Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-26

gentle touch of the Christly spirit immedi-
ately reaches their hearts and wins them
completely. and rarely fails to rekindle the
flame of hope in their blasted lives Many
of them have not known kind word and
after their temporal needs are supplied l
have found them to be most appreciative
and responsive to the good advice and coun-
sci that is given them
The Good Samaritan Home was started
during the severe blizzard of February,
1895, at a time, 1t was stated, when hum
cold and hunger Many of the first inmates
al the time of that Ditiless storm of snow
and Sleet. with It's below-ZerO temperature,
were badly frost-bitten, and some OF them
who had come from the south were suffer-
ing from blood poisoning, the result of eat
ing frozen oranges while enduring the pangS
of hunger. Like Lazarus. said Mr.. Downey,
they were covered by sores. But through
good care and nourishment they were re-
stored to health, and nearly all of them
proved to be good citizens afterward.
Some of those men, said Mr.. Downey,
were members of worthy families but be-
cause of their wretched condition were
ashamed to make themselves or their needs
known to their friends and relatives AT
first many of my nefghbors In this LOCALITY
were very angry at me for introducing such
work here. They remarked that the neigh
borhoOd would be swarmed with thieves and
outcasts. but my reply to them was that If
we left them In their deplorable CONDITION
such would be truly the case. Supply their
wants and encourage them to live indus
trious. honest and frugal lives and you Will
make of them good, law-abidtnS, self-sup-
porting citizens which l have found to be
the case ninetynine times out of a hun
dred.
To-day we are living in the most advanc-
ed country in civilization and Christianity in
the whole world. Under the benign influence
of the stars and stripes our land we love so
we'll Is known as the home of the brave and
the free. But today we find In every NUM-
cipality throughout this broad land rigid
kt,1 H.lnN yodn ND 6aCf fyvt
workingman who has no friends or money
to procure food or shelter. When he is found
stranded, it may be his fault or his mis-
fortune, after seeking employment, maybe,
in hundreds of places. He is stranger His
appearance is haggard and his clothes may
be untidy. Nobody wants him. He Is thus
forced to the choice OF four things or al
ternatives-to beg, to starve, to steal or to
commit suicide
Resort to Begging.
"Ninety-five per cent of this class will, of
course. resort to begging rather than resort
to the other three alternatives and while
in the act of begging which is the lesser of
the four, the unfortunate is arrested and
the policeman puts the charge of vagrancy
against him. The judge may ask him If he
has anything to say but the poor man adj
nits he was begging as he could not find
employment and had no money with which
to procure food or shelter. He receives
sentence of thirty, sixty or ninety days. or
maybe six months in the wOrkhouSe, and
he is dressed in the suit of a convict and
forced to work in the chain gang. When his
term expires he is discharged without a
nickel to buy his next meal, thus making
him ten times more wretched and degraded
than before his arrest. The brand of felon
has been added to his poverty. / regard this
treatment as nothing short of barbarous
and a blot upon our country and civiliza-
ton.
This was one of the principal causes
which impelled me to establish the Good
Samaritan Home. and find from my expe-
rience of ten years in providing for upward
of 1850 of these unfortunates that can
keep them for 10 per cent less than it costs
to keep them in prison, and instead of
crushing this class, good, law-abiding cit!-
made self-supporting through this method"
The Ground Space Incident.
Referring to the incident about the color
ed church next to his stable, which was de-
scribed by President Roosevelt on the
cent occasion mentioned, Mr.. Downey said
modestIy that he had done only what he
conceived to be his duty.
Those colored people," he added ARE
worshiping the same God l worship. When
1 was ready to build my new place of bust
ness last summer the pastor of the Shiloh
Colored Baptist Church called on me. The
church had only ten inches of space be-
tween its building line and mine. and ac
cording to the building regulations l was
entitled to nine inches of the ten for my
party wall. Had l built on those lines it
would have closed the church edifice entire
ly in on its eastern side, thus darkening the
interior of the building and preventing the
proper ventilation. The pastor made a
strong plea to be allowed to buy a strip two
feet wide in addition to the ten inches. AS
my lot is SO feet deep that would have made
nearly 200 square feet. or, including the par
ty wall to which l was entitled, about 300
square feet in all. and the ground was val
ued at about 81 foot. Under other crcum-
stances money could not have bought the
ground. and l would not have taken $40 a
foot for it. But considered that 1t was
church 1 was dealing with. although 1t
neceSsftated change OF my entire plans
and specifications / could not think of de-
priving house of divine worship of the
right to buy the space for better light and
breathing. l therefore concluded to let the
church have the ground at the price ii cost
me. The pastor and members of the con-
gregation were much pleased, and said they
would see me shortly. Three weeks later
the minister and board of directors called
on me again and stated that they were very
thankful for giving them the privilege OF
buying but as the church was already In
debt they could not think of increasing the
Indebtedness. They expressed sorrow at
having held back my building operations
and We parted.
"It Was UP to Me Them
.Of course continued Mr.. Downey with
a quaint Irish smile. "it was up to me then.
| realized that to have new set of plans
and specifications made would cost me 800,
and thar the work would be further re-
tarded That night there was quite a
weighty subject on my mind In fact,
could not sleep until the question was set
tied / thought of those good people and
their embarrassing position. We all wor-
ship the same God. | considered 1t was He
who gave me what have and that | was
only an humble steward and had some day
to render an account of my stewardship.
realized that am old man now. That
brought nothing into the world with me
nor will | take anything away. God gave
us all free air and sunlight. While 1t was
my legal right to go ahead, there was
moral law which governs us which con-
slider Is above all law. and on those grounds
at once concluded would give them what
they desired without any cost to the
church."