The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1902-07-01
SUCCESS IN BEGGING.
STREET MENDIoANTs WHO MAKE
THEIR WORK AN ART.
some Net as Much as $50 g Day
Average Income Is Much More Than
Can Be Made by working at n
Trade.

IL requires something more than
nerve to be a successful beggar," said
the old crippled man. "The asking
1or aims is the least part of the profess
sion. People think because we ask
every passerby for something that we
expect each to contribute. This is the
reverse of the story. We know pretty
wen as soon as a man or a woman
heaVes in sight whether we can look
Tor lift or not We study humanity.
We get so we can tell from the face
what the inclination of the person is.
AS not every cynic looks sour, so every
Denehcent person does not wear his or
her heart on her sleeve. In fact. we
get more from the sour-looking peo-
PIE than from those who are gay.
Those who are gay are usually broke
and II they are not they are too busy
figuring on having a good time with
their money to help a beggar out.
Business men are generally easy
marks, because they would rather give
up than be detained with the harrow
ing details of how the arm or leg or
eye was lost in a terrible wreck. Grab
one when he is in hurry, and he will
part with coin nine times out of ten
rather than miss the engagement
even If it be a lunch appointment.
Children, contrary to general belief,
are poor givers. In the first place
their nickels are few and far between
as a rule, and in the next place they
are usually in a rush to get to the
nearest candy store and spend it.
Women, too, pass us by. Whether
they expect the men to do all the Civ
ing, or whether they dread contact
with suffering, l. know not, but 1 do
know that few women contribute.
But by far the bulk of the money
which is given to beggars comes from
the middle classes, and this, perhaps,
is due to their knowledge of, and ac-
quaintance with suffering themselves.
Most of them have had more of the
ups and downs than come to the very
rich, and they have a fellow feeling
for us. They are the ones who stop
and listen to the story we have fixed
up. We reach them at once, and very
rarely fail to land them
by the way, if the man is a good
artist at his story and knows the
game, begging is not such an unprofit-
able business after all. AS a means
of earning living it beats several of
the trades all hollow. The proceeds
do not seem large to the casual OBJ
server, but when you figure up at the
end of day a beggar who cannot
average from 81 to $40 day is not a
good hand at the business. / have
made as much as $50 day for months
at time. My family lived well, and
i managed to do so at the same time.
During gala days and carnival times
we sometimes clean up as much as $50
a day. 1t has run higher than that.
The big crowds now in the city have
helped things considerably. All of the
visitors have money, they have come
here to spend it and if it does not go
one way it will another, and so they
turn it loose without a struggle. A
man cannot be proud and be a beggar,
but he can sometimes afford to put his
pride in his pocket for while If he
is making money. When he has the
money he will find that his pride is
all right. New Orleans Times-Demo-
GRAFT