It was getting late. I was very tired, and knew I must find shelter from the storm. I would not ask of anyone on the street the price of a bed. Someone out of pity might give me money he actually needed for himself. I decided to seek first some of the Good Samaritan institutions which make a business of helping the needy. But where they were I could only find out by inquiring of the policeman. I must approach them with all that dread and terror excited by the expectation of evil which all destitute men in our American "cities of liberty" come to look for at the hands of the police. I approached an officer and asked him, "Can you tell a fellow where he can get a free bed?" He did not look at me suspiciously; he did not take the law in his own hands by questioning me on the street; he simply placed his hand on my shoulder in a kindly way and said, "Right here is Kerney Street. Keep right down Kerney until you come to Pacific,--you can't miss Pacific Street,--and you will see the 'Whosoever Will' Mission. They have some kind of a 'free flop' there, but if they don't take care of you, go to the city prison." It was eleven o'clock when I approached the "Whosoever Will" Mission. The meeting had just closed. I counted twenty men and boys standing on the street outside of the place. I slipped up to one of the boys and asked where the "free flop" was. He said, "About a block down the street." I asked him, "What is the show for getting a free bed?" "Mighty poor," he replied, "us fellows all got left. If you want a bed you have got to be here and go to the meeting and if you are lucky enough to get a ticket you can get a bed."