Chicago (Ill.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Gambling -- Fiction; Judges -- Fiction
"Well, I guess not. These guys don’t want services—they want grub."
"I believe I will address them," the preacher said to Howard.
"On the subject of foreign missions?" Howard asked.
"A merited sarcasm," the minister replied. "Let us go."
In the alley near the door a woman and a ruffian were quarreling. The
woman held a piece of money in her hand and the ruffian was trying to
take it from her. A policeman passed down the alley, but paid no
attention. The ruffian demanded the money. The woman refused. He
knocked her down, took it from her hand and was walking off when Bradley
touched him on the shoulder. "Give her back that money," he said. The
man drew back his ponderous fist. At that moment Howard ran up. The
ruffian looked at him and let his arm fall. Bradley called the
policeman. He turned and came walking slowly back, swinging his club.
"What’s wanted?" he asked. Bradley told him what had occurred. "It’s a
lie!" exclaimed the woman, stepping forward. "You never hit me, did
you, Jack?"
"Never touched her," said Jack, and a group about the door of the
restaurant roared with laughter. "Move on," said the policeman, and
Howard and the preacher moved on, the crowd jeering them.
"What put it into your head to go there?" Howard asked.
"I thought it was my duty."
"A man’s duty lies mostly among his own people," said the young lawyer.
"No, among stricken humanity."
"A heroic idea, but fallacious. The Lord takes care of His own. These
people are evidently not His own. Pardon my slang, but here is a
genuine gospel shop. Let us go in."
At the door of a room forbiddingly neat to the class which it intended
to feed, they were met by a cool young woman and a ministerial man. It
was a coffee house established to offset the influence of the saloon.
At the rear end of the room a young fellow played upon a wheezing
melodion. Girls were serving coffee. On the walls were pictures of the
Prodigal’s Return, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Jacob before Pharaoh, The
Old Home, several cows, a horse with his head over a barred gate, and a
child lamenting over a broken doll. Howard called attention to the fact
that the sandwiches were thin and that the coffee looked pale. "It is
charity," said he, "and charity is pale. Now, let me take you to the
enemy—the den against which these mild batters are directed."
They went to a saloon. The place was ablaze with light. The walls were
hung with paintings, some of them costly, some modest, others
representing figures as nude as Lorado’s nymphs. On a side counter was
a roast of beef, weighing at least a hundred pounds. "Look at that,"
said Howard. "Vice sets us a great roast—and for five cents, a glass of
beer, the vagabond may feast."
"The devil pandering to the drunkard and the glutton," replied the
preacher.
"But the devil is not pale; he is not niggardly—he is bountiful. To
cope with him, Virtue must be more liberal—give more beef and better
coffee."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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