The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1866-08-21 00:00:00

VAGRANT LIFE.

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A Parliamentary paper bee jest been Lead en the
subject of vagrancy, from which we pilfer • lively
Mature of tramp life. Tbe casual pauper is, as • rule,
• erstematic tromp-en inoorrigtble " cadger"- ono
who will not work-one who cannot be kept out of
mieohief -one who revels in small merit idAx•••,._ _
cbfroenitr. "A. • general rule," Muat, "°Y.,,'•• 'l6
email wanton far from being the temPorarT of
the door ring poor, is • place of reedezvous foir-tiFeves
and prostitutes and other vagabonds of the lowest class,
Maim of whom ' work' &noted districts with as much
replarity as the Judaea." Nor do Um judges thaws-
what lea,. 111010 explicit records of their proems
The walls of the casual wards, as actual qui:Sallow in
this report prove, serve as the records of their circuits.
" Saucy Harry "and a lady friend, not so described,
itnnoursee by this medium that they "will be at Chester
to eat their Christmas dieser, and they hops ll•11°•r "
and the fraternity will meet them at the union;" end
this cordial MAl:atlas to festivity at the public fl•P•ms
Ii dated " 14th November, " In like manner
" llagtalod lloPb" emitired, " ;be stays here," to
" oome on to Stafford." "Cockney Harry' and "Um-
bel!' " intimate in the same
,limzpinelire manlier that
they are " bound for Bruin, meanie, Birmingham,
"for Jolly raga "-an expreseion„ whisk dark to us, we.
probably full of eignideenes to the " subalterns, • who
in another alms notilleatioe, are ordered by the "Go-
vernor of Chester Castle to mist at Steerbeidge."
" Westinituder Cockney " reseed. his aversion to the
"dry service" in Yorkshire, and not knowing where to
" go to put off the time mini Christmas," rye he shall
" lake his likeness to Bristol," where no doubt it
I attracted due admiration. Occasionally lumen mond.
iship iind • places beside these ummorenda of the road.
A Johnson of the hoof wiring his friends, probably
without much neeemity, never to be ashamed
fortifying his exhortation by an autohiogrughind
reminiscence : "I was wmth Sr. bnndruj poem's
mice," nye he ; " Lod now I me glad to cadge fer •
peony or a piece of bread." What an ideal example of
emtentssent I Various unions are alleiriell in this
literature of the ward-wall their respective Mame
the approval of experienced customer'. "Beware of
Ludlow-bare boards, no chuck "-which, if we may
venters on • gloss, is • synocyme for Mr. Greenwood',
well-known " toke. " Westmorelaad end Cumberland
seem in high favour, for it is "all padding eons in that
country ;no dirty rugs end board." "Bow-street and
two other raggansuffina slept here, " gays another entry
on the night of the lh of April, "sad was quite
'hooked at the Glow:filth it:madame of the old peeper
at the gate. The thundering old thief denied us •
drink of eater. So help me Bob. " Bow-street,"
by-the-by, as 11r. Doyle remarks, appears to be the
laureate of the eassude of the district be farmers. Here
is his &Initial of prison-a good way after Milton's
"Samson "-written, be it observed, on the wall of a
maul ward in very neat saligraphy

No sun, no moon,
No morn, no noon,
No sky, no earthly blue,
No distant looking view,
No road, no street,
No Vatter side the way,
No dawn, no desk.
No proper time of day,
No end to any row,
No top to any steeple,
No Mast:ion where to go,
No sight of familiar people,
No cheer/ulnas, Ito healthy ease,
No butterflies,
Nor yet no bass.
Ooessiostally " Bow-street" is eynkal. On one wall be
writes

" It's an ill dog that don't deserve a crust,"
Is a maxim true and Just;
Bo we meat he doge of the very worst breed
When we don't receive what we greatly need;
For it's very unkind—nay, farther, cruel—
To give here merely 'drop of thin gruel.
But let them keep it; we can do without It;
And I mean to let half the town know about it.
Which be has since don* unexpectedly to himself in the
pages of • blue book. Now mid then tbe laments is
tempted into a lighter vein. Here is a sketch of
°banister :

A Dutchman came one night to lodge,
A herr down to every dodge;
And if to tell tho truth I must,
My °yea! couldn't he excavate a crust

Such are the beguilement& of beg Of coarse it
Ls not all merriment. "Bow Wiser himself com-
plains—

This rain of late and at presant too, is too bad alto-
gether,
Considering the stale of our old shoes and the thinness

of our mats ;
And the Clerk of the Weather Office must surely be
shortsighted,
Or he would see the benefit of sunny days as well as
you or I.
Except that wetness may excite commiaeratioc. foe
weather must indeed be the vagrant's choicest blaming.
Where be has the option of going without hie " bk."
by abstaining from his morning's task he unbolt=
does so, for his time is worth more to him
And the oorrespoodenc• system, as well as practised
familiarity with the roads, enable. him as he moves
from place to place to oalitte on • favourable reception
in many localities. One casual is overheard saying to
another, "I'll tell you a home always rood for twopenes
—the big white house as you go into Lichfield. I brim
bad it there many • time, and I know ito always good
for it." They know, too, the differenose between the
different workhouses. " Much.Wenlock, lad; that's
the place," says one • and the Chief Constable
of Chester-declares the perfect system of
communication among tramps is surprising. I
have tested it," be adds, "and find that
about two days are sufficient to promulgate • new
regulation among the fraternity. My first toed was
musing every male to be searched, and burning pipes
and tobacco found upon them. Every prolsodonal tramp
Caine. a favourite pipe, and, as bride, haa halt an ounce
of tobacco per day. After two or three nights not one
of the applicant. hid either pipe or tobacco, baring
hidden these luxuries before entering the polies
oleos."

—*ken we find theee gayer aspects of the tramp life
in does oonnection with refractorinees as to Isimr
mildew destruction of clothing, violent demeanour, and
brutal language, all practised by men as well known to
the solios as the residents on their beats, no one can
wonder that the inspectors are almost unsaimons le
recommending rigid police surreillanos over meo of the
tramp class. There is always the danger of frustrating
the benificent and essential purpose of causal relief
by this means but difficult as the problem' is it
probably only wants intelligently facing. Dr. Smith
F in few words the principal of what is required—
"that the laws against vagrancy be firmly enforced,
and on the other hand that the State provide some
suitable mode of relief to destitute persona.