270 THE WORLD'S LUMBER ROOM. 



all that he could in any way turn to account, and leaving 

 only the refuse of the refuse to be cleared away by the 

 carts, or devoured by rats, hundreds of which may be seen 

 running about the streets in all directions late at night. 

 Of late, however, he has been thrown into great consterna- 

 tion by an order from the Prefect of the city, who considers 

 that it would be more conducive to health and cleanliness 

 if the " dust " of each house were collected in some recep- 

 tacle, and put outside in the morning to be emptied into 

 the dust-carts when they make their rounds. This plan 

 is followed in Boulogne, and several British towns, and has 

 great advantages over the system of dust-bins, since the 

 refuse is removed daily, before it has time to decay and 

 become injurious ; and as the dustmen have merely to 

 empty the tub or box, the " dust " of a whole street can 

 be carried away in the time which it now takes them to 

 empty a few dust-bins. 



However, Paris has raised a great outcry against the 

 new regulation ; for, reasonable as it is, it means little 

 less than ruin to the poor chtffonnier. When the "dust" 

 is simply thrown into the street he can poke about 

 in it easily, and soon pick out all that he cares to 

 take ; but if it were all collected in a deep tub, or 

 such like receptacle, it would be long before he could 

 ascertain what treasures might be hidden in its depths, 

 and could make sure that he was not leaving any- 

 thing valuable behind ; and then, worse than all, the 

 time for making these minute investigations would not 

 be allowed him, for the " dust " would not be put out 

 of the houses until the morning, and the carts would come 



