Evening star., 1914-03-22
WORTH WHILE FOLK
THE PRIEST TO THE STREET OF HOMELESS MEN

THE best way to upset all preconceived
= ideas of the Bowery is to live there for
awhile. Such a residence will incidentally
result in discarding large amount of mis-
information about the twenty-odd thousand
men who daily throng the lodging houses and
sidewalks of the most widely known thor
oughfare in the world.
To the average man the Bowery is known
as the haunt Of crooks, gunner, and the
degenerate of both sexes, a weird, mysteri-
Gus region where congregate the denizens
of the underworld whatever that is-to
plot against established law and order
In sober reality it is above all things
else, if you except its commercial life the
last resort of the honest man out of work.
Throughout its entire length are clustered
thick on every block the cheap lodging
houses of New York, and toward them in
evitably gravitate the unemployed who can
no longer pay weeks rent for a furnished
room.
In the heart of the Bowery is mission
unique in its methods and results. On the
lower floor of an old four-story building is
a reading room, its doors open from early
morning until late at night. There is no at
tendant. The visitor comes, rests, reads,
or goes his way without question or COM
ment.
On the floor above, in small, plainly fur
nished Office, sits a powerfully built, keen
eyed priest who helps men to help them
selves. For thirteen years his work has been
on or near the Bowery, and no one knows the
sodden tragedy of the Street of Homeless
Men better than he, and none has firner
belief in the probable rehabilitation of any
man who is given real chance.
To give that real chance to every man who
wants it, irrespective of his race, condition,
or religion, is what Father Rafter of the
Holy Name Mission conceives to be his
duty, and he has his own peculiar ideas of
how to go about it. That no other mission
on the Bowery or elsewhere dares adopt
them bothers the reverend father not lot
or title. He simply smiles quietly, goes
steadily on backing his answering belief in
his fellow man, and justifes his confidence
by the results attained.
HERE is a case in point; not an extreme
one either, by any means. There have
been something over a thousand similar ones
in the last two years, differing only in the
applicants need as OWNED by the shrewd
judgment of the priest of the Bowery.
A blear-eyed unkempt man shuffled slow
ly up the Bowery.. At the door of the mis-
sion he hesitated, clenched his trembling
unsteady legs to carry him to the little office
upstairs.
As he slouched hesitatingly toward Father
Rafter's desk the keen eyes of the priest
took instant stock of the human derelict.
am all in!r muttered the man, his eyes
on the floor. "I-I want to get Strengthened
out
"'Tis a good start you're making said
the priest. There is touch of brogue in his
deep voice. @When did you have your last
drinko7
"Last night. II was in here yesterday"
@That you were, and pretty cocky too!
What's your trade?'
~ was an expert stenographer for fifteen
years; but the booze got me. | haven't
worked at it for eight years. I've worked
a little while at most everything. I'm forty
years old, and his voice trailed off in a
broken whisper.
"Never mind about the forty years, in
terrupted the priest sharply. you can be
as decent at forty as you were at fourteen
In half an hour the man had told his
miserable, pathetic story of eight wasted
years-and told it truthfully.
"Now you can put all that behind you
and forget it, said Father Rafter. @From
NOV tc and