These men constitute a large body, and are a class who, all things
considered, do their work silently and efficiently. Almost without the
cognisance of the mass of the people, the refuse is removed from our
streets and houses; and London, as if in the care of a tidy housewife,
is _always_ being cleaned. Great as are the faults and absurdities
of many parts of our system of public cleansing, nevertheless, when
compared with the state of things in any continental capital, the
superiority of the metropolis of Great Britain is indisputable.
In all this matter there is little merit to be attributed to the
workmen, except that they may be well drilled; for the majority of them
are as much machines, apart from their animation, as are the cane and
whalebone made to cleanse the chimney, or the clumsy-looking machine
which, in its progress, is a vehicular scavenger, sweeping as it goes.