The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-20
BROOKLYN Eagle.

Philadelphia is at present the abiding
place of one very disgruntled young
man, who Is on the lookout for a nice
dark corner. that he can crawl into
and drag in after him. His name is
Benjamin c. Marsh, and he has been
rather widely advertised as the holder
of the first and only tramp fellow
ship" In existence, established, so the
story goes, about year ago by the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania. One cannot
greatly blame the agile-minded reporter
who invented the term tramp fellowship.
1t is at once picturesque and express
sive. But Mr.. Marsh and the University
Of Pennsylvania both deprecate the ex-
preston. Mr.. Marsh Is a special student
of the university, to whom 1t granted
junior fellowship, carrying stipend of
$500 year for study along special socio-
logical lines.
The United Order of IIoboes would prob
ably sue for libel any individual OF pub
LEGATION that referred to them as special
sociological lines And yet Mr.. Marsh's
special study has been the tramp, not on
the road, but in great cities, particularly
the tramp as he swarms-hundreds and
thousands Of him during the winter-into
the station houses night after night, or
into the innumerable lodging houses and
wayfarers' lodges. that public or private
benevolence has established for his
shelter.
Mr.. Marsh has been hailed as Cornell
graduate, rather to his annoyance, for
since he Is not one he does not wish to be
represented as claiming what does not be-
long to him. He Is a Grinnell. Iowa, man,
who has pursued such branches of study
as particularly interested him in several
Of the universities 1t has also been stated
that he has travelled some forty thousand
miles over these United States as a tramp
In company with tramps. AS a matter OF
fact all his practical experience as q
tramp or among tramps has been right in
the quaker city during the past year.
The idea Of the tramp Fellowship, orig
mated with Miss Mary Richmond, secre-
tary Of the Philadelphia Society for Or
ganizing Charity. The organization opened
about year ago fine new Wayfarers'
lodge, where the homeless, destitute wan
derer Is lodged and fed In exchange for
some three or four hours work in the
wood yard. About the time that this was
opened, Miss Richmond suggested to Pro-
vost G. G. Harrison Of the university, that
the university institute a fellowship for the
study of the homeless, destitute man In
cities. She undertook, thru the new lodge,
to keep large and varied supply of the
material for such study always on hand
The provost thought well of 1t and
awarded the fellowship thus established
to Benjamin Marsh. And better man
than this same Benjamin Marsh it would
be hard to find for the job
Mr.. Marsh Is big, whole-souled, whole.
some bodied man, with bright brown
eyes that see without seeming to criticize
He has hearty, frank manner and makes
friends easily. In short he is what Tam.
many Hall calls "a good mixer" He is
moreover, as Miss Richmond stipulated
that the holder Of the proposed fellow
ship must be, intelligent, educated an6
sympathetic, able to go among the tramps
freely and win their confidence, find ou
why they are tramps and how to helL
them to ambitious, Industrious usefu
citizenship. He must have ideas and cour.
age, be able to plan out his own cam
paign and carry out his own plans.
That Is precisely what Mr.. Marsh has
been doing for the past six months. HI
entered into the work Of the Society fol
Organizing Charity last fall, and has since
then made It's Wayfarers. Lodge a,
1924 Lombard street his headquarters
He has since then been studying carefully
the men who come there for shelter
They are given a clean bed in well.
ventilated dormttory; shower bath, ant
supper and breakfast. For this they
must give few hours work. They may
stay three days, and Mr.. Marsh has those
three days to waken them to a desire fol
better things and start them on the patti
toward respectable citizenship. Rather
a strenuous proposition that! But Mr.
Marsh has prepared himself not merely
by talking with them, and studying thee
retically their condition and their poin
Of view, but so far as possible by prac
teal experience. 4.
Mr.. Marsh tells Of his adventures as
"five-cent Hopper He had applied a
one Of the shelters for permission to sleel
on the floor, saying that he had no money
but would work for his lodging in tn,
morning. But apparently it was plac,
where no credit was given.
Another night he spent in Salvation
Army barracks. He applied about mid
night, ostensibly 'broke," But the office
in charge had exhausted his supply o
sympathy. A workman offered to pay TO
his lodging and he accepted, agreeing t.
repay him later. The accommodation wa
hardly worth paying fora double decke
iron bed, with extremely dirty blanket
and linen, these being, according to regu
lations, changed once a week. One O
the attendants was drunk and had a fire
fight with a lodger. Here, as at severs
other places, Mr.. Marsh found men VIII
were earning from $3.50 to 81 a day, blu
spent it very freely and had no regula
titute' fellow dodgers generously inclined
ready to set up" breakfast to him, be
lieving that he was broke, and to Civ
the farm in Delaware that he was sup
posed to have come from.
In the station houses the officers toll
him that they were forbidden to allow an