The Washington bee., 1909-04-19
A Thousand Men Are Fed
Every Night.
THE BOWERY MISSION
At this Place and at FIeischmann's 3
May Be Found the Men in Actual
Need-It is the Aim of The Sc
Places to Send Away No Hungry
Person.


standing at the corner of Canal
street and the Bowery as approach
eu them looked lie over when Udey
saw ) vas about to interrupt their
c. nYeTsauO IL anything but 4
pleasant night; the coat ! had bOr-
rowei for the evening was none toe
tnck, and the old shoes l >Fore were
Let waterproof II my abject pow
eTty was assumed, felt a semblance
OF the real thing, for | was cold and
tired after trampi1g up and down the
muddy streets for an hour.
Where kin a teller git a cup o.
! coffee r q hanjOut?" / asked.
One of the officers smiled affably.
Two doors up he said, indicating
| one OF the numerous five and ten
cent feeding places. of which thsfo
are one or two In every block in 0hIs
| neigh borhood.
II didn't mean that kind" / re-
piled I've got to ind 3 place
where there ain't a price on the
grub
II guess the bread line at FleIsch-
| mann's or the BOwery Missions
the only place, then, Jack" said ths
officer as he turned his back on me
So 1 slOuched along to So Bowery,
, where sign in the window, reading,
'BOwery Mission-Seryices Every
Evening. indicated that had fodnd
the right place. looked In the do0r.
The big room. filed with chairs, was
dimly lighted, and on the platform
at the far end, 2 man was moving
some chairs around.
'NOthin doin' yet, bo." said a
rough-looking fellow. They don't
give ye no grub until l o'clock"
This was disheartening. or would
have been, had I really needed ths
food, for it was only a little after
eleven. I'm goin' up ter the Dak-
cry the tramp Ontinued. "Ye sit
your at IL sharp Up there"
s We ambled up the Bowery to
Eighth street, and from. there to
Tenth street and Fourth avenue. Al
ready the waiting line extended from
the corner to the entrance OF Grace
church. l dropped into the process
sion which in a 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 ludible,
After the line of waiting men
over 600 in number, as | ascertained
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 "estaurGnt
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 BoweTy Mission.
A thousand men are fed every
night at the Bowery Mission-sOme-
times more. 1t is the aim at both
this place and at Fleischmann's 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 real need OF
food among the mplOyed-shOuld
spend a couple os 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.