The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1908-08-01
How Does IL Feel 10 be Out Of q Job,
And Cold and Hunsry7

oihCe and ask to be allowed To
write something Tor the price OF a
NAL.
The city editor placed him at a
desk and told him to write about
how It ielt to he out OF a Job and
hungry.
The editor ol the News assures
his readers that the article is print.
ed without change OF a word:
(By the Man Himself
They have asked me to write
down what II ieels like To be- out of
a job, and cold and hungry. They
said they would pay mc Tor il II |
would tell just how | ieel, and that
they would lc, M stay ~ the warm
office while ! wrote Il. They said
they would PRINT it just as | wrote
It, and ! heard one man tell an.
other ont that 1t would be- a great
human document.
Agrrat human document Good
Go gu SIS It i,l But | guess
they meant to he kind. ANYWAY,
shall write as slowly as | can,
because It is cold out there in the
street.
am an educated man. vent
to college, never mind where. The
college didn't do verv much tor me,
and g'".ss II wouldn't think |
was dCs..g very much Tor u n
mentioned its name in tn story OF
a bum. ! am a bum. II took me
a long time to realize Il. I'm down
and out. I've done things that
were wrong. At least, the police
said SO. When n mans hungry
he don't think much about right
and wong. lie thinks about his
stomach.
When his trousers are irayed al
the bottom, and his shoes let the
snow in, and he wears the same
shirt Tor six weeks, and the police
hound him, and he rides the blind
baggage, and the brakcmen kick
him and curse him, aud the people
on the street won't stop, and the
SNUG charities tell him to come
hack NJ week, and there's no
work and no trends, and you're
lonely, and hungry, and cold, aud
broke, and you walk along and look
through the windows into warm
rooms and know that there isn't
anybody n the world who gives a
lamn you don't care such a nell OF
a lot about right and wrong, do
youI ] dare YOU to say YOU would,
don't. want to live lis A
tool thing to want, but want 1t.
IL It wasn't Tor that | could lie
down m front OF a last train.
Last Sunday | went to church.
II was a tine church. They let me
SIT IN one OF the back pews. The
minister preached about love and
charity. tried to speak To him
alter church, but he was To- busy.
Then ! asked the sexton TO let M
stay IN the church. was cold.
wouldn't have stolen ANYTHING.
But he turned me out.
\ man has Just come and SAID
was not writing what he wanted.
tie wants me TO write how irrl.
Sometimes | ieel like a murder.
er.
told him | would not write how
ieel. Even 1t they pay me-, the,
haven't any right to make me say
things that will do harm.
But there's m thing | will say.
Put yourself in my place. New.
cr mind whose fault it rs that YOU
are a bum and n beggar. It's
might. say, and showing, and the
wind IS biting into you. There
are hundreds OF people going by,
thinking OF themselves and their
own comfort, and their own warmth
and their own bellies. Try to
speak TO one OF them. Excuse
me, sir, but could your One pays
no attention. Another ignores YOU
as he would a cur. One mar says
he's sorry, and the rest shake their
heads lmpatiently. You hear one
man say to another, never give
TO heggars. They only want il TO
buy whisky with"
It's a llel That man was a liar,
and he knows il. lie was n little,
mean, selfish, stingy soul. lie
didn't want to give. He was too
selfish to care. IL wasn't anything
TO MN that another man was COLI
and starving. He wanted to tor.
get it. lie considered himself al.
ironted because you dared to ask
him, and to salve his own dirty
little conscience he said; He
want 1t to buy whisky with"
No; ! haven't any quarrel against
the world as n world. IL NAV he
IT'S my W fault that ! am what |
am. have only an accusation
against its hypocrisy. II men are
brothers, it's the beggar who
knows which are the Gains.
The next time one OF my sort
speaks to you, think. Hold your
soul up in front OF you and look at
II. II you want to say to him,
mo dog" say 1t, and he will think