, 1885-06-24
ArweNrv-ceNr LODGING HOUSE.
Characters TO He Seen There Intelligence
Among the Inmates.

Characters To He Seen There Intelligence
Among the Inmates.
brooklyn Eagle
Some Of the readers of The Eagi.
| perhaps. have noticed Us they passed a
certain locality in New York. near Pow.
sry, a shattered looking house, and
nave observed Lodgings for men only,
% tents per night upon the shutters
away in disgust, perhaps. and thought
within yourself that such a den would
only 10 inhabited by tramps
and mendicants. May IL never be
your fate to take a shelter IN sch u
residence. But If one has an in ,uiring
mind and seeks only for information or
amusement, he may find within that
abode men possessed of wit, ingenuity
and skill; men who have seen life in an
its phases. let US enter into a house
that is licensed to accommodate seventy
or eighty persons. We pass through the
front door and are directed upstairs into
a large room. The first person that
meets your eyes will be the proprietor OF
his deputy sitting at a desk with book or
slate in hand, prepared to receive his 20
cents and enter your number paid for
the night. After this you become n
privileged individual, and have the right
Of ingross and egress for the next twenty
70 ir hours.
We all put a pipe in our mouth-for
every one smokes at a 20-cent lodging
house-aud endeayor to make ourselves
at home with those around us. We
start politics, and are astounded with
the fact that, for the most part, they
ara - fab mora aanxraNuonf urffI uuph
matters than ourselves; and as to chron-
illogical knowledge, we question if the
ablest statesman would be more ready.
AS to the medical profession, it is so
well represented that if an argument
raised there would be a regular
s%quabble for precedence among the
speakers, each telling us of his indi-
yidual ability and experience. Nor is
there any deficiency of representations
Of the legal profession, who, If chance
permitted them, would confound us
with their technical phraseology. Of
brokcn-down gentlemen there are mum
bers, who tell their tales of extraya-
gance and debauchery as if they were
creditable transactions. Broken-down
sea captains and officers arc also there,
lIAAlIk US llIlAANnAH VI NltlI tfIttT III
foreign countries, and relating with ex-
treme minuteness all their personal ad-
ventures, only anxious for any ones at
tention.
Again VIC have the youth from the
country. He comes to New York with
letters of introduction to merchants and
Others. These he delivers and is. told.
with what appears to him cheerful
usnYIu A4nu11 ....u - Dat .fta. ....a
days it is still the same answer-"Call
again He has written to his friends
cheering hopes, and as days and weeks
pass by he still hopes on, and with a
wish to be AS economical as possible, he
seeks the 20-cent lodging house.
Still hoping, but always unfortunate,
he takes the temporary offer of
employment that is afforded to the for
lorn and destitute, that of a supernu-
merary of the theatres, for the 20-cent
lodging houses supply the greater num-
Der of these auxiliaries to the stage. And
you, reader, who attend the opera houses
or the large theatres, and see before
you a vast assemblage Of kings, priests,
and mobiles, making a grand spectacle,
perhaps believe that they have a good
remuneration for their services. Many
n man who has occupied a high and hon
orable position in society, men who have
e enjoyed ease and luxury and had thou
sands spent on their education, but now
without n dollar in the world, are
thankful TO 10 thus employed.
But In the 20-cent lodging house may
be found men of almost every class;
mechanics in good work, and others out
Of employ ment; sporting men who know
the pedigree of every horse in the racing
calendar, and give gratuitous advice on
the races TO come, assuring any who
have money to invest in their certainty
Of gain; they live mysteriously, yet al
ways manage to dress respectfully, and
to do without work. But there are
honest tradesmen here who gain their
livelihood by the sweat of their brow;
they prefer tn Sc establishments, be-
cause they al enter at any time they
please and find a good fire and a hearty
reception, when supplied with the
myster.o Gus 20 cents. Again, we have
seen wits, natural wits, without educa-
ton, at these lodging houses-men
from whom we can derive n better
knowledge Of life than can be gathered
from books.
And speaking Of books reminds me of
an individual | once met at o.e of these
places. At my frst interview he was
walking up and down the room asking
conundrums, and quickly answering
them. after each answer calling loudly.
half a dime the book" l at first ques-
toned his sanity, but o o found that
he was at rehearsal before going into
the streets to sell half-dime books, not
that those identical conundrums were
In the books, but were generally inven-
tons of his own, at which he was clever.
His ingenuity was never at a loss. when
books would not sell he would make half
a dime microscopes with a bit of glass
and a tin covering, which would exhibit
the animalcule in a drop Of water al
most rs perfectly as the more expensive
ones, and would magnify cheese mites