A newspaper writer gives this picture of an occurrence in New York:
On what proved to be the coldest night of the year, a man, said
to represent a brand of wine he is anxious to export, engaged
the largest stage in the world from midnight until the next noon
and gave an entertainment in honor of an elephant, to which were
bidden the men and women whose lights shine mostly on the Great
White Way.
These people were requested to come drest as “rubes,” in the
hope of making themselves as ridiculous as possible. But that
was unnecessary, as the report of their antics while the wine,
represented by their host, flowed with increasing freedom, did
for them what no amount of caricature in dress could accomplish.
Out in the cold of this same freezing night there is a
bread-line. Stationed at various places in this city are
municipal free lodging-houses. To these flocked the army of
the hungry and homeless, seeking for food and shelter from the
bitter cold.
On the one hand, wanton extravagance; on the other, biting poverty. It
ought to be the province of Christianity to abolish both of these for
their mutual good. (Text.)
(1005)