Show A AK m i JL p r eif f rl qt IF-I IF r i J LP 6 r 11 W wjk r f r Salva- Salva SalvaS f How the S 4 L tc tion Ion A Army's s 1 r t I V r r rt t T- T TI Tireless Ire I ess p F ff v Soldiers ji 7 v Search Out f t the Miserable N L Ls s Homeless r t hIM Derelicts and 2 i jt i an anti ti k tItI I 11 Relieve eve Their Thelo hii 11 11 i i 41 t r r 1 I Cold and a Carrying the cheer of ofa a cup of hot soup to homeless wretches sleeping u under der the tar tar- s paulins of motor trucks outside the Central abs H Hunger unger W- W Wh It ith h Markets CUpS of Steaming Soup a M H N S 1 This pitiful bit of human wreckage was found asleep under a pile of newspapers in a doorway She said that the soup the Salvation Army's angels gave her was the first food to pass her lips in hours more than twenty four By C DE VIDAL HUNT PARIS nERE are places in the gay city T THERE of Paris where hordes of home home- homeless homeless homeless less men and women may pur- pur purchase pur purchase chase for a little less than ten cents a whole quart of wine together with the tM right to sleep pell-mell pell upon sticky tables or on the th stone floor from ten t at night until two in the morning They are the places of refuge refuse of tho trUe tiLe of the Paris under under- underworld ward w world I to police statistics there arc and of these in the big metropolis of light and pleasure men in rags and pitifully demo women who ho feed like ani ani- animals ani mas mals tipon upon the garbage of the Central Markets and sleep wherever they can canNot Not all have the price of a bottle of WIne wine i M Albin Albin Peyron lieutenant commis commis- commissioner commissioner commissioner of the th French Salvation Army made the the above above t to l me m and offered prove to-prove it it We met one night nighta a at ten o'clock in the Place Maubert It was bitter cold and dark as pitch Three women Salvationists joined the party Peyron iii iD in order to keep his bands free for far his accordion gave cave me a small load of his purse to earn carry Some indelicate person had relieved him of his pocketbook ok one night while his hands were busy with his accordion We started from the foot oot of the th austere monument to Etienne printer and and philosopher who nho was burned at the stake on that spot in the sixteenth century and moved down the he somber alley of Maitre Alb Albert rt into inlo into the old Dante quartier It was there that the exiled Dante lived in dire wretchedness about the time he began work on his immortal Inferno On the corner of t the th Rue du Chemin Vert we met the lassies with the soup wagon Presently in a 4 deser deserted d spot we almost stumbled oye oyes oyer an old gunny gunnysack gunnysack sack One of the women knelt Would you like a warm soup she asked S 'S Faintly the bag trembleS tremble 4 Slowly S it rose Under it was a ma man The Sal Sal- Salvationist Salvationist Sal Salvationist repeated her question in mm 18 soft well modulated voice The yian shuddered shuddered shuddered dered opened wide a pair of of tired eyes He seemed unable to understand but at last he tremblingly held out his nand and into the ray of searchlight before It him It was an old emaciated hand grimy and deformed from years of suffering suffering- The Theman Th man did not look up His vacant vacant stare was riveted upon the tho steaming tin scup cup which the little woman offered him Everywhere around us were other stones dark figures lying on the cold stones We could see them now in the th faint glare of the searchlights The soup angels as a the Salvationists are called did not miss a single one There wa was soup for all Those that had bags to sleep under h r fC A C I k r t L tL 1 J I wt S MX In cold damp cellars in alleyways with hard paving stones for a pillow in the stables the homeless of Paris curl up in their rags by the thousands every night and try to snatch a few hours of sleep And in these pitiable substitutes for a home the soup angels seek them out night after night and do all they can to relieve their poverty and suffering were the more morn unfortunate ones in this abode of misery Most of them had only rolled rags for pillows and soiled newspapers for covers One raised the th dilapidated coat bo ho had taken off to cover himself with lie ne was stark naked down to the waist waist- The rhe T be old man rose feebly upon his haunches haunches and turned his white head hungrily toward toward oward us I asked him bim some questions questions His Ills trembling voice came rumbling and boll hollow ow as from the tho bottom of a pit I old he am seventy-seven seventy years ears said slowly my feet hurt and I cant can't work Its It's my shoes that have don done it the old shoes the cops took off the dead deadman deadman mm man in the th Seine With a trembling