52 Streetsweeper. By Whitford, C. B.

Cleanliness is the virtue responsible for the production of that unique character called the street sweeper. He is but another cog in the great wheel of civilization, and he moves in his little sphere with as much certainty as do those charged with the more important affairs of life. When the bankers, the merchants or the .lawyers have laid down the cares of the day, the street-sweeper, with his luncheon buckled to his waist, and his broom over his shoulder, sallies forth to his work. In the glare of the electric light he brushes up the windrows of dirt which the machines have laid, and his comrades with their carts carry the refuse away to the dump. A melancholy life he leads until the approach of election time. Then he is a man of importance, whose franchise is eagerly sought by the politicians. All of his friends are given work at this time, and their labor is made correspondingly lighter. Then he has time to pause frequently in his work and lift to his lips the persuasive fluid which is furnished in abundance by the political managers who claim his allegiance.

Dieses Kapitel ist Teil des Buches STREET TYPES GREAT AMERICAN CITIES