work for eight
hours every day upon some piece of public improvement: the repaving of
Main Street with asphaltum blocks was selected by the authorities as the
initial work. At the end of four weeks the tramp was dismissed from the
Refuge clad in a neat, substantial, well-made suit of clothes, and with
money in his pocket to convey him to some place where he might, if he
chose, procure permanent work.

The Refuge was finished by the last of March, and Colonel Singelsby was
unanimously chosen by the board as superintendent, a position he
accepted very reluctantly. He felt that in so accepting he shouldered
the whole responsibility of the experiment that was being undertaken,
yet he could not but acknowledge that it was right for him to shoulder
that burden, who had been foremost both in formulating and advocating
the scheme, as well as most instrumental in carrying it to a practical
conclusion. So, as was said, he accepted, though very reluctantly.

The world at large was much disposed to laugh at and to ridicule all the
preparation that Dives of East Haven made to entertain his Lazarus.
Nevertheless, there were a few who believed very sincerely in the
efficacy of the scheme. But both those who believed and those who
scoffed agreed in general upon one point--that it was altogether
probable that East Haven would soon be overrun with such a wilderness of
tramps that fifty Refuges would not be able to supply them with refuge.

But who shall undertake to solve that inscrutable paradox, human
life--its loves, its hates?

The Refuge was opened upon the 1st of April; by the 29th there were
thirty-two tramps lodged in its sheltering arms, all working their eight
hours a day upon the repaving of Main Street. That same day--the
29th--five were dismissed from within its walls. Colonel Singelsby, as
superintendent, had a little office on the ground-floor of the main
building, opening out upon the street. At one o'clock, and just after
the Refuge dinner had been served, he stood beside his table with five
sealed envelopes spread out side by side upon it. Presently the five
outgoing guests slouched one by one into the room. Each was shaven and
shorn; each wore clean linen; each was clad in a neat, plain, gray suit
of tweed; each bore stamped upon his face a dogged, obstinate, stolid,
low-browed shame. The colonel gave each the money enclosed in the
envelope, thanked each for his service, inquired with pleasant
friendliness as to h