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Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12765, 5 February 1910, Page 4

A well known Scottish clergyman got into conversation in a railway carriage with, a working man, who informed him'that he had been a coupler for over twenty years. "Oh," said the minister, "1 can beat that! I have been a coupler for over thirty years." "Ay," replied the workman, "but I can unoouple and you canna!" In France everything is more or loss historic, so it will surprise nobody to learn that the megotiers of Paris have a history. The megotiers are the shabby gentlemen with watchful eyes who may be seen picking up cigarette and . cigar ends from the ground outside the cafes by means of a pin at the end of a walking-stick. The corporation was founded in 1875 by a rag-picker, who made a fortune by the industry. Now there are three hundred cigar-enders in Paris, and early every morning the cigar-end exohange or market is" held in the place Maubert. Speculators buy up the cigar-ends and cigarette-ends at elevenpence a pound, according to the quality. The speculators re-sell the tobacco after cleaning it.