Question

a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that could put him out of the world; all the joints in his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by one. of the butchers and floorsmen, the beef-boners and trimmers, and all those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed the knife to hold it. the hands of these men would be cross - crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them. they would have no nails - they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan. there were men who worked in the cooking rooms, in the midst of steam and sickening odors, by artificial light; in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years, but the supply was renewed every hour.
there were the beef - luggers, who carried two - hundred - pound quarters into the refrigerator - cars; a fearful kind of work, that began at four oclock in the morning, and that wore out the most powerful men in a few years. there were those who worked in the chilling rooms, and whose special disease was rheumatism; the time limit that a man could work in the chilling rooms was said to be five years. there were the wool - pluckers, whose hands went to pieces even sooner than the hands of the pickle men; for the pelts of the sheep had to be painted with acid to loosen the wool, and then the pluckers had to pull out this wool with their bare hands, till the acid had eaten their fingers off. there were those who made the tins for the canned meat, and their hands, too, were a maze of cuts, and each cut represented a chance for blood poisoning. some worked at the stamping machines, and it was very seldom that one could work long there at the pace that was set, and not give out and forget himself and have a part of his hand chopped off. there were the \hoisters,\ as they were called, whose task it was to press the lever which lifted the dead cattle off the floor. they ran along upon a rafter, peering down through the damp and the steam; and as old durhams architects had not built the killing room for the convenience of the hoisters, at every few feet they would have to stoop under a beam, say four feet above the one they ran on; which got them into the habit of stooping, so that in a few years they would be walking like chimpanzees.
worst of any, however, were the fertilizer men, and those who served in the cooking rooms. these people could not be shown to the visitor, -- for the odor of a fertilizer man would scare any ordinary visitor at a hundred yards, and as for the other men, who worked in tank rooms full of steam, and in some of which there were open vats near the level of the floor, their peculiar trouble was that they fell into the vats; and when they were fished out, there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting, -- sometimes they would be overlooked for days, till all but the bones of them had gone out to the world as durhams pure leaf lard!

1. name 3 jobs described in the section above, and explain the hazards of each of those.
2. what would happen to the bodies of the men who fell into the vats?
3. of the jobs described, which one would you most want to do? explain why.

Explanation:

1. Beef - luggers: Work begins at 4 am, physically exhausting (wears out powerful men in a few years).
2. Wool - pluckers: Hands damaged by acid (acid eats fingers off as they pull wool with bare hands).
3. Holisters: Stoop under beams frequently (leading to a habit of stooping, walk like chimpanzees).

For the second question, according to the text, when the men who fell into the vats were fished out, there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting. Sometimes they would be overlooked for days, till all but the bones of them had gone out to the world as Durham's Pure Leaf Lard.

For the third question, it depends on personal preferences. For example, if one values less physical deformation, perhaps avoiding the wool - pluckers (due to acid - related hand damage) or holisters (due to postural issues). But if one can tolerate early mornings and physical exertion less than chemical or postural hazards, maybe the beef - luggers.

Answer:

1.

• Beef - luggers: Physically exhausting work starting at 4 am.
• Wool - pluckers: Acid damages hands (eats fingers off).
• Holisters: Postural issues (stoop frequently, walk like chimpanzees).

1. When fished out, little left (sometimes overlooked for days, bones remain as part of lard production).
2. (Answer varies. For example) I would least want to be a wool - plucker because of the acid - induced hand damage.