St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-10-08
SOME FORMS OF BEGGING.

SOME FORMS OF BEGGING.
Two, Once Familiar, Now Seldom
Heard and One That Is
Perennial
There are fashions in begging, No
doubt" said Mr. Blinkinton, according
to the New York Sun, Gust as there
are in all things. They come and go.
"a fashion that prevailed not so many
years ago started with this formula:
Mister, don't want any money. not
cent, but I'm hungry. want some
thing to eat. Take me to some restaur-
ant and gil me something to eat Don't
give me the money; you pay for it your
self. Only gi' me something to eat
t'The theory of the inventor of this
form of begging was the that first 1t
would appeal by its apparent sincerity;
and, secondly, that the person thus
asked for meal wouldn't have time to
turn aside from his business to take the
beggar to restaurant, and so if he were
impressed would give the beggar mon.
ey; which, of course, was what the beg
gar wanted.
This form of begging was very pop
u1ar and successful for time. 1t even
came to have quite a literature.
There was. for instance, the story Of
| the hardy and able man who, held up
| with this appeal. dragged the beggar to
| a restaurant and there compelled him
to eat, standing over him with club,
and, though the beggar had already
eaten four breakfasts, forcing him to
keep on eating until he begged for
| mercy.
"And there was the story OF the beg
gar told by himself in beggar's joint
Of how in one short afternoon he had
been compelled by seven stingy givers
to eat in quick succession seven meals
of doughnuts and sinkers. Thus the
stories ran. I had one actual expert
of my own:
I'm no judge of beggars, I frankly
confess; I can't always tell by any
means whether a beggar is worthy or
not. But once, when this form of beg
ging was common, met tall, slim
young man who stopped me and said to
me: Mister, I'm hungry, can't you gi'
me something to eat?' / took a chance
Il couldn't tell whether he was just
beggar who had learned the patter
or whether that request had just come
up out of him spontaneously, but the
instant I had said Come along felt
sure he was all right; for that instant
he stopped being beggar and smiled
up and walked along with me. not cring-
ing, but as if was his friend.
"And was he really hungry? Well,
you should have seen him eat.
"'Son,' says to him, when We got to
the restaurant, there's the bill of fare.
Feed yourself and he did
II think he must have been II days
In an open boat without food, or some
thing of that sort; but certainly he was
of tubular construction inside, hollow
all the way down, for his storage capac-
ity was something stupendous.
Eat? I never saw man eat SO in
my life, and never saw man enjoy
meal so much. l like to eat myself and
have been hungry at times, but don't
suppose ever ate anything that tasted
so good to me as that meal did to him.
LUCKY it was cheap restaurant, for
I only had about a dollar and a half
with me- His check was $1.25, but l
never begrudged him the money.
But the tMister-I-don' t-want-any-
money-but-I-do-want-something-to-eat'
form of begging, once so common, has
now gone almost wholly out of fashion;
it is now comparatively seldom en-
ployed
another fashion in begging that in a
more limited way and for a briefer time
in its day, was that which consisted in
asking a man, not for food, but for
money for a drink.
Mister says this beggar, picking |
his man, 7 amt hungry bit, but l do !
want a drink. Can you stand dime for !
q drink
''This supposed frankness of this re-
quest, or its pure gall, or both combined, |
amused some people and was effective |
n some instances for time; but not |
or long It did not generally commend |
Itself and it has now fallen practically
INTO disuse.
"The perennial form Of begging is that
which consists in asking for carfare to
get from the Battery to Harlem, or from
Harlem to the Battery; the way he
wants to go depending on where the beg
gar is at the moment of asking. Once l
,aid to man in Harlem, who had told
ne that he wanted to get to the Battery,
,ut he hadn't got any money:
"'Then why in thunder don't you
valkr
""Cause got to get there at II
1clock,' he says, or lose my job
''1t was then 10:15, and what could
ay to that? have never asked man
ince why he didn't walk.
"Only this morning I met man at
he Battery who wanted to get to Har-
EN- and wanted nickel for carfare.
Honest, don't know whether he was
forth it or not, though think he was,
ut anyhow gave him the money and
e took it with smile, and:
Thank you he says.
Gym much obliged to you.
The Lord may spare your health, I
ope.
Good luck to yon.'
"And I was glad to give the nickel for
UGH a blessing"