little nephew had just finished eating some candy, and down went his
candy-bag on the pavement. His aunt happened to see it. "Oh, no,
Claude," she said, "don't you see the big green can there? Better put
it into that." But Claude was only three years old; and the can was so
tall that he could not tell what it was, till we led him up to it.

Do you have cans like these in your town, too? It is good to think
that every one of us, even such little fellows as Claude, can help to
keep the city beautiful. But it is not simply to make things look nice
that we have so many cans--cans for ashes, cans for papers, cans for
food scraps. No indeed, it is to keep the city clean and make it fit
for people to live in; for if dirty papers and scraps were left to
blow about the streets, they would fill the air with germs and filth.

Any dust that blows about the streets is likely to be carrying disease
germs with it. That is why we have sprinklers driven through the
streets to wet them and to keep down the dust; and why, in large
cities, the streets are thoroughly flooded at night. If the streets
are kept damp and clean, then the air above them is cool and fresh and
pure.

How does the city get rid of all the dirt and waste? From every house
there are two kinds of waste. Some is taken away in pipes from the
sink and bathroom out into pipes that run under the street, and these
carry it away from the city to some stream or deep water that takes it
entirely away from the town.

The waste stuffs that are not watery, but solid--cabbage leaves, apple
cores, potato parings, and other scraps from the kitchen are carted
away and burned or fed to pigs. The ashes and tin cans are carted