226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



the population. The whole contents of their baskets 

 probably average ^3000 a night. The master-chiffonniers 

 are limited in number, there are not over 120 of them, 

 thev employ 300 workmen (independently of Chiffonniers) 

 and their annual earnings are estimated at ^450,000. 



A curious class are they, these Chiffonniers, imbued 

 with strong bellicose instincts. They wash their dirty 

 linen among themselves, but they wash it with a venge- 

 ance ; and they are the most egregious drunkards of 

 creation. Cleanliness is not one of their attributes. "Sale 

 comme un Chiffonnier," is one of the truest sayings of 

 the French Dictionary of Proverbs. 



They drink and sleep and fight alternately, when not 

 busy, and hardly speak anything except a species of slang 

 understood only by themselves. One good thing must be 

 said of them, they are honest ; many a necklace, many a 

 jewel found among their rubbish has been handed to the 

 authorities ; and their roughness does not exclude a 

 certain uncouth tenderness of heart. Many are the 

 instances of lost children adopted by the commonwealth 

 and instructed in the art of sorting broken glass and 

 crusts of bread. Wonderful are the mysteries whereby 

 the old clothes and hats collected by them are changed 

 and transformed. A hat as long as it will hold together 

 anyhow, be it never so shapeless, retains a certain value 

 in the Chiffonnier's eyes. Marvellous is the transforma- 

 tion effected in it by a cunning manipulator ; marvellous 

 how his glue and brown paper, peach black, and dyed 

 rabbit fur can stiffen and smarten the most battened old 

 chimney-pot into a semblance of its glossy prime. 



A thing of beauty it is, but not for long destined to be 

 a joy to its sanguine purchaser. It bears fine weather 

 well, but at the first downpour of rain, glue, paint, silk, 

 and brown paper resolve into their original constituents, 

 and the whole fabric collapses like a dissolving view. 



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