The next stop was ours to change trolleys, and I found this stranger standing in line directly in front of me. He was tall with broad shoulders, and I noticed that he was wearing an old torn army coat.

We crossed the street to the other trolley, and while standing waiting there, I happened to glance down the street. It was

very dark by this time, but I saw the stranger very clearly, leaning against the iron girders of the “L” structure, quite a long distance from the crowd. The trolley came and we went in.

After a while I happened to glance out in the vestibule of the trolley, and there again stood this strange man; but this time with the light shining full on his face. I was awed. I could not help looking at him. And what did I see? What was that radiance about him? Yes, it came from his face; he was so calm and serene . . . such heavenly peace shone from it. And his eyes, no, they did not look at anybody. They seemed to look far beyond somewhere. He had a dark beard.

I asked Dorothy if she could see this man, and she said, “Yes, mother, I do.”

I looked around the car to see if other people noticed him too. It seemed to me that everyone must be looking at him as we were. But no, I could not discover one single person looking at him. He came inside the car now and stood among the crowd, the car being full of people. He gave the impression of abject poverty, but he was spotlessly clean. I had never seen anyone like him before.

I said to Dorothy, “How I would like to give something to that man,” and she answered, “Yes, mother, I feel that way too; but something tells me not to do it.”

When we looked his way again, the trolley had stopped, and he was on his way out. We watched him walk down the street with his head slightly bent. It was a busy street in a foreign district; all the shops were open, although it was late Sunday afternoon, and each little shop seemed to be of its own particular nationality. The people were busy doing their Christmas shopping; men, women, and children all carrying bags and bundles.

When we arrived at Hull House we were late, very late. The hall was so crowded that we had to stand outside, stretching up on tip-toe to see over the shoulders of the people.

We heard only a few lovely carols sung; but we saw the living portrayal of the Christ Child, the angels and the shepherds. It was so beautiful and heavenly, as only Hull House can do. Truly it made us feel close to that mysterious, infinite, other world. In the dim light we could see the beloved Jane Addams . . . who now belongs to the ages.