He replied, "No, I won't, for I promised I would work, and if they catch you trying to make a sneak, they'll throw you in jail."
Then I wondered what the large kindly man at the desk, who did not have to wash or scrub floors or saw wood, had had for breakfast, and what the other big good-natured attendant had had, whose only business was to boss the "under dog." I also wondered what the other members of the society of organized charities had had for breakfast, and if they were driven out of bed at four or five o'clock in the morning to eat it.
At six-thirty we were put to work. A number of us were sent to the woodyard and several of us were put to washing, cleaning, and scrubbing the floors and stairs.
I was set to washing, and I asked the "boss" attendant, "How long will I have to work?" He replied, "three or four hours," the same as the attendant had told me at the door when I entered. However, after working from half-past six until twenty-five minutes to nine--kept in there just at the time when I ought to have been out looking for work--I was allowed to go.
As I was leaving I said to a boy about fifteen years of age, "Are you going now?" He said, referring to the attendant, "He's not told me that I could go. These people treat a boy mighty mean here. They worked me from half-past six yesterday morning until four-thirty in the afternoon."
"Why didn't you leave after you had worked for your bed and breakfast?"
"Well, it was so near dinner time, and I won't beg or steal, so I waited for the cheap dinner, and they worked me, as I told you, until four-thirty in the afternoon, but I am going to try to get a job to-day, if possible."
Does Philadelphia need a Municipal Emergency Home? Philadelphians, you, too, send your delegation to New York and inspect their new Municipal Emergency Home, that you, too, may have one even surpassing that New York Home, or at least turn the one you have into a humane one, for you cannot afford to have New York surpass you in its humanitarian activities. Keep the great reputation you have of "Brotherly Love" and "Hospitality," and if you do, your lives and your city will continue resplendent, and this new refuge will speak in wonderful language the praise of "The City of Homes."