y a line
of men that stretches for more than a block. Men with pale faces that
show haggard under the white electric light, and haggard faces that show
hideous,--shiveringly cold men who blink at you like dazed animals or
glare at you like wild beasts;--hot, panting, almost pulseless men who
gasp in the scorched atmosphere of the city's streets--solemn, mournful
creatures, with their filthy rags loosened for any breath of air, no
matter how fetid--miserables of every type, exhausted, wretched, but
human beings all--stand every night at the edge of the curb on Broadway
and Tenth Streets waiting for a baker's over-baking.

It all flashed before my eyes in a moment.

You can see it any night, winter or summer--January or July--from ten
o'clock till two, gentlemen. Look at it and pity it--you who have pity
in your hearts. Look at it and fear it--you who have none!

Had he been there to-night? Yes, but there was a fellow near the end of
the line whose wife and children were waiting for him, so he and Sandy
exchanged places, and--well, the supply gave out about one o'clock, so
of course---- Yes, he would take another egg. Was he married? No, thank
God!

There was nothing romantic about Sandy McWhiffle, and nothing Scotch
about him except his name. Neither was his face in any way remarkable,
nor his speech, nor his story; but it struck me then that there were
dramatic possibilities in him as a man--dramatic probabilities in him
as a type.

II.

I was in a hurry to have the position filled; it wasn't much of a job,
and I wanted to waste as little time as possible, so I advertised and
gave my office address. Of course it was foolish, but I was pressed
with work and did it without thought. However, I saw no reason why the
janitor should lose his temper. Anyway, I can't abide impertinence in an
inferior, and I let him understand this before the elevator reached the
top floor. Once there I admitted to myself he had reason for--well, for
respectful annoyance. A pathway was forced for me through the crowd of
men which choked the hallway and blocked the entrance to my office, but
I couldn't get in until a score or so were driven down the stairs. I
locked myself in my private room and cursed my folly and the janitor's
impudence. But there was no time to lose--we had to be rid of those
men--so I slipped a note under the door directing my clerk to send them
in to me, one at a time, until further orders.

It didn't take long to