The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-19
A PUBLIC wARMtyG-rLAcE
An Opportunity for NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Made by Keeping Old Papers.
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"Gath's' New York Letter.
In this great town to stand by a fire is a priv
ilege. Strange that nobody has ever thought of
having public fires in other places than a tavern.
Here is a philanthropy cheap and great. IL is
cheap, because the fire would only have to be
kept burning to warm people during about five
months OF the year. and such a fire might be had
almost anywhere, in some unrented warehouse
or in an unoccupied basement Another great
distress in New York is the want of q place to sit
down. In our public parks there Is no house
warmed for people to go il and sit. Our highest
hospitality is a tavern or a station. house. The
cost of desk-room in this city is quite an item to
a plain man. The life insurance company to
which | pay annual sweat notified me Yesterday
that for anywhere between $15 and 800
a year l might have a hole or a safe in the
office, and that would allow me to step into q
sort of parlor they have and write my letters.
1t occurred to me that $l5 would be rather
cheap for a permanent place to sit down town.
One goes down town perhaps twice a week, and
he is sure to stop somewhere, and that is gen
orally the downtown club, or some midday
restaurant. or parlor saloon. Half a dollar in
any event must be spent, and this would amount
in fifty weeks to $50. l forgot to say that the
Catholic churches are generally kept warm for
their poor people to 60 in and mingle warmth
and religion. The Protestant churches remain
shut up all the winter, and if one should use
them for o funeral he would be expected to pay
for heating up the church. These big houses,
which pay no taxes. would have fewer critics if
J0eY WOlIQ SeG up SOIQ6IllnR human III
the church during the week to employ
the poor there. In towns like this are
people who would work a little at
something light to be by a fire and have
very plain food. All over New York are
growing up boot-black parlors, which consist of
Easements where some enterprising colored man
has got i'll a patent shoe cleaning chair or two
and an apprentice, and he shines boots at FIVE
cents, sells the papers at the entrance, and keeps
old files of newspapers in the rear to satisfy
curiosity. l go to one of these places on Broad
way and pay twenty-five cents for seven tickets,
generally losing a part of the tickets, but
avoiding the temptation to pay more money
than the shine costs by having the ticket. l
found the boss, who was a large negro from
Washington. with his head tied up and specta-
cles on. Said |: What is the matter with youl"
81 don't know what it is. reckon my nerves
are out of order. | have been picking away i'll
the dark basement here over these old news
paper files, and l suppose l have strain ed my
eyes. For awhile my eyes got granulated lids,
and since the eyes got well the back of my head
seems all sore"
Said 1: Don't you think that in this base
ment you have got rheumatism, and have
also hurt your eyes in the imperfect light here?'
MAYBE that's so" said he, but Ihave lived
in Easements fourteen years"
AS he spoke l half suspected that he slept in
the basement, for there seemed some kind of a
screen toward the rear.
81 amt never been well since come to New
York to live" said the black man. This eli
mate up this way don't suit rs. L was always
strong, but l think l am giving away a little. 1
would get out of this basement" said he,
IF l knew where to go and get custom. But l
have to pay $3.50 a year rent for this cellar"
L was struck with the amount of money for
such accommodations. The cellar itself is prob
ably right on the ground and its supports al
ready rotten, and the stairway to come down
was narrow and awkward, and yetit commanded
q rent equal to a good house in an ordinary town.
The man hunted me up a newspaper which I
only half wanted, and when | came to pay for it
l saw there was some sense in keeping those old
papers. The newspapers and dealers have "a
surplus of copies almost every day, and these
men buy them for about the cost of the paper
and carefully arrange them and put them aside.
Suddenly a man who wants an advertisement to
/ prove by il lawstd6, or a newspaper writer wants
to get an article which he failed to preserve, or
there Is a lawsuit about some fact or advertise
ments, and they have to go to the obscure negro.
He has a fixed rate, which is to charge the price
on the day it was issued, and to double it every
month he has kept the paper. So he got from
me fifteen cents for a three months old paper,
which was equal to three boot-shines.