Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-11-03
ONE BEGGAR'S RECEIPTS.
Ten Dollars an Hour the Estimated
Income of u Lcgless Man.

Ten DOlA0rS an Hour the 1LStl"oVcO
Income of u Legless Man.
Charity is not dead in New York. Any
one with doubts on the subject would
have been convinced had he seen q richly
dressed woman drop quarter into beg
gar's box the other afternoon and noted
the things which followed on Twenty
third street.
The beggar was in the middle of the
block, moving slowly toward Sixth ave-
nue.. He moved OH stumps only about
eight inches long. There was something
plaintive in the short steps he took and
in the way he rested for a moment after
each, like a tragedian crossing the stage.
A second woman stopped and threw a
dime into the wooden receptacle for
coins. A third instantly followed suit.
The beggar was stout and burly. His
neck was thick and powerful looking. 1t
seemed piteous that SO strong man
should be so crippled.
A poorly dressed woman and little
girl paused long enough to pity him and
add their mites to his assets.
The beggar was laboriously pushing q
little four wheeled cart In it was hand
organ, which he ground increasingly.
A shabbily dressed man paused to pay
a cash tribute to the beggar's misery.
Sentimental strains poured from the
Aand organ. The time was very slow.
There was nothing gay about that music.
1t almost drew tears from the eyes of the
pedestrians. 1t also drew their dimes.
Three prosperous looking women open
ed their purses and dropped silver into
the box.
The organ was pushed along at the
rate of "a feet minute, and the contri-
buttons fell at the rate Of one in every
four yards. The man with the rubber
snakes, the man with the toy balloons,
the man with pictures of the Dewey arch,
the banana man and the vender Of hot
chestnuts, looked on with bullying eyes.
my, what graft" they murmured.
The organ man looked very weary and
rolled his head from side to side, as if life
were indeed burden. And the rain of
money continued. The thirty eighth con.
tributor within IS minutes was a well
dressed youth. Above the organ was a
banner upon which was inscribed, La
dies and gentlemen, having lost both of
my legs and being unable to obtain en-
ployment, have taken this means to
gain support for myself and my family
and to raise money to buy pair Of arti-
uCldI AeeI. AuA6 appear AdlIIy HdSueI-
lied the dimes. A cabman standing by
the curb ran forward and dropped some.
thing in the box.
"Poor chap" he said. cts hard thing
to be like that"
my friend" said bystander, that
man will make more money in half an
hour than you will in a whole day."
The beggar and his organ had reached
Sixth avenue. He had gone 1870 yards
from the point at which he was first OBJ
served. 1t had taken him % minutes.
During that time no fewer than SO peo-
pie had dropped money into his box.
Most of the contributors were handsome
~ dressed women. Doubtless some OF
them contributed quarters. 1t is likely
that the contributions averaged 10 cents
each, and if that was the case the beggar
cleaned up $500 while going half a block,
but in case some of the women put in
only pennies it might be we'll to call it S.
for Is minutes, or say $40 an hour.
'"That one box you see," said u special
| officer, "is only one of his boxes. He has
| three like it, Que under the other. When
the money partly fills one, it drops into
| the Others"
But the beggar was out Of sight. lie
! had gone to conquer another world west
Of Sixth avenue.-Ncw York Sun.