A SALOON CHARITY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 205, 1 September 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

A SALOON CHARITY.

Smtp and bread in liberal proportion* —three times a day—are handed ortt and no question asked to any hungry person who applies at the counter m the rear room of a saloon "sojpewhero along the Bowery," says ai New York paper. The owners' name and nddre«s are omitted, not because a rush on the place is feared, but because the proprietor is a modest man and his philanthropy wis instigated by the dying wish of his aged mother. The proprietor, who tamo as a boy from Ireland, explained the gurgling sound that issued from the rear room, where forty men were partaking of his bounty, in this fashion : "Me mother and 1 was pal:—see? 1 comes over from the old country and works hard and saves enough to open .1 place of me own. I sends for me old mother and she joins me. "She was glad f done well, but she never likes the nature of the business. Once or tw'ce she comes down ami looks the plac; 1 over and talks to one or two of the poor old bums, but she didn't sny nothing. 1 knows she don't like to sec me in this business, but it's all T got, so we says little about it. Then she took s : ck and died." The proprietor cleared his voice, grown a bit husky, and continued: "Just before the end comes she calls me to her. T want you to promise.' she says, 'that you'll feed every poor bum that comes in to your place throe times a day, whether lie buys a drink or not.' 1 promises. That's all."