A WOMAN'S VOW

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 134, 4 December 1930, Page 9

A WOMAN'S VOW

CHEAP FOOD FOR THE POOR

END OF A GREAT CHARITY

(From "The Post's" Representative.) NEW YORK, 12th November. I In 1887, a woman lay (lying of yellow fever in India. She vowed, if she recovered, that she would devote her life to the poor of her adopted city, New York. The woman, Mrs. Lamadrid, kept her vow till she died in li)0S, by supplying a cup of eoSee and a roll to needy persons for 1 cent. Her husband carried on her work afterwards, until now, invalided, he is unable to do so, and the lengthening bread lines must go elsewhere. ' The first of the little grceu coffee stands was set up in the Bowery, where drifters could got a good day's start for a, cent. The menu of those days consisted of coffee and rolls, pork and beans, bread pudding, sandwiches, cereals, beeii soup, and clam chowder. The price of each disli wag a cent. 'Che stands were named after St. Andrew. They grew in number till it became necessary to have a central station to prepare the food for sale. It was hero that: the moro elaborate) thanksgiving dinners were served. Newspapers and charities attacked the founder on the ground that she did not have to account for tho funds slio collected. Their charges did not, however, shut off the supply of cheap food to poor people. One of the important j stands was outside the- Tombs Prison, whero it operated -for moro than 30 years before being removed by the authorities, as they i'eared it might become .„ shelter for escaping convicts. Neighbourhood merchants who contributed funds were given food tickets, which they in turn passed on to boggars. The average man who was down on hia luck did not feel ashamed to take his place in the line. Occasional concerts at Carnegie Hall kept the project going. As many as 3000 persons were fed daily. The St. Andrew One Gent Stand had an important place in the city's life. Now its beneficiaries must (lock to the mission house. j