toned round him, a pair of canvas breeches
and carpet slippers tied on to his feet with burlap, and wrapped round
his ankles to conceal the fact that he wore no socks.

"As I looked at him he darted out, picked up the stump of a cigarette
that some one had thrown down, and came back to the railing to smoke it,
his loose mouth and his big soft nose moving like kneaded putty.

"Altogether this tramp was the worst human derelict I ever saw. And it
occurred to me that this was the one place in the whole of America where
any sort of a creature could get a kind of employment and no questions
asked.

"Anything that could move and push a chair could get fifteen cents an
hour from McDuyal. Wise man, poor man, beggar man, thief, it was all one
to McDuyal. And the creatures could sleep in the shed behind the rolling
chairs.

"I suppose an impulse to offer the man a garment of some sort moved me
to address him.

"'You're nearly naked,' I said.

"He crossed one leg over the other with the toe of the carpet slipper
touching the walk, in the manner of a burlesque actor, took the
cigarette out of his mouth with a little flourish, and replied to me:

"'Sure, Governor, I ain't dolled up like John Drew.'

"There was a sort of cocky unconcern about the creature that gave his
miserable state a kind of beggarly distinction. He was in among the very
dregs of life, and he was not depressed about it.

"'But if I had a sawbuck," he continued, "I could bulge your eye ....
Couldn't point the way to one?'

"He arrested my answer with the little flourish of his fingers holding
the stump of the cigarette.

"'Not work, Governor,' and he made a little duck of his head, 'and not
murder.... Go as far as you please between 'em.'

"The fantastic manner of the derelict was infectious.

"'O. K.' I said. 'Go out and find me a man who is a deserter from the
German Army, was a tanner in Bale and began life as a sailor, and I'll
double your money--I'll give you a twenty-dollar bill.'

"The creature whistled softly in two short staccato notes.

"'Some little order,' he said. And taking a toothpick out of his pocket
he stuck it into the stump of the cigarette which had become too short
to hold between his fingers.

"At this moment a boy from the post office came to me with the daily
report from Washington, and I got out of the chair, tipped the creature,
and went into the hotel, stopping to pay McDuyal as I passed.

"There was nothing new from