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Show GREATEST HOUSE-CLEANING ON RECORD. i j Vatican Hadn't Been Thoroughly Cleaned for 100 Years tmploved 5,000 People and 700 Overseers 1 Six Months. ; Ar;e. i,i years the Vatican has un- r '""'' the first general houseclean- i ' ' ' Ptoccss occupied the space of ' ; "' M'uniis and its cost would buy a ; :" ' 5 -a lace, and a good sized one, in i ' -M.ital. ' I'-ancis formed an army greater , ,!at the Popes commanded when ii'i'V were still kings. j" ''"hi- area cleaned was eo.ual to a Ger- I nap principality, while the rubbish 'I'lvd away would make a small :land. ! The brooms used up would supply a ' ig town for a year, and the house iinnels, generously contributed by Irish Catholics, would clothe 10.CUO peo'- j Tl f re is no royal residence or other building in the world even approach- j iv.g the Vatican in vastness. The papal i iistlc js not a regu'ar structure, but a .:'e. tion of separate buildings occupy -' u: a space of 3S4 yards in length and "' ards in breadth. It has eight t.'jnd staircases and 2'l smaller ones, '"i l its jnnep apartments receive light fvdn-, twenty in o;f.d courts. The num-l'rr num-l'rr of jts chambers, halls pnd gal-,fii' gal-,fii' S exceeds 11.000. Hy way of com-rnvisr.n. com-rnvisr.n. it may be mentioned that the i'i peria! Schlopp in P.erlin certainly a ! '"Jg pile, has less than Tr.O rooms, v. hi!e ! ,vo famous Neues Palais in Potsdam ' fcis only 200. j NO HOUSEMAIDS IN VATICAN. j And these 11.000 rooms, including the j Iri r-'s private quarters, the Sistine and j the other historical chapels, the pic- i 'urc galleries, library, museums of j scripture arxl archaeology, the bar- j 'a. s ,,f the Swiss guards, and lastly, I lb.- Pf,pp-S casino in the Vatican gar- '''tis, hadn't seen a tidy Ivmseinitid f'i:-,. the glorious reign of Sixtus A'. I That, no ithstanding the Vatican I was always noted for its air of spotless I j cleanliness, even though no one was ever seen to handle a broom there, yet I the ban nlaced unon female help was I sure to make itself unpleasantly felt i sooner or later. ! Like his friends and the numerous i visitors of his great palace. Leo saw that the Vatican was clean, but after i h? began taking an interest in bacte-i bacte-i riology a study he took up at the be-' be-' ginning of the new century under the I guidance of his well known physician, I Dr. Lanponi he concluded that it j wasn't clean enough. I I'nder the Zeiss microscope Papponi I had exhibited before his holiness the baccili of typhus, diphtheria, etc.. had i told him that germs were everywhere, land that dirt meant continued life to i them. "This demonstration." said the I Pope recently, "set the little old man thinking" ("little old man" is the title by which Leo refers to himself), and the order for a general cleanup was forthwith issued. POPE 1'PSET TRADITIONS. The monsdgnors of the household were sorely perplexed when Leo ordered or-dered that 'fOO able-bodied scrubwomen be hired, besides double that number of male cleaners. It was "against tradition," tra-dition," "would cause no end of talk," the palace "always got along quite well without feminine help," but the supreme su-preme pontiff's word Is law, and on July I, 1901, there assembled in the square of St. Peter's 1,500 persons of t both sexes to receive commissions as "house cleaners to his Holiness." When this little army first began moving upon the Vatican the sentinel patroling Italian territory opposite the papal domain called out the guard. Ac-coutered Ac-coutered with broomsticks, hatchets and similar imnlemonts as they were, he thought the people bent on riot. But ",T7Te 'VtiemyTf "In ."'the - unTforniffthe Papal Swiss walking Ln the shadow of the Vatican gates, called to him not to make a fuss, as the men and women had '.jeen invited to the Vatican, and. indeed, ranked from now on as papal employes. AH the men and women brought recommendations rec-ommendations from priests and nobles, in high favor with the Vatican no credentials, cre-dentials, no job, the papal authorities being loath to risk employing unknown persons in the immediate presence of the pontiff. The original order also required re-quired the applicants to bring their tools, but many being too poor to procure pro-cure the same the Holy Father gladly rescinded this condition. The examination examina-tion into the fitness of the candidates t ok up the greater part of the(fi:st workday: after that the cleaners were shewn through the apartments to which each troop was assigned, whereupon, where-upon, the Holy Father's chief steward addressed the crowd in the great servants' serv-ants' hall, cautioning them to work industriously in-dustriously and, above all, avoid breaking break-ing things. On the morning of July 2 1,000 cleaners clean-ers and half as many scrubwomen began be-gan to attack the layers of century old dust and dirt that covered the floors, ceilings and walls of fully 9,900 of the palace's 11,000 rooms. This is no mere guess it's from Ma- jor Domo Mgr. della Volpe's official hou'secleaning statistics, which fill over l.oooo pages of foolscap paper. "Some J of these rooms," says the report, i "looked well enough before the broom brigade entered, but . when they had been at work for some time we noticed in certain spots a complete change of color effects. "The crust of dirt and dust attaching to the ceilings, cornices, picture frames, statues and ornaments in general was nearly an inch thick, and its removal changed the entire aspect of things." PUT 5.0C0 PEOPLE AT WORK. Nightly, after returning to his own rooms from his little palace in the gardens. gar-dens. Pope Leo received detailed reports re-ports of these strenuous doings, and it soon occurred to him that if he wanted to see the task finished in his own lifetime life-time it would be necessary to employ more nanas. bo cue goou im icsls ihu the Mothers Sunerior of the great Roman Ro-man "convents were notified that the Holy Fatherwould be pleased to give employment to a good many more cleaners, male and female, and presently pres-ently these began pouring in in small troops. "When we had 5.000 at work." continues con-tinues the Major Dome's report, "it began to look as if z were making some kind of progress; the 1.500 that came first were simply swallowed up in the palace vastness, and their presence was hardly noticeable by the