I HAD walked twelve miles before noon. Then I had eaten four slices
of bread and butter on merciful doorsteps. At four-thirty, having
completed twenty-one miles, I entered the richest village in the United
States, a village that is located in New Jersey. I was so weary I was
ready to sleep in the gutter, and did not care if the wagons ran over
me. I should have walked through to the green fields before I looked
for hospitality. I knew that the well-meant deeds of the city cannot
equal the kindness of the most commonplace farm-hand. Yet I lingered.
I purchased a feast of beefsteak and onions at an obscure Jewish
restaurant and felt myself once more a man. But it was now too late to
leave town. The rule of the country is--one must ask for his night’s
lodging before five o’clock. After that, things are growing dark, and
people may be afraid of you.
After paying for beefsteak and onions, I had twenty-five cents. This
twenty-five cents was all that remained after a winter’s lecturing on
art and poetry in Manhattan. I am satisfied that the extra money, over
and above all paid debts, brought me some of the ill-luck of the night.
As I have before observed, money is a hoodoo on the road. Until a man
is penniless he is not stripped for action.
A sign at the lunch-counter advertised: “Furnished rooms, fifty cents.”
I asked the proprietor to cut the price. He dodged the issue. “Say, why
don’t you go up there to the mission? They will sell you a good bed
cheap.”
“For a quarter?”
“Something like that.”
“Show me the place.”
As of old the Jew pointed out the way of salvation. The Gentile
followed it and reached the dwelling-place of Faith, Hope, and Charity.
“What do you want?” The questioner, evidently in charge of the place,
was accoutred in stage laboring-man style. Maybe his paraphernalia was
intended to put him on a level with wayfarers. He wore a slouch hat, a
soft shirt, and no necktie. His clothes had the store freshness still.
They looked rather presumptuous in that neat, well-stocked reading room.
“I want a cheap bed.”
“We do not sell beds.”
“I was told you did.”
“We give them away.”
“All right.”
“But you have to work.”
“Very well.”
“Do you want to leave early in the morning?” (The place was evidently a
half-way house for tramps.)
“Yes. I want to leave early in the morning.”
“Then you will have to split kindling two hours to-night.”
“Show me the kindling.”