Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1916 — DISSATISFIED WITH YOUR LOT [ARTICLE]

DISSATISFIED WITH YOUR LOT

Then Pay a Visit to Madison Square Park at Night, a New Yorker Advises. “I advise all those who are dissatisfied with their lot in life and those who are apparently better situated, to take a seat in one of the parks here some night and merely observe,” a reflective man said the other day, according to a New York letter in the Pittsburgh Dispatch. “It makes a v man deeply thankful that he has a warm bed to sleep in and a roof over his head, if nothing else. “I was walking through Madison Square park the other night and watched the poor devils on the benches. Some w r ere typical do wn-and-outs. All were dozing in the cold. Most of them straightened up at the sound of an ominous footstep. A policeman swung around the corner and walked along the benches. Wherever he found a" man with his head fallen forward on his breast he stirred him to life by a prod in the ribs, with his stick. If the man failed to respond the representative of law and order sharply whacked him on the soles of his feet, causing the sleeper to start up suddenly an<f rub his feet together with a haste that would have been funny if it had not been so pitiful. The policeman passed on. “Some of the bench occupants apparently strove to keep awake. But their heads nodded, their eyes closed and again sleep came upon them. Again appeared the restless policeman, poking each man impartially. I wonder what is the idea of keeping a big, strong policeman who ought to be out catching stick-up men a* such a business? Why not let tha poor devils sleep?"