They were permitted to go inside,
have a wash, and sit down and rest until breakfast, while we waited for
the same breakfast on the street. The tickets had been distributed the
previous night on the streets and along the Embankment, and the
possession of them was not a matter of merit, but of chance.
At eight-thirty, more men with tickets were admitted, and by nine the
little gate was opened to us. We crushed through somehow, and found
ourselves packed in a courtyard like sardines. On more occasions than
one, as a Yankee tramp in Yankeeland, I have had to work for my
breakfast; but for no breakfast did I ever work so hard as for this one.
For over two hours I had waited outside, and for over another hour I
waited in this packed courtyard. I had had nothing to eat all night, and
I was weak and faint, while the smell of the soiled clothes and unwashed
bodies, steaming from pent animal heat, and blocked solidly about me,
nearly turned my stomach. So tightly were we packed, that a number of
the men took advantage of the opportunity and went soundly asleep
standing up.
Now, about the Salvation Army in general I know nothing, and whatever
criticism I shall make here is of that particular portion of the
Salvation Army which does business on Blackfriars Road near the Surrey
Theatre.
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