Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1904-09-29
SOME FORMS OF BEGGING.
Two, Once Familiar, Now Seldom
Heard and One That Is
Perennial.

to the New York Sun, lust as there
are In all things. They come and 60.
"A fashion that prevailed not so many
yearst ago started with this formula:
Mister, don't want any money, not
a. cent. but I'm hungry. want some
thing to eat. Take me to some restaur-
ant and 81 me something to eat Don't
give me the money; you pay for 1t your.
self Only 81 me someth.ng-to eat
1.-THE theory OF the inventor of this
form Of begging was the that first II
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 II 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
ular and successful for time, 1t even
came to have quite literature.
There was, for instance, the story OF
the hardy and able man who. held up
with this appeal, dragged the beggar to
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. had one actual expert
of my own:
'Im no Judge of beggars. I frankly
confess; I can't always tell by any
means whether beggar is worthy or
not. But once, when this form of beg
ging was common, met a tall, slim
young man who stopped me and said to
me: Mister, I'm hungry, can't you Ct
me something to eat?' I took chance
and took the young man to restaurant.
81 couldn't tell whether he was just
a beggar who had learned the patter
or whether that request had just come
I'M out of him spontaneously but the t
instant l had said Come along felt
SIRE he was all right. for that instant
he stopped being beggar and smiled
up and walked along with me. not cring-
Inc but as II 7 was his friend. {
"And was he really hungry? Well,
ron should have seen him eat e
"'Son,' saws I to him, when we got to t
he restaurant, there's the bill of fare. 0
Feed Yourself and he did. a
81 think he must have been II days n
n an open boat without food, or some t
hing of that sort; but certainly he was
II tubular construction inside, hollow
III the way down. for his storage capac- IL
ty was something stupendous. Il
"Eatq 7 never saw a man CAT so IN Is
nv life, and never saw man enjoy II
neal so much. like to eat myself and a
ave been hungry at times but ! don't h
oppose ever ate anything that tasted b,
o good to me as that meal did to him. u
Lucky it was cheap restaurant, for y,
only had about a dollar and a half cl
18th me. His check was $1.25, but / TT
ever begrudged him the money. 10
But the 'Mister-I-don' t-want any tn
-I-do-want-something-to- eat' ell
,rm of begging, once so common, has ST
ow gone almost wholly out of fashion; er
is now comparatively seldom en- er
Dyed. m
Another fashion in begging that IN in
ore limited way and for briefer time 81
.evajled and which also was celebrated ril
Its day, was that which consisted in tn
king man, not for food, but for wi
oney for a drink. OF
"Mister, says this beggar, picking tn
) man, I amt hungry a bit. but do to
ant drink. Can you stand a dime for to
drink?' on
This supposed frankness of this re- in
est or its pure gall or both combined br,
,used some people and was effective
some instances for a time. but NOT or,
. long. II did not generally commend III
elf and II has now fallen practically bot
n disuse. nm
The perennial form of begging is that bee
1