The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1912-03-19
lex. ;..,,.-22r..-.,. . Il
Co,vrtght, 1910. by Doubleday, Page
4. GO.

| T1bpy were the AMY HI N|t'"NiI w '
s,ra..n Of life lodged III the delta o.
Fifth avenue and Broadway. The bHd
1fnors stamped their freezing feet.
looked ut the empty benches in Madi
snu square whence Jack Frost A2A
avictcQ }hrm and mut;cred to one an
other in Il confusion Of tongues,
Standing on pine box head higher
than his Cock OF goats. the preacher eX-
hortcd whatever transient and shifting
audience the north wind dotcd "ut 10
him. 1t was a slave market Flfteen
cents bought you man. You decided
him to Morpheus, and the recoFulhS
angel gave you credit.
The preacher was incredibly earnest
and unwcaried. lie had looked over
the list Of things one may do for ones
follow man and had assumed for him
self the task of putting to bed all who
might apply at his soap bon on tie
nights Of Wednesday and Sunday,
The hour Of was but a little while
past. Sightseers N 2 small. dark mass
of nav ore were gathered in the shadow
of General W0rths monument. Now
I and then. shyly, ostentaUousiy, care
Iessly or with conscientious eXactncSS,
one would step forward and bestoW
upon the preacher small bills or silver.
Then a lieutenant of Scandinavian col
oring and enthusiasm would march
away to 4 lodging house with squad
of the redeemed.
A clean profiled, erect young man in
the rear rank of the bediess emulated
the tcrrapia drawing his head far
down into the shell Of his coat collar
1t was well cut tweed coat. and the
| trousers still showed signs of having
fattened themselves beneath the com,
polling goose The young man was no
| other than Thomas McQuade, eX-coach-
man, discharged for drunkenness. one
month before and now reduced to the
grimy ranks Of the one night bed seek
ers.
IF you live in smaller New York you
must know the Van Smuythc family
carriage, drawn by the two 1900
pound 100 to / shot bays The car
GhiEt Is Hld tikts a JfLIAiti- HI fs'i' -
end of it reclines an old laGy Van
| Smuvthc holding a black sunshade the
size of New Years eve feather
ticker. Before his downfall Thomas
| MeOuade drove the Van Smuythe bays
and was himself driven by Annie, the
Van Smuythe lady's maid But it is
one of the saddest things about ro
nance that a tight shoe or an empty
| commissary or an aching tooth will
make temporary hereto of any On
| pid worShiDer And Thomas phys
ical troubles We're not few. Therefore
his soul was less vexed with thoughts
of his lost lady's maid than it wits by
the faneied presence of certain non
4 existent things that his rackad nerves
almost convinced him were dying
/ dancing crawling and wriggiing on
the asphalt and III the air above and
around the dismal campus of the bed
line army. Nearly four weeks of
straight whisky and diet limited to
crackers. bologna and pickles often
guarantee a archaeological sequel
Thus desperate, freezing, angry. beset
| by phantoms as he was. he, felt the
need of human sympathy and inter
course
The bed liner standing at his right
was young man Of about his own
age, shabby, but neat.
/ whats the diagnosis of your case.
Freddy asked Thomas, with the free
masonic familiarity of the damned.
Booze? That's mine. You don't look
like panhandIer."
The other young man seemed TO vel
come the advances of the airy ez
coachman
NO" said he: mine isn't exactly a
case of drink-unless We allow that
Cupid is bartender. | married IN
wisely, according to the opinion of my
unforgiving relatives. I've been out
of work for a year because ! don't
know how to work. and I've been sick
in Bellevue and other hospitals four
months. Ny wife and kid had to go
back to her mother | was turned out
of the hospital yesterday And |
haven't cent That's my tale of
woe
| Tough luck" said Thomas "A
man alone can pull through all right.
But ! hate to see the women and the
kids get the worst of it
! Just then there hummed up Fifth
avenue a motorcar SO splendid. SO red
so smoothly running. 50 crafty de-
molishing the speed regulations. that it
drew the attention even of the iistless
bed liners. Suspended and ninioned on
Il its left side was an extra tire.
Wien ft #
pany the fastenings of this tire became
loosed. It fell TO the asphalt. bounded
| and rolled rapidly in the walte,of the
i flying car.
/ Thomas McQuade, seeming an OPP
portunity. darted from his place among
the preachers goats, In thirty seconds
he had caught the rolling tire. swuha
| it over his shoulder and was trotiina
after the ear On both sides of the