The Washington bee., 1909-05-15
A Thousand Men Are Fed
Every Night.
THE BOWERY MISSION
At this Place and at FIeischmann's
May BE Found the Men in Actual
Need-It is the Aim OF The Sc
Places TO Gend Away No Hungry
Person.
Person.

ne two policemen Who were
standing at the corner of Canal
street and the Gowery as / approach
eu them looked ne over VIXEN ULey
saw was about to interrupt their
eCnversauon. c. 1t va: anything but \
pleasant night; the coat / had bor-
rowej for tAe evening was none too
t1Ick, and the old shoes i wore were
Let waterproof. Ii my abject poV-
eJty was assumed. 1 felt a sembIaace
OF the real thing, tor / was cold and
tired after trampilg up and down the
muddy streets for an hour.
Where kin a teller git a cup o
coffee r handout?" I asked.
One of the officers smiled affabIy.
Two doors up. he said. indicating
one of the numerous five and ten
cent feeding places, of which the.o
are one or two in every block in bhis
neigh borhOod
Il didn't mean that kind" / re-
piled. I've got to find a place
where there amt a price on the
grub "
Il guess the bread line at FIeisch-
manns or the Bowery Missions
the only place, then, Jack" said tue
officer as he turned mis- back on NE
SO 1 slouched along to 55 Bowery,
where a sign in the window, reading,
'BoweTy Services Every
Evening" indicated that l had found
the right place. | looked in the door.
The big room, flied with chairs. was
dimly lighted, and on the platform
at the far end, e man was moving
some chairs around
"Nothin' doin' yet, bO" said a
rough-looking fellow. They don't
give ye nc grub until 1 o'clock" "
This was disheartening, or would
have been, had I really needed the
food, for 1t was only a little after
eleven. I'm goin' up ter the bak-
cry the tramp -ontinued. "Ye sit
your at II sharp Up there"
S We ambled up the BOWery 10
Eighth street, and from there to
Tenth street and Fourth avenue Al
tCo0g NAC " dANlllSs llAAC CALChuCu AAOlA4
tn rear door of the bakery around
the corner to the entrance of Grace
church. I dropped into the process
sion which in few moments reached
up Broadway to Twelfth street.
had been in the line but a short time
when a clock nearby sounded for
midnight The line began to move
along and the waiting men on either
side of me cheered up a bit There
was very little conversation, however.
Now and then some of them muttered
curses, and once when a sightseeing
automobile stopped at the corner the
curses Jecame quite audible.
After the line of waiting men -
over 600 in number, as / ascertalned
had had their bread and coffee,
most of them dispersed, though few
repeated" in order to get a second
helping A number of them hung
around until they could get a chance
to ask the manager Of the restaurant
for work. But there was no chance
for any one, though the refusal was
not made unpleasantly.
From the bakery l went back 10
the Bowery Mission.
A thousand men are fed every
night at the Bowery Mission-sOme-
times more. It is the aim at both
this place and at Fleischmann' to
send no one away hungry, but Just
now the demand Is much In excess Of
that usual at this time of year
One sees at these two places the
men who are In actual need of food
and drink The street beggars are
in nine cases out of ten unworthy Of
notice. But tie man or woman who
doubts the distress-the real need Of
food among the unemployed-should
spend a couple Of hours at the two
places l have described, and he or
she will be convinced that there is
no lack Of opportunity for the offices
of the Good Samaritan, and no ex-
cessive crowding IN the ranks Of
helpers of unfortunate humanity.
RODERIC c. PENFIELD.