THE HOMELESS MAN AND RELIGION
The missions, and for that matter, the welfare agencies are unpopular with the habitués of Hobohemia. The hobo, in his songs and in conversation, shows unmistakably his aversion to all efforts to remake his character or to reshape his destiny. This feeling of antipathy is naturally strongest with the adherents of the I.W.W. who come in competition and conflict with the mission worker.
With full recognition of the cynical reaction of the average hobo to the mission, it cannot be denied that thousands of homeless men are converted every winter, and that a certain proportion of these, how large no one knows, lead permanently changed lives. The mission touches the inner life of these men in a way that no social agency or organization has ever done, or perhaps can do.
Even the homeless man has aspirations above the satisfaction of his physical wants; he desires to live in a larger, more complete sense. The I.W.W., with its radical program of changing “things as they are,” appeals to the restless and rebellious spirit of youth. But the broken man, or the old man who has given up hope, finds comfort and peace in adapting himself to “things as they are.” Religion to him is just this change of attitude, “making oneself right with God.” While the young man is confident that he can right what is wrong in this world, the old man looks to the next world to compensate for the inequalities and injustice of present existence.