TWO GARBAGE COLLECTORS
The next evening, after Robert had finished studying his lessons, he surprised his father by asking, “What becomes of garbage, father? Where does a collector take it?”
Flies are the Collectors I MeanFlies are the CollectorsI Mean.
“What kind of a collector, Robert?” asked his father with a twinkle in his eye.
“What kind!” Robert was puzzled. “I didn’t know there were more kinds than one—the men who wear the city uniform and collect our garbage every other day,” he declared.
“There are several different kinds,” said his father. “One kind is especially anxious and active in warm weather if the lid is left off the garbage can.”
“Oh, I know,” said Robert; “you mean flies!”
“Yes, flies are the collectors I mean; and they do a great deal of harm, not because of what they take, but because they carry germs of disease on their feet.”
“Yes,” said Robert, “I know they do; our teacher showed us a picture of a fly’s foot and tongue magnified many times.”
“Then you understand why mother found fault with Nora for leaving the cover off our garbage can yesterday?”
“Yes, father; but I never thought before todayhow unhealthful a city would become if it were not for the garbage collectors—the real ones, I mean,” Robert remarked.
“Indeed, we ought to appreciate what they do for us,” his father said. “You see, they are really just one set of the public servants of our large city family. They are useful men and do their work well.”
“I shall certainly think more of them after this,” said the boy. Then, suddenly, he asked again, “But, father, what do our garbage collectors do with the garbage? Where do they take it?”
“Let me see,” answered his father; “they take it—I think they drive down to some river wharf, and dump it into scows.”
“And then where do the scows take it?”
“They are drawn by tugboats down the river to the disposal plant. To tell the truth, Robert, I do not know just what is done with it there; but in some way it is made into fertilizer, which is sold to farmers.”
“I wish I knew how it is done,” said Robert after a minute.
“Why, if you are interested in that, we will take a trip down to the plant some day soon,” promised his father. “I should like to know more about it myself.”
“Oh, that will be fine, father. Can we go on Saturday?”
“I think so. I will see if I can get permission of the disposal people to make a visit on that day.”
“I guess it must pay to make garbage into fertilizer.” Robert was thinking aloud.
His father took up the thought. “Indeed it does,my boy. Garbage, or waste food, is very valuable; that of some big cities being worth a million dollars a year.”
“So much? Isn’t it splendid that it can be used? I wonder how any one thought of making it into fertilizer.”
“Well, I imagine it came about in this way: farmers and people who live in the country where they can observe, have found out that the thriftiest of all creatures is Mother Nature. She never lets anything go to waste; she is so very thrifty that when men help her she uses waste so fast that it pays a thousand fold.
“So the men who buy the fertilizer made from city garbage are buying it for thrifty Mother Nature to use as food for plants. But we have talked too long, son; so good night, for you know
‘Early to bed and early to riseMakes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.’”
‘Early to bed and early to riseMakes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.’”
‘Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.’”
Robert was scarcely asleep before he dreamed that he was in charge of all the garbage collectors in the city, and that he needed a new collector for a certain ward.
“Two applicants are waiting to see you, sir,” said his office boy; and Robert stepped out to see them.
One of the applicants was a strong young man, and the other was an enormous fly!
In his dream this did not seem strange to Robert.
Turning toward the fly he asked, “Have you had experience in this line of work?”
“Yes, sir!” answered the fly. “Let me tell you what I did yesterday.
“I spent the night in a garbage can that some one had neglected to cover. I ate breakfast from some fruit on a fruit stand; stopped in the gutter to get a drink of water; then drank some milk off the edge of a milk bottle which was standing in a doorway; and had dessert off a baby’s cheek and mouth. See how experienced I am! You ought to give me the job, I think.”
“Oh, no,” cried Robert making a leap toward the fly. “Get out of here, you dirty—” but he never finished, for the leap he gave landed him down so heavily in bed that it woke him up.