Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-29

the city late in the afternoon. he
- has been travelling all day on a
freight train and his face and
- linen are grimy and soot-cov-
cred and his coat is torn. He is hungry.
too, and a four or five days growth OF
beard makes him seem like anything but
the prosperous looking gentleman he will
soon blossom into.
First of all he makes for Fourteenth
street. IL he lands in New York. He can
work his game for the longest period OF
time in the metropolis, although he spends
several weeks of each year in Philadelphia,
Washington, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburg
and a few other cities.
On Fourteenth street is the national
headquarters of the Salvation Army, the
tramp's objective point. He shufies in
about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. With
c~cSEummate art, he assumes the air OF
a man very tired, very hungry and very
much a victim of the cruel world. He al
ways wants work-of course. He is going
to start right out in the morning and look
for a position, but he has only just come
to town and has not had time to do any
thing as yet. Meanwhile. he iz hungry
and does not know where to sleep. He
has no money and no friends. What is he
to do?
Ordinarily the Salvation army makes a
man work for what they give him. They
do all they can to keep from being VIC
timized, but, at 5 or 6 o'clock at night
there is nothing to give q man to do-and
the applicant knows it. Therefore thsy
think 1t better to give him a bed and a
meal and look into his case the next day.
The tramp sufies out, carrying with him
a ticket emitting him to a meal ana a
bed, and leaving behind a promise TO call
the next morning and try to get WORK
This is not an idle promise. He does call,
but not to get work.
For such cases the salvation ARMY h"s
four or FIVE shelters.
To one or the other of these the tramp is
sent. But he does not go there directly.
He knows that the manager will have some
odd Jobs to do about the house and that
these jobs will be given to the first dodgers
who present tree tickets. Besides that, he
is hungry and he wants to eat.
The ticket he has received from army
headquarters is in two sections, one for a
nights lodging, the other for n meal. The
army houses do not have restaurants. They
have instead an arrangement with a nearby
eating house by which these tickets are
honored at a value of 10 or Is cents, as the
case may be. The army afterwards re-
deems the tickets.
The gentleman tramp knows which res
taurant each lodging house has made ar
rangements with and so he heads there, pre-
sents his ticket and enjoys a hearty meal,
Not that this meal will be big enough ia
satisfy him entirely. He is a great sour
mandizer and he will have three more meals
before the night is over.
Dinner over, he goes to look up some OF
his old acquaintances. He will find them n
the different lodging houses about town or
If he fails, he can go to the Mills hotel and
spend a comfortable hour reading his ia.
vorite evening paper.
1t must not be understood from this thai
the Mills hotel supplies its 20-cent-a-nigh
guests with the newspapers. But in one Of
the two big courts of the hotel are dozen.
of the more prosperous boarders. reading
their papers. The tramp looks about hin
until he sees his favorite journal and theI
takes a chair as near the reader as possible
In twenty minutes or half an hour tn
reader finishes, throws down his paper anC
walks away. That is the mans chance
He quietly picks up the paper and enjoy
himself until he tires of it, when, IL h
feels inclined, he will have a game of check
ers or dominoes. This he manages by get
ting into conversation with one of tn
guests and the ~latter's ticket procures tn
game with no cost TO anyone
The evening spent thus pleasantly, h
walks down the Bowery to his hotel an,
secures his bed, explaining that he had hi
meal first, because he had to see a MAJ
about getting a job.
AS soon as he is settled, the butterfly be
gins to emerge from the cocoon. The tram
takes a bath and, II he happens to hav
been sent to one OF the shelters, he Washe