As we came out of the Riverside Building the young man said, “I would give a thousand dollars if I had it, for a bath and a shave.”
“Why don’t you go to the public bath?” I asked.
I wish all San Antonio could have seen the look of anticipated pleasure on that boy’s face when he asked eagerly, “Where is it?” and the look of disappointment which replaced it when I said, “They haven’t any here. But,” I said, “you can get a free shave at the barber’s college.” He went there at once and got his shave.
When he came out of the barber’s college, I said, “Let’s go to the Y. M. C. A. They, perhaps, will give us a free bath.”
“Where is that?” he asked. “It is a rich man’s club, isn’t it? I don’t believe they want hoboes like us there.”
I answered, “No; it is a ‘Christian institution,’ and they are supposed to stand for just this very thing—to help young men who want to help themselves.”
We went to the Y. M. C. A. and when we reached the foot of the stairs I said to my companion, “You go up and ask them.”
“No,” he said, “I can’t do it. Why, it cut me even to ask for a free shave where I knew they wanted me.”
I then said, “Let us go up together.”
Shyly he followed. I approached the attendant at the desk and asked for a free bath. At first he told me decidedly that their baths were for members only. Then he asked me if I was a member of any organization. I replied I was not, and as I turned to leave he said, “I will make an exception this time, but it is not our custom. Do you want one or two?”