their property,
they placed their clothes under the straw stuffed mattresses.

They blew out the candle, but just at the moment when they were ready to
crawl into their bunks, Jim whispered to Joe: "Brother, come let us pray
the way, mother has taught us." And there in the darkness of the hall
they knelt upon the bare floor, and while their torturing consciences
told them that their own misfortunes were only a fraction of the woe
they themselves had inflicted upon their poor, widowed mother, they
pleaded with God to assist them in the extremity of their distress and
at least not permit them to perish of sheer starvation.

At break-of-day, aroused from a fitful sleep by the gnawing of their
hunger, they dragged themselves down to the hotel office to scan the
morning papers for some chance to find employment. But even this early
there were several fellows ahead of them eagerly copying addresses from
the want columns. While they waited for their turn to look into the
paper, several lodgers came down stairs. "Are you looking for jobs, my
lads?" they were addressed in a friendly manner by one of these
early-risers, who was a rather small fellow and whose clothes and
general appearance were somewhat above the average of the other inmates
of the hotel, and as the twins nodded assent to his query, he continued:
"Are you strangers in Minneapolis?" And as Joe affirmed this question he
in a still more friendly tone added: "It's a hard matter for strangers,
expecially if they are not dressed in style, to find employment in this
city at this time of the year." His confiding conversation so impressed
the thoroughly disheartened twins that upon his further questioning,
they recounted to him their experiences since the moment they climbed
into the empty box car that brought them to Minneapolis.

[Illustration: They stopped in front of a brilliantly illuminated
restaurant and watched with famished countenances diners enjoy toothsome
dainties.]

The fellow listened attentively to their story of misfortune and then
asked them to give to him their correct name and home address. Joe,
thinking that at last they had found a sympathizing friend, cheerfully
furnished the stranger with their correct names, and gave to him as the
address of their home the name of their lone prairie siding, Rugby,
North Dakota. Then their newly made acquaintance pulled out a notebook
into which he carefully wrote their addresses. Next he proposed that
they wa