The Washington bee., 1909-06-19
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 Send Away No Hungry
Person.

<
standing at the corner of Canal
street and the Bowery as / approach
eu them looked ne over when ley
saw was about to interrupt their
CT conversation. 1t wa anything but I
pleasant night; the coat l had bor-
rowej for the evening was none too
t1lck, and the old shoes | wore were
Let waterproof. If my abject pow
eTty was assumed, felt a sembIanca
OF the real thing, for l was cold and
tired after trampi1g up and down the
muddy streets for an hour.
Where kin feller git a cup q
coffee r a hanjout2" / 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 theno
ars one or two In every block in this
neigh hborhOod.
Il didn't mean that kind" I re-
piled I've got to find q place
where there amt price on the
grub
mann's or the Bowery Missions
the only place, then, Jack. said tls
officer as he turned his back on me.
So / slouched along to 55 BOwery,
where a sign in the window, reading,
"Bowery Mission-Services Every
Evening" indicated that 1 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, man was moving
some chairs around.
"Nothin' doin' yet, bo," said a
rough-looking fellow. ''They don't
give ye no grub until 1 o'clock"
This was disheartening, or would
have been, had I really needed the
food, for it was only a little after
eleven. 'I'm goin' up ter the bak-
cry" the tramp continued. "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
tn rear door of the bakery around
/ the corner to the entrance of Grace
church. l dropped into the process
sion which in a few moments reached
! up Broadway tc Twelfth street. I
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 l ascertatned
had had their bread and coffee,
most of them dispersed, though a 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 PACK 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'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 beggaTs are
In nine cases out OF ten unworthy oi
| 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 oI
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 G. PENFIELD.