where did we get this story? would you like to know?
we got it from the basket that the wastepaper is thrown into.
many a good and rare book has been taken to the delicatessen store and the grocer's, not to be read, but to be used as wrapping paper for starch and coffee, beans, for salted herring, butter, and cheese. used writing paper has also been found suitable.
frequently one throws into the wastepaper basket what ought not to go there.
i know a grocer's assistant, the son of a delicatessen store owner. he has worked his way up from serving in the cellar to serving in the front shop; he is a well-read person, his reading consisting of the printed and written matter to be found on the paper used for wrapping. he has an interesting collection, consisting of several important official documents from the wastepaper baskets of busy and absent-minded officials, a few confidential letters from one lady friend to another - reports of scandal which were not to go further, not to be mentioned by a soul. he is a living salvage institution for more than a little of our literature, and his collection covers a wide field, he has the run of his parents' shop and that of his present master and has there saved many a book, or leaves of a book, well worth reading twice.
he has shown me his collection of printed and written matter from the wastepaper basket, the most valued items of which have come from the delicatessen store. a couple of leaves from a large composition book lay among the collection; the unusually clear and neat handwriting attracted my attention at once.
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