of the Idiot's _Mendicancy Made Easy, or the Beggar's Don't_.'"

"And you think the beggar would read it, do you?" asked the
Bibliomaniac.

"I don't know whether he would or not. He'd probably either read it or
pawn it," the Idiot answered. "In either event he would be better off,
and I would have got my ten per cent. royalty on the book. After the
_Beggars' Manual_ I should continue my good work if I found the class
for whom it was written had benefited by my first effort. I should
compile as my contribution to the literature of mendicancy for the
following season what I should call _The Beggar's Elite Directory_. This
would enlarge my sphere a trifle. It would contain as complete lists as
could be obtained of persons who give to street beggars, with their
addresses, so that the beggars, instead of infesting the streets at
night might go to the houses of these people and collect their incomes
in a more business-like and less undignified fashion. Added to this
would be two lists, one for tramps, stating what families in the suburbs
kept dogs, what families gave, whether what they gave was digestible or
not, rounding up with a list of those who do not give, and who have
telephone connection with the police station. This would enable them to
avoid dogs and rebuffs, would save the tramp the time he expends on
futile efforts to find work he doesn't want, and as for the people who
have to keep the dogs to ward off the tramps, they, too, would be
benefited, because the tramps would begin to avoid them, and in a short
while they would be able to dispense with the dogs. The other list
would be for organ-grinders, who are, after all, only beggars of a
different type. This list would comprise the names of persons who are
musical and who would rather pay a quarter than listen to a hand-organ.
By a judicious arrangement with these people, carried on by
correspondence, the organ-grinder would be able to collect a large
revenue without venturing out, except occasionally to play before the
house of a delinquent subscriber in order to remind him that he had let
his contract expire. So, by slow degrees, we should find beggars doing
their work privately and not publicly, tramps circulating only among
those whose sympathies they have aroused, and organ-grinding only a
memory."

"The last, I think, would not come about," said Mr. Pedagog. "For there
are people who like the music of hand-organs."

"True--I'm one of 'em. I'd hire a hanso