The Washington bee., 1909-06-05
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 These
Places TO Send Away No Hungry
Person.

tie two policemen Who wsrs
standing - the corner of Canal
stree and the Bowery as / approach
Ia them loCEed ae over when [, ~
saw was about to interrupt III 1ir
c,nversa ton. 1t wa anything but 4
pleasant night; the coat I had bOr-
rowed for the evening was none toe
tllck, and the old shoes 1 wore were
Lct waterproof. Il my abject pow
erty was assumed, / felt a semblAnoe
Of the real thing. for was cold and
tired after tTamping up and down tns
muddy streets for an hour.
Where kin a felleF git 3 CUP O.
coffee r handOutf" I asked.
One OF the officers smiled affahly.
two doors up, he said, indicating
one of the numerous FIVE and ton
cent feeding places. OF which thsf0
ars one or two In every block In bAIs
neigh borhood.
Il didn't mean that kind" I re-
piled. I've got to find q place
where there amt a price on the
grub.
II guess the bread line at Fleisch-
mann's or the Bowery Missions
the only place. then, Jack" said tae
officer as he turned his back on me.
So i slouohed along to 55 BoWery,
where's a sign In the window, reading,
; 'BoweFy Mission-Services Every
Evening" indicated that 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, q man was moving
some chairs around.
''Nothin' doin' yet, bo," said q
rough-loOking fellow They don't
give ye no grub until 1 o'clock"
This was disheartening, or would
have been, had 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 IL sharp Up there"
8 We smbled 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. / dropped into the process
| sion which in few moments reached
up Broadway to Twelfth street. l
| 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 UeCame quite audible.
After the line of waiting men
over 500 in number, as l 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 restaurant
for work. But there was no chance
for any one, though the refusal was
not made unpleasantly.
From the bakery l went back u
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 tc
send no one away hungry, but JUS
now the demand is much in excess Of
| chat usual at this time of year.
One sees at these two places the
men who are ia actual need Of food
and drink. The street beggars arr
in nine cases out of ten unworthy o.
notice. But tLe man or woman WhC
| doubts the distress-the real need o
food among the unemployed-shoult
! spend a couple OF hours at the TIVE
places l have described, and he ol
she will be convinced that there Il
no lack Of opportunity for the Offices
of the Good Samaritan, and no ex
cessive crowding In the ranks o
helpers Of unfortunate humanity.
n n