Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-06


The Homeless Man breaks away from
the rum and the besotted life that makes
him as unclean anything alive, just
about once in ten thousand times. Talk
to any of those who know. There are Re
formers galore, and now and then "a man
like John Downey of the Home of the
Good Samaritan really gets llnderneath
and succeeds in uplifting his fall III
brother. But the instances they VIII
speak of are the bright and shining ligh,s
along the vast shoal of human wrecns.
The reason is that the moving film ol
down and outs is sordid monotone.
One wreck has reached the stag wherr
he is just like the one behind him and the
one ahead of him. Hundreds and nun
dreds of them pass-and then some night
in comes a fellow with q little spark OF
manl.neSs left, and the man n ch1ree If
the MISSION or home happens to do eS-
actly the right thing to fan that spark
into a tiny flame. And the flame eventu-
ally kindleS into roaring fire; the rum is
dried out, after a terrific strug: lie Al
ways. and the man becomes an example.
They talk of him and point him out an.l
hope Almost against hope that the next
thousand vass Will contain man on
whom the next experiment may be sue
cessful.
The Homeless Man has the appearance
of being starved to death. He has eyes
which are absolutely lacking in expr,s
sion ana he scarcely ever SHOWS any In
telhgence. He n .ver shows any fear. He
rarely expresses any emotion. In this
city it is a rare occurrence to find a
young man picked up as a vagrant, and
the few who do face the court say that
they do not belong here. WaShlngtOn'S
Homeless Man is from forty to sixty
years old, and in two years at the Pc
lice Court the vags Of seventy years CT
more could be counted on the fingers %
one hand. But they stop at potter fed
before &.
Washngton'S Home eSs Man seems to BE-
one color all over. There is no color N
an artists palette for the flesh .ints
which characterize the lime drinkers, tile
gin compound fiends and the cocaine eat
ers-and every one of them owns up 20
at least one of these habits. The sray
places which serve as eyes seem to blend
with the rain-beaten colorless hair; 'hf
hair seems to be of Il piece with The
shapeless hat; the hat is cut from the
cloth of the coat; the coat and SHIRT
match and the SHIRT is tucked into pair
of trousers of the same color. No tailor
could cut a suit of cloIhes to look IKE
the clothes of one of these poor fellows.
The reason for this similarity of color
is that the men in the clothes sleep in
the rain, walk in the rain, and soak in
all kinds of sleet, slush and snow. and
everything actually runs together. Their
ambition is washed away with the tor
rents Of rum they pour down their
threats. There is not one of them who
does not drink and that is no idle re-
mark. 1t comes from memory of police
court cases and talks with many bum
in the missions and places of ''refu1e.
When night comes these derelicts of
the str, els nave to hustle for beds. There
are several ways open to them to secure
a nights lodging. They can stay at the
municipal lodging house for the price of
a good chore of frewood, sawed and split
but there are mighty few real. old-tine
vags that choose that place. When you
ask them about it they will tell you d
terrible tale of woe. filled with express
sions of disgust for the management.
They will have you believe that the mu-
nicipal wood pile is blood relative to
the Spanish inquisition. And they rarely
drop in there unless hard pressed. The
latest investigation by the District au-
thorities into this lodging house resulted
in a report satisfactory to those whose
business it is to oversee the place, but