The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1897-08-12

terwards dressed by the surgeon. who
pronounced 1t dangerous. If there are
any bigger mosquito stories than these
they have not yet found their way in
to print
Every New Yorker is familiar with
the settlers in the small parks. There
is certainly nothing more pitable-no
more scathing Indictment against all
the economic systems that the mind of
man has devised--than a man with
wife and children dependent on him
vainly seeking employment. Such
c'an is rarely seen on the park benches.
He is constantly on the move, until
soul-sickened by constant failure he
becomes a suicide or a drunkard.
But who are these men in the parks?
From what ranks of humanity does
Union Square park draw its daily bri-
sade of settlers? Many OF them have
been in business. They failed from
one cause of another. Some of them,
after experiencing a fair degree Of
prosperity, became inert, allowed
things to drift and at length them
sells drifted into the downward path
losing all ambition and hope. Singu-
lar as it may seem, a fair proportion
OF these men do not show traces of
excessive drinking. They are merely
suIsisting creatures. They will sit for
hours looking at the sun making
scarcely movement and giving little
attention to passers-by. They like to
be near other human beings and
they relish the noise and din which
industrious humanity makes in its ef-
forts to obtain its daily bread. The
sight of men and women Fastening
about their business soothes the
sitters and the noise and din Is lulling
music upon their ears. So all day
long, and through half the night, they
sit, contemplate and contentedly, with
no sense of accountability to urge
them to do their work in the world,
and the inward monitor, that ought
to tell them that a lazy man is one OK
he most despicable creatures in the
world, as silent as IL 1t had the destiny
and disaster of dumbness upon ii from
the beginning.
Many have asked the question, how
do these men subSist?' Nearly all
appear to be the possessors of at least
ordinary appetites. Some of them, no
doubt, live upon the industry OF wo-
men-mothers, wives and sisters. and
others upon the fruits of crime. Some
Of these mea are alone in the world,
and they daily solve the problem of
how to live. Every morning at
o'clock there is a distribution Of bread
at the Vienna bakery. Long before
that hour there is a general mastering
OF this division OF the Grand Army of
Outs at the bakery. Each one gets a
loaf of bread or some rolls and glass
Of milk, in summer or a cup of coffee
in winter. The bread is more than
sufficient for meal. Part of it is put
in q oapacious pocket and saved to
lHpelse the clamor Of appetite during
he ensuing twenty-four hours, If moth
l"g better happens or offers. Proyi-
loHCe IS Kind TO the bench warmers.
Frequently they have opportunities
to eat and drink during the day.
Probably no. one in twenty of these
men has tailed in any occupation, bus
mess or profession in which they en-
deavOred to succeed. Those CT them
who held positions OF respectability
lost them through inertia. They were
tco lazy to grasp and hold opportuni-
ties. Not many OF them are harmful
Wlckedness Of the dangerous sort de-
nards energy. IL would be interesting
20 follow the fate of the Grand Army
o. Outs. Occasionally energy has
second birth with some of the mem
berS, and they again become active, if
not useful. Not every active man is
useful. Some drift far away, carried
by the tide of humanity. Others keep
n the ranks until they become decrepit
with age and are passed into the poor
house.
Some of these men have indeed been
reached and few reformed by that