Street Cleaner
While I was working in the yard this morning, the street cleaning truck went up our street. I saw the driver, carefully peering down at the curb as he steered the vehicle close to the edge of the street. The truck sprayed water as it swept away the dust and debris. And, it awakened a memory.
When my brother was in first grade he came home singing a song he'd learned at school. "Sweep, sweep, sweep goes the street cleaner man, Dressed all in white, with his broom and his can. Scrape, scrape, scrape as he brushes the street, Teaching a song to the tide-ling and neat."
My parents deciphered that the end of the song was actually, "Teaching us all to be tidy and neat." But Ed never believed that.
The second thing about that song is that we never had seen such a person as the song proclaimed. We lived out in the country along a dirt road. We just took it by faith that there was a street cleaner man somewhere. In fact, I don't recall that we ever did see a street cleaner man, yet that song stays in my mind, though I doubt that Ed would remember if now.
Our town does have a street cleaner man, --but he drives a truck with a tank of water, sweeping and scraping the street by the curb. He wasn't dressed in white and he didn't try to teach me a song, but maybe I'm not tide-ling and neat.
Submitted by
NJ
at 4/21/2005 12:24:24 PM- Thanks for telling me about your grandfather. What a great memory for you! How nice that you got to ride in the street sweep with him.
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Thanks for the memory. My grandfather retired after driving a street sweeper for many years. He used to swing by home whenever he could, if he knew we were there, and take us for a ride as he swept the neighborhood. He had a great deal of pride in the job he did. He was the hardest working man I think i've ever known. After he retired he would walk over 3 miles to our house, mow the grass, and then walk home. He did this until he was in his eighties.