The Washington bee., 1909-03-06
A Thousand Men Are Fed
Every Night.
THE BOWERY MISSION
At this Place and at Fleischmann's
May Be Found the Men in Actual
Need-It is the Aim of ThGse
Places to Send Away No Hungry
Person.


standing at the corner of Canal
street and the Bower as / approach
ca them looked ne over when Cley
saw ' was about to interrupt their
Ct nversauOn. 1t va anything but
pleasant night; the coat / had bor-
roWej for tne evening was none toe
tlIck. and the old shoes 1 wore were
Let waterproof. If my abject pow
eTty was assumed, / felt a semblalce
OF the real thing. tor | 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 a hanjout?" / asked.
One of the officers smiled affably.
1.-TWO doors up. he said, indicating
one of the numerous five and ten
cent fe,ding places, of which thefo
are one or two In every block in unIs
neigh borhnod.
Il didn't mean that kind" / re-
piled I've got to find place
where there amt a price on the
grub.
Il guess the b. cad line at Fleisch-
mann's or the Bowery Missions
the only place, then, Jack" said tle
officer as he turned mis- back on me-
So I slOuched along to 55 Bowary.
where a sign in the window, reading,
'Bowery MissiOn-Seryices Every
Evening. indicated that had foLnj
the right plaoe. 1 locked in the dooT.
The big room, flied with chairs, was
dimly lighted, and on the platform
at the far end, man was moving
some chairs around
"Nothin' doiR' 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 l 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 20
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 to Twelfth street.
had been in the line but a short time
when 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 0nce when a sightseeing
automobile stopped at the corner the
curses Jecame quite IUdibIe.
After the line of waiting men
over 900 in number, as ascertalned
had had then 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 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 beggaTs 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-shouI
spend a couple OF hours at the two
places | 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.