hand the tho old man undid the rags and newspapers that were wrapped around his feet I Iam am dragging myself along the best I can he ho went on in in his sepulchral tones but I shouldn't have worn n a dead mans man's shoes I am picking up old papers and sell them to the rag man Often I find something to eat in the th garbage cans The man man man had bad lost even the strength to complain A little farther down own the th thalley alley a woman rose to her feet haggard and dramatic as a maniac Any soup to night she yelled shrilly Any soup The woman was literally In rags Her ner bloated face was twitching and her breath was heavy with alcohol She was Jf 1 f r I viciously scratching her head with both hands In a moment the sweet face of ofa ofa ofa a soup angel smiled right into her crazed eyes Have something warm sister said the Salvationist it will do you good The woman clutched the soup cup frantically and lapped up the hot broth like a famished beast What could be done for that woman There were dozens and hundreds like her crumpled up in dark corners and stark in a cold like death-like sleep Several police officers joined us What could they do There were thousands of home home- homeless homeless homeless less in Paris all needy of support or shelter The city authorities had no means of helping them There was no room in the prisons inthe I had walked to the th meeting place in the Place Maubert from the Park Moo Mon Mon cean that night in a li little tle over hal half an hour yet in that brief space of of time time it seemed as though I had traversed several sev- sev cr eral l centuries It seemed like anim an n im im impossible possible transition from the palaces of the rich to the tho lairs of the th stranded The contrasts contrasts were frightful Surely no other great city in the world can have its equal l We Wo peeped into underground caves that were filthy with vermin Some of the the slept there One ne place looked like a morgue in which the corpses lay shivering slivering as liS in a last lation of life cl nn kr er Jo I 2 I I fi fik I k a z ik ikI I 3 F f r ai ya rl Y L Lq q t y nn S S S f fr r p fhY A IX j j'S S 'S f ti y The three S Si i 1 r b y T daughters of sil Commissioner Peyron of the Paris Salvation Army who assist him in his nightly ministrations to the home home- homeless homeless homeless less and have become known as the soup angels But even these poor wretches who lived in rotten holes and slept upon heaps of filth seemed better off than the vagrants on n the streets They had keys in their pockets and could say they had hada a home while those others had no key but often c knife Those others were the tho ones who slept anywhere but i preferably in the wine caves around i the Central Markets where a quart of thick red wine and aed a place on the floor cost ten cents It was as about half past one when Lieu Lieu- Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieutenant tenant Commissioner Peyron eTon and the soup angels led me into La Grape Crape dOr d'Or a murderous looking place near the Hallos in the very heart of the city It vas was vas a typical place of the kind a sort underground of-underground of underground dun dun- dungeon dungeon dungeon geon at the bottom of a battered stair stair- staircase staircase case where some human humm derelicts men and women soaked in wine slept closely huddled together As we groped our way WilY into the black black- blackness blackness blackness ness below we were struck by a wave of fetid stench that seemed to have come straight from hells hell's own slaughter slaughterhouse slaughterhouse slaughterhouse house In a dimly lit cellar about five thirty five five feet long and thirty feet wide lay this noisome smoke and alcohol saturates saturate catafalque of human misery There were three layers of sleepers those in the wine puddles under the tables those thos on the benches and those on top of the tables They looked like so many sacks of coal heaped together in the dimness of a reeking cellar Close to the door sat the proprietress a plain lookin looking Frenc French French business woman who rose roso to her hel feet as we entered and forbade us to sing She said it in a nice way evidently anxious that the sleep of her guests should not be disturbed Je beaucoup she said but if you want to sing you will have to wait out outdo de until two o'clock I close my hotel at two sharp and everybody must leave It is the law We decided to stay just outside the thedoor thedoor th door and wait Although the air pur pur- pursued pur- pur pursued pursued sued us like the fumes of a violent anaesthetic we ground Peyron and his little band had been in worse places Promptly at 2 o'clock the human bowel Inc Ina catafalque was v shaken out of its lethargy by the stentorian voice of the