The morning call., 1893-02-24

asked German pauper what the line
was for
Supper" he said. They're the cranks
who get in line like that. What's the use?
We're all going TO get supper, and they
won't get better by standing there all this
time. just come In ?"
Yes" l answered. I'm green yet"
You'll get on fast enough" he said.
SCOT bed?"
Yes"
SCOT your clothes? Mop Well, you want
to get them right away and watch out some
one else don't steal them"
"Who?" | asked
lob, amt saying who. Guess you know
A hints pretty good, don't it?"
Now l was very anxious to know who
would steal my clothes. but the Teuton shut
up tight when l questioned MIN further on
this subject.
l learned afterward that 1t was the pau
pers themselves, or some OF them, who
would be liable TO purloin my pauper clothes.
They cart them off to town and sell them
for 'drap Of the old CREATURE" This is
a common occurrence | learned from the
inmates themselves. Some OF the paupers
have been caught at it time and again. but
reform methods are Of no avail, for their
love of liquor is the only strong passion left
them.
big, sturdy looking fellow. who sat on
the bench near me, with gunny sack over
his shoulders, was talking about the war
with stoUt-looking Irishman, who could
not have been 40 years old.
Yes" said the fellow with the gunny
sack, they used to call Grant cruel and in
human. but he was just the other way.
Diggin' trenches, diggin' trenches, they
used to cry against him, but he knew that it
was more human TO starve the rebels out
than to fight 'em.
''Cut off their supplies, then they had to
surrender. That was his game. He had a
long head"
The Irishman shook his head in apprecia-
ton of this sentiment
Then the elder man broke out again, this
time with sociological problem.
"And they call this liberty" he said, "and
here's forty million CT us just bare slaves
That's what they call free country"
l sized this man up for a kicker, 30 /
showed up toward him and asked him how
the grub was.
"Oh, it's fine." he said, turkey and eggs,
and bacon and ham, and fresh mutton and
porterhouse steak, and canned fruits and
oranges. and pudding and mince pie."
You don't get all that to eat, do your"
asked in establishment.
'Ob. yes, we do; over the left. But all
them things come out here. You can see
them for yourself. But they're for the SUI
perintendent anu his pets. We're only
paupers.
ION. there's piles of good grub here, but
we don't get 1t. You'll see what we get.
They're saving cent day on every man
here. There's 800 to feed, that's So day,
S24O NJ onth, $3.50 a year. A nice little
sum. amt it?"
'Who gets that money!"
A shrug of the shoulders and a wink of
the eye was the only answer.
In bare justice this conversation ought to
be succeeded by one / had during the last
day of my stay at the Almshouse with an
inmate who has been there five years.
He was quite rational in his conversation
and Is employed in the stables.
That old man is crazy on the subject"
he said. ''He sits there and does nothing
but figure out how much somebody else is
robbing him Of.
"The grub is better now than IL was
when first came here. We get what the
appropriation calls for. We don't get any
more and we don't get any less The
Supervisors give out the contracts, and il
anybody makes anything out Of 1t its
the city. Those that work get good enough
grub and them that is too weak to work
can't eat as much as them that do
1--WE get three-quarters of pound Of meat
every day and more bread than any one can
eat. They waste lots Of bread here. The
men carry 1t away and then don't eat it."
How about Tilson--the one they are
complaining about?" asked.
Hes all right. If you don't give it away
I'll tell You something"
Ipr0mised soemnly.