In a complete modern mill making writing and other high-grade papers,
the process begins with unsightly rags as the material from which to
form the white sheets that are to receive upon their spotless polished
surface the thoughts of philosophers and statesmen, the tender messages
of affection, the counsels and admonitions of ministers, the decisions
of grave and learned judges, and all the
Wisdom of things, mysterious, divine, that
Illustriously doth on paper shine,
as was duly set forth in rhyme by the _Boston News Letter_ in 1769.
"The bell cart will go through Boston about the end of next month," it
announced, and appealed to the inhabitants of that modern seat of
learning and philosophy to save their rags for the occasion, and thus
encourage the industry.
The rags do not come to the mammoth factories of to-day in bell carts,
but by the carload in huge bales gathered from all sections of this
great Republic, as well as from lands beyond the eastern and western
oceans. The square, compact, steam-compressed bundles are carried by
elevators well up toward the top of the building, where they await the
knife of the "opener.
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