LOOKING FOR WORK--WASHING DISHES IN A BOWERY RESTAURANT.
AFTER a couple of hours spent in going about the streets, Archie went
into a place where he bought some coffee and rolls for his supper. He
paid only five cents for three sweet rolls and a large cup of coffee
which was not at all bad to taste, and he returned to the lodging-house
on the Bowery feeling better than he had expected to feel when he
started out from the homestead where he spent the previous night, If
he could get a good meal for five or ten cents, and could sleep for ten
cents more, he would have enough to keep him going for some time.
The Bowery at night presented a wonderful appearance to Archie’s mind.
The brilliantly lighted shops, the cheap theatres with their bands of
musicians on the sidewalk in front of the entrance, were all attractive
to his boyish eyes, but he was wise enough to pass them all by, and
to make his way as quickly as possible to the cheap lodging-house. The
street was jammed with persons of every description. He was surprised
particularly at the number of Chinamen he met, for he didn’t know that a
block or two away was the centre of the Chinese population of New York,
where the Celestials have their theatre, their hotels, their great
stores, and their joss-house. There were many Italians in the street,
too, and Polish Jews, to say nothing of Frenchmen and Germans. Then
there was the typical Bowery “tough,” who swaggered up and down, looking
for trouble, which he usually finds before an evening passes. Archie was
not afraid in this cosmopolitan crowd. No one seemed to notice him, and,
anyhow, there were a great many policemen about, who seemed to keep a
sharp lookout all the time. And as Archie shared his mother’s faith in
the city policeman, he felt no fear.
In the lodging-house everything looked very much as before. The chairs
were still occupied with filthy-looking men, who smoked and spat and
talked in undertones among themselves. The boy paid no attention to any
of them, but, walking up to the seedy individual behind the counter,
asked him if he could go to bed now. The man answered, “Certainly,” and
sent a fellow with Archie to show him his bed. It was in a long, narrow
room, which was poorly lighted with a few gas-jets here and there, and
which was filled with about thirty beds, all narrow, and all dirty. One
of these was pointed out to Archie, and then the man left him. The poor
lad felt more homesick than ever, and had it not been that he had a
glorious to-morrow to look forward to, he would have been very miserable
indeed. As it was, he undressed and got between the chilly sheets, when
he remembered that he hadn’t looked after his little roll of bills for a
long time, and that some of them might be missing. He crawled out of
bed again, and felt inside the lining of his coat for the purse. He had
sewed it there for safe-keeping until he reached the city, for he had
some little change in his pocket, which he knew would last him for
several days.
The poor boy’s hand felt nothing but a cut in the lining, where the roll
of bills had been, and all at once he realised that the money must have
been stolen from him. And he at once thought of the night in the ruins,
when he fell asleep among the tramps, and there was no doubt in his mind
but that they had taken his money from him. This was a terrible blow.
Here he was, with just a few cents in his pocket, and no one to whom he
could appeal for aid. It was the worst predicament Archie had ever
been in, and he hardly knew what to do. He sat on the side of his dirty
little bed for awhile, and then he snuggled under the covers and was
soon asleep again. For a boy who has been walking all day seldom stays
awake from worry.
But when he awoke in the morning, it was to realise the fact that he
must get some money this very day or go to the police station. The few
cents he had remaining were only enough to buy some coffee and bread for
breakfast, and the poor lad didn’t know where his next meal would
come from. As he went out, the clerk in the filthy office of the
lodging-house told him that he needn’t come back any more.
“Why did you tell him that?” asked the fat man with a sly face.
“Because I went through his clothes last night when he was asleep, and
he had only six cents in his pocket. We don’t want no starvin’ brats
around here, to bring the Gerry Society down upon us.”
It was well that Archie didn’t know his pockets had been searched while
he was asleep, or his faith in human nature would have been more
shaken than ever before. He had not suspected that the men in this
lodging-house might be dishonest.
“They are poor,” he said to himself when he saw them first, “but they
may be good men for all that.”
After a slender meal, Archie found a library where he looked over the
advertising columns of the morning papers, trying to find some position
open which he thought he might fill. There were several advertisements
calling for office boys, and all these he made note of, and then as he
looked down the page he noticed that a boy was wanted in a restaurant to
wash dishes. He decided that if he didn’t succeed in getting a place
as office boy, he might get the restaurant place. He knew that in a
restaurant he would be likely at least to get enough to eat.
For two hours he called at addresses of men who wanted office boys, but
at every place he was turned away. “We have already hired one,” some
of them said, and others told him that they never took any boys in
the office who were living away from home. Some asked him for
recommendations, and when he had none, they looked at him and told him
“good morning.” It was all terribly discouraging, and with every minute
Archie was wishing more and more that he were back home again. Somehow
the city seemed different now from what it had been when Uncle Henry
was with him. Everything was less bright, and the things he had been
delighted with before were less interesting now.
Finally, he entered a large, handsome suite of rooms, in one of the
great sky-scrapers, and was shown into a very elegant private office.
There he found an old gentleman seated in a great easy chair, looking
over papers, and keeping one eye upon a buzzing instrument at his side
which seemed to be spitting out long strips of paper, like a magician
in a side-show. The man looked up as he entered, and cleared his throat.
“Ahem,” he said, “you look as if you were from the country. I wonder,
now, if you have came to the city to seek your fortune.”
Archie was embarrassed. “Yes, sir, I suppose you might put it that way,”
he replied.
“Well,” continued the old gentleman, “my advice to you is to go back
where you came from as quickly as you can. Not one boy in a thousand
will gain either fame or fortune in New York, and you stand a wonderful
chance of sinking lower every year. And even if you do succeed, you will
miss many beautiful things in your life which may come to you in the
country. You can have a pleasant home there, and live an easy, natural
life, while here it will be years before you can expect to accomplish
much, and you will spend your life in a nervous strain. Think well,
young man, before choosing the great city as your sphere of usefulness.”
“I’ve made up my mind, sir,” said Archie. “I have quite decided to
remain in the city.”
“Very well,” said the old gentleman, “I hope you may never regret it.
But we have already hired an office boy. Good morning.”
Archie walked out, more discouraged than ever. Perhaps, after all, a
country life was not to be so much despised. This man ought to know what
he was talking about. But once outside, in the Broadway crowd, Archie
forgot everything about the country, and was lost in the delight of
being one of four million.
He now decided to accept the place in the restaurant, if it were
not taken, and, fortunately for him, it was not. So he rolled up his
sleeves, and began to wash dishes as if he had done nothing else in all
his life before.