proprietress proprietress proprietress tress Come my children she shouted it itis is time for your morning promenade And the three black layers of sleeping misery began to stir slowly heavily like the lazy swelling of tar in a huge caldron Vague figures rose from the wine puddles on Ol the ground women and men groaning gronning and twisting miserably with the pains of warped spines and sick lungs The sacks were coming to life The awful dive was discharging its hu- hu human human hu human man cargo Hurry up and get out the pro pro- proprietress proprietress pro proprietress urged or the cops will throw you out out- J JOne One by one in pairs and groups the straggled out into the night At the mouth of the alley lilley under the yellow light of a gas lamp five policemen watched the sad procession pass and said slid nothing They could have arrested the whole miserable carll caravan van on ona ona ona a charge of vagrancy But ho no such luck The homeless wretches had long given up the hope of arrest arrest and a nice soft cot in the city prisons Having no domi demi- cile and cile-and and therefore no votes they could not go to their representatives in the th Chamber of Deputies Deluties and claim their right to be punished like any other citi- citi citizens citi zens zens trespassing upon the law They simply had to stay outdoors winter or summer snow sn w or rain and make the best of it Of course those who still hada had a few sous in their pockets pockets could afford allord to go into one of the vaga vaga- vagabonds vaga- vaga vagabonds bonds cabarets like La Golee just around the corner from La Grape dOr d'Or After singing a hymn and trying to to distribute a few sheets of The Life of Jesus the Salvationists decided to to fol- fol follow fol follow low some of tho the vagrants into La Golee It was a curious den we got into some some- something something thing like a guard house of some medie medic medieval medieval val stronghold On the tho l left ft as we entered was a long bar with with m mn men n and women standing against it They were characters such Euch as we see sec in iri old prints depicting the Reign of Terror From this room we penetrated through a fine archway into what looked like a huge stone vault Here lIere men and women were drinking and carousing carousing around crudely fashioned ta tables les Some were dancing in the oarY nar- nar Y P v 1 0 row space between 11 1 tables or hugging each ach r other until some of the on- on onlookers onlookers on onlookers lookers tripped them and sent them rolling under the benches or tables The Tho place was filled with maque maque reaux and their women The air was thick with smoke and cheap perfume On On the walls were sketches and crude paintings From this room a low arch arch- archway archway archway way opened on a flight night of stone steps that led led down down into the red oubliettes or sealed dungeons dungeons where years ago political prisoners or the victims of royal love intrigues were thrust and for gotten iNow Now thes these caves were were electrically lit litand litand i and filled to suffocation with men and nd women omen of the lowest loft order No tourist had yet dared enter this dive dive- The pro pro- proprietor proprietor pro proprietor looked like an executioner lie He raised no objection to the Salvationists entering the place But he smiled c cynically cynically ni cally Take your own chances he warned Forward commanded Peyron They went to the last of the dungeons below and started toeing to sing to the of Peyron's accordion For a moment it looker as though two or three of the w were re going to pull their knives and start something But the situation was saved by an old drunk drunk- drunkard drunkard drunkard ard who reeled and over toward Peyron tried to embrace him Peyron smiled amiably and sang fang right on Have you no place F For Fr r the Lord Lor ord in your yur heart There was a howl of laughter but the Salvation soldiers carried right on The old drunkard then tried to sing but only succeeded in clucking like a hen which brought more laughter In the th meantime some of the soup angels sold a 1 few copies of their paper The dancing and carousing went on and nobody paid any more attention to the intruders Nobody except a middle- middle aged ged woman who came up to Peyron and said r Ive got a n daughter over there in the corner who wants to go but they wont won't let her Peyron went over and spoke to the girl I dont don't know know what he slid said said said- but the girl got and followed him up No one interfered rs a Take T k her along the Mother begged The girl looked radiantly into the face of the white hite haired Peyron She gave him her hand And the soup angels smiled happily Th Their ir visit to La Coke GOlee Golc had been worth while a T |