. As he dropped the carpet to the floor he said, in answer to a question as to where he had given it an airing: “Oh, over there on Astor, between a couple of marble fronts.