amount of rubbish carried out." To mention only one item, there was 17,297 acres of wall paper to be cleaned, not to mention many miles of silk hangings, frescoes, and the hundreds and thousands of yards of tapestry. The official having charge of the wall paper cleaning ordered S00 and later on 1.000 loaves of bread daily with which to rub the dirt off. but even the Increased quantity proved entirely inadequate. in-adequate. Still more war used until the. daily bill for bread assumed such proportions that the Pope's treasurer refused to further countenance such wanton extravagance, as he called it. The work threatened to come to a standstill, the dispute was submitted to the Pope, who, in his usual shrewd j way, quickly found a solution. The ! Holy Father bethought himself of a series of bake ovens which one of his predecessors erected hundreds of years ago. The cleaners were let loose upon them, and within ten days they were in working order. Next a host of bakers was engaged, who turned out all the bread needed for cleaning, and, besides, enough for each workman and workingwoman to take a loaf home at night. By giving (Continued on Tage 3.) The Greatest House Cleaning on Record. (Continued from page 1.) away 5,000 loaves daily, Leo meant to show that the revival of the Vatican ovens was not merely due to a desire ! to cut down expenses. j To keep this mass of workpeople in order and direct their work 700 overseers over-seers were appointed while all papal soldiers and gendarmes not on actual duty were ordered to patrol the halln, chambers and corridors in plain clothes to protect the Pope's property. They caught several hundred petty thieves red handed, so to speak, all of whom were turned over to the judicial au thorities of the Holy See. for the Pope $ i-s still sovereign and judere within the precincts of the Vatican. The thieves were tried in proper order or-der and condemned to various terms of imprisonment, the I'ope granting a full pardon in every case. The only -punishment they actually suffered was immediate discharge, but every discharged dis-charged man or woman received two weeks" wages in adv-ince. These sum's were paid out of the Pope's private j , purse, and many of the repent inc: sinners sin-ners even went away with his bless- ' injs after making confession at St. f Peter's and craving the Pope's pardon. Thus their fault became a source of material and moral advantage to thess miscreants. ' TEX TONS OF DIRT A DAY. Those visitors of the Vatican who may have remarked on its spotless appearance ap-pearance will be astonished to learn that during the first twelve or thirteen weeks of cleaning 20.000 pounds of dirt were removed daily from the halls, chambers, staircases and corridor;'. This amount of dirt included cobwebs, broken glass and stucco, nails, bits of paper, cardboard, rags and other rubbish rub-bish was collected in bags and carted to one of the rear portals, where a, contractor took charge of it. receiving1 a stated price for every wagonful. This contractor, a smart fellow, had the rubbish sorted, and made a little fortune for-tune out of the sales to paper milis and other establishments. He aNo found-considerable found-considerable jewelry, particularly gold buttons, that may have belonged to uniforms for dress of state, and that had become blackened by age and dirt so that the sweepers failed to recognize) their value. "Rut." said the Major Domo's report, re-port, "that dirt swept out of the windows win-dows was certainly equal to th amount carried out of doors. Some-: times the air was black with dust from the tops of old wardrobes, shelves an l cornices." Many faithful Irish, always generous friends of the Holy See, had combined ' to contribute something towards the ' ; Vatican house cleaning, and sent a gift of eighty bales of flannels, which the Pope received with much pleasure, not on account of the value, but because of the thoughtfulness of the Irish friends. Eighty bales of house flannels seems a lot. but even that immense quantity didn't suffice, though not a rag was wasted, says the Major Domo. Twenty more bales had to be ordered in Dublin, and arrived, together with a telegram from the Archbishop, say- ' ing that his faithful were collecting money to augment their previous gift. Leo was pleased that this offer of ser- j ; vice came too late. "The Irish are good , to the little old man," he said, "hut they are poor, and we mustn't allow their generosity to run away with their judgment. God bless them." TWO THOUSAND SCRUBWOMEN. ! The numerous women that made up two-fifths of the Pope's army of cleaners clean-ers were on their hands and knees six i months out of the eisht when they ' weren't carrying water. They never ! had such a continual siege of sci ub-bing ub-bing in their life. How- industriously j they worked is shown by the fact that they used up from 2.000 to 2.20O scrub- i bing brushes weekly, likewise 5,000 pounds of soap and 2.000 pounds of ! soda. The brooms were principally handled i by men after the first week ther were only S.000 sticks left. As the work t proceeded fewer brooms were used up, but never less than 1.000 a week. The Major Domo's report says that the dust lay in some apartments fully an inch high, the workmen being obliged to put cotton in their ears and nostrils and a cloth before their mouths ere they commenced to sweep. "Such" dirt accumulations were found principally princi-pally on top of and behind tall pieces of furniture difficult to move and which the ordinary servants, content with the mere appearance of things, had neglected shamefully." The official doesn't say so, but one can read between his lines that he charges the prevailing insanitary conditions con-ditions to the absence of the female element in the palace. "Men servants are good to polish up," he says, "but i they seem never to go to the bottom I of the evil." The work of the cleaners cost over 1,250.000 francs probably the largest sum ever spent to set a house in ordr , without rebuilding and refurnishing it. '' But even if the report noted should ! prove exaggerated or altogether false, the money spent on this housecleanin? of eight months' duration, conducted : "f by 10.000 busy hands and superintended ; by 700 overseers, is well invested, for j $ all dwellers in the great beehive will ' f reap its benefits by enjoying better health and greater comforts. |