River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-05-28
SOFT SOAP AND HARD.
The Iloquence of Bowery Fakir IL Potent
with an East side Audience.


A street fakir of the finest type stood
at the corner of the Bowery and
cross street. and addressed the attentive
throng with all the rhetorical flourish
of United States senator.
IL was once a poor boy" said he,
with only two cents in my pocket, ard
found myself here in this great city
without home and without a friend.
May the fates preserve you from any
such nardships as ! saw, dear gentle
men! Barefooted, hungry, sleeping ON
the cold ground under the unsympathet-
tic stars, eating the crumbs thrown to
me from the tables of the rich. was
indeed blighted being. did my best to
get employment, but there was no room
for me, and began to contemplate sui
eide. That was cowardly of me, gen.
tlemen, | will admit, but had been
made coward by my privations
was not myself. and my suicidal pur-
pose was the mad despair of half in
sane youth. Yes. ! was determined to
commit suicide, and was starting in
search of secluded dock where | could
plunge into the cruel river without the
of good fortune befel me which changed
the whole course of life. As | was
passing along the Bowery my attention
was attracted by the voice of a gentle
man who stood on a corner just above
where ] am standing now. He had a
small black bag with him, very similar
to the one | am carrying, and in this
bag were small cakes of soap. which
the gentleman was offering for sale at
twenty-five cents a cake. Now, |
did not much stand in need of
soap at just that moment, notwith-
standing the very thorough bath | was
about to give myself, and should not
have stopped to listen TO that gentle
man had | not perceived that he was
offering a very remarkable inducement
to the public TO buy his wares. VIII
you believe it, gentlemen, in many of
the packages of soap contained in that
bag were wrapped greenbacks ranging
from the one to the five-dOllar denomi-
nation! | was seized with an immense
longing to try my luck in that soap lot
terry Providence was watching me at
that moment The soap vender looked
down and saw my sad face and tat
tered garments.
"'There is a lad, said he, whom
should like to help. lie shall be per-
mitted to draw cake of soap from this
bag without charge, and we shall see
what his fortune shall be-
II drew, gentlemen, as l was directed,
and, JOY of joys! there was five-dollar
bill in my cake of soap. A year later |
had one thousand dollars in the bank,
and now | am.proud to say life is per-
petual delight. So much do feel my
Indebtedness toward the gentleman who
saved me that /, too, have taken up the
philanthropic work of distributing bank
bills among the needy. And ] always
make it practice to precede my sales
by allowing some poor, ragged boy in
my audience to draw cake of soap
from the bag tree of charge.
''Ah! there is a most unhappy face.
My boy, select cake from the bag. 1t
will cost you nothing!
The poor miserable Lad thus impor-
tuned did as he was directed, and as the
crowd watched him unfold the paper
wrapper it was seen that five-dollar
bill was inside.
"You see." exclaimed the fakir. I'M
wrapping several of the cakes to display
the money within, and then throwing
them back into the bag, you can
scarcely help drawing a prize"
Instantly there was rush in the soap
business. As soon as the falir could
make change coins fiuttered into his
hands, The excitement continued <or
number of minutes, and thea Aome
one in the crowd began to compllin
that no prizes were turning up 1t was
then that the fakir discovered por.,s-
man approaching, and haatily shutting
his bag he hurried down the cre.ss
street, and, turning sharpl, to the rig&t
after going a short 3isti nee, disa3-
peared into a liquor saloon. He ordered
whisky for himself. and in few miL-
utes was joined by the ragged boy who
had been allowed to draw tie five-dol-
lar prize. His profits on the soap must
have been fully ten dollars MY. Sun.