The Rag Man Finds His Occupation Gone

1910

Rag Man's Business Has Dwindled to Vanishing Point

"Rags, bones, old iron!" is a cry not nearly so familiar to the children of to-day as to those of the '80's. For the ragman, like the chimney sweep and the sun dial maker, is becoming extinct. His used to be a profitable trade. The woolen rags he bought, turned into shoddy, brought thrice their cost. So did the bones, which were ground up for fertilizer. So did the iron, which, melted, lived again. Many millionaire manufacturing families had their beginning in a long-headed ragman. He first ground his rags into shoddy. Then he spun the shoddy into thread. Then, a full-fledged millman, he wove the thread into cloth. But the municipalities of to-day contract with single firms for the disposal of their people's refuse, and the old ragman is disappearing because there is so little for him. For — and this is the great secret — while the ragman made a grand profit on what he bought, it was on the refuse given him that he really throve.


From "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again"
By Bob Dylan

Oh, the ragman draws circles
Up and down the block.
I'd ask him what the matter was,
But I know that he don't talk.


A Poultry Point

"Always ask for the right leg of a chicken or turkey," said a chef. "If the left leg is offered you refuse it. It will be tough and stringy.

"You see, these birds nearly always roost on one leg, the left. Hence that leg becomes very muscular. The sinews are like steel. It is an excellent leg from the athletic, but a vile one from the culinary point of view.

"But the favored right leg remains tender and juicy. Therefore, as the advertisements say, 'Ask for and insist on getting the right leg.' "