Sorting rubbish (old style) London

This is a highly finished drawing depicting the industry of sifting through rubbish for future use. A large number of figures, mainly women, are shown collecting objects for resale and the scene indicates the extent to which goods were reused and remarketed throughout Victorian society.
The mounds of dust are clearly drawn and the everyday nature of the business is demonstrated by the dog sitting on a heap of dust and by the girl eating an apple. The workers are dressed as if for an agricultural life in the fields and the placing of tools and the shapes of the dust look instead as if they are at the harvest. The title does however contradict that impression.

Large fortunes could be made from the dust trade as described by Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend.