but even now
the first of a number of "social halls" is being planned by Miss Lillian
Wald of the Nurses' Settlement and her co-workers that shall give the
East Side the chance to eat and dance and make merry without the stigma
of the bar upon it all. The first of the buildings will be opened within
a year.

As to this boss, of whom we hear so much, what manner of man is he? That
depends on how you look at him. I have one in mind, a district boss,
whom you would accept instantly as a type if I were to mention his name,
which I shall not do for a reason which I fear will shock you: he and I
are friends. In his private capacity I have real regard for him. As a
politician and a boss I have none at all. I am aware that this is taking
low ground in a discussion of this kind, but perhaps the reader will
better understand the relations of his "district" to him, if I let him
into mine. There is no political bond between us, of either district or
party, just the reverse. It is purely personal. He was once a police
justice,--at that time he kept a saloon,--and I have known few with more
common sense, which happens to be the one quality especially needed in
that office. Up to the point where politics came in I could depend upon
him entirely. At that point he let me know bluntly that he was in the
habit of running his district to suit himself. The way he did it brought
him under the just accusation of being guilty of every kind of rascality
known to politics. When next our paths would cross each other, it would
very likely be on some errand of mercy, to which his feet were always
swift. I recall the distress of a dear and gentle lady at whose table I
once took his part. She could not believe that there was any good in
him; what he did must be done for effect. Some time after that she
wrote, asking me to look after an East Side family that was in great
trouble. It was during the severe cold spell of the winter of 1898, and
there was need of haste. I went over at once; but although I had lost no
time, I found my friend the boss ahead of me. It was a real pleasure to
me to be able to report to my correspondent that he had seen to their
comfort, and to add that it was unpolitical charity altogether. The
family was that of a Jewish widow with a lot of little children. He is a
Roman Catholic. There was not even a potential vote in the house, the
children being all girls. They were not in his district, to boot; and as
for effect, he was r