The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-09-01
The Confessions of a Vagabon :.

The London Daily Ne,cS prints sin.
gular autobiography-the confessions of
a vagabond. A parliamentary report
on vagrancy, presented in 1S4S, noticed
at some length the case of George At.
kins Brine, famous vagabond. a
charity society of London lately discov-
cred that the man was still living and
continuing course of life which he had
followed for nearly half century.
This man has always kept up cores
pondenco with his family, and his let
ters are described as written in an adj
mirable hand, with scarcely a single
fault in the spelling, and generally end
with few lines of poetry-either ofhis
own composition or quotation from
some unhackneyed author like Quar-
ries. When he desired to get to par
ticular place without walking or pay
ing for ride, if that place happened to
be the county seat, he would break win
dows along the road, and thus accom-.
plish his object. In his own account of
himself he says that he adopted vagran-
cy because he discovered that more
| IuOucy COuiu Dc SOt WItiOut NOlh thdi
with it," AS to the means he has
adopted, we had best let him speak for
himself The trade" which he says
he had worked at was that of butch.
| er:
Snow, mean to make clean breast
of it, l will candidly declare that have
stuck at nothing. l have worked (but
very little), at my trade; | have been
a cattle drover; / have been salesman
with three different cheap Jacks | have
been pot-hawker; l have been ven-
der of peas, paper, razors peter Pin
dar's), spectacles, laces, &c: l have
been distributor Of religious tracts;
have been in the employ (for two years
together) of man slaughtering quack-
doctors-four different ones II am more
ashamed Of this than of any other Of my
follies, for the majority of them are not
robbers only, but homicides); l have
sold cards al all the principal races in
England; / also attended for many
years all the principal prize fights; /
have been a shallow cove Il. e.,
member of the land navy, also 'hig.
flbyer' H. e. begging letter imposter),
a lurker,' one who has forty different
trades and master of none. My favorite
lurk' was butcher, tallow-chandler
or currier, and to crown all, have tecn
a preacher This game pays well in re.
mote village streets on Sunday even.
ings, provided you are well stocked
with tracts; but was not fit for it; my
risibility is too easy tickled, and once
when was invited to hold forth ina
. small chapel was in no little danger of
q grinning in the pulpit at my own ro.
, query. This was at Rothbury, North
. cumberland. | must also tell you, in
, short, have been rogue, imposter
and vagabond of each and every demon.
= nation. say this because it is true,
4 and because am now heartily ashamed
9 of it,"
h What he has to say in regard TO the
i casual wards he has visited, is of little
g consequence further than that he gives
Q it as his opini on that they all tend TO
2 foster vagrancy, and that of every ten
| tramps nine are impostors or profession.
l al tramps. He was asked how many
}. jails he had been imprisoned in, and
1 here is his answer:
"And now, fourthly, how many
Q gaols ? This is a poser. Well, her,
II goes. l have been in gaol more than
!, one hundred different times! Ther,
d are but two counties in England that
have escaped limbo have also beer
n in several in Scotland and Wales. In
d the great majority of cases drunken
ness has been the cause / have moi bccl
l convicted of felony or larceny, but
s. have for obtaining money under falls
% pretences, and several times for hawl;
L Ing without a license, many times ft
y vagra ncy, smashing windows, and OIL
10 er offences, for the whole of which
y richly deserved hanging. To this
't presume, sir, you will say amen"
g; Professional yagabondism il, wen
10 sumo, less common in this country tha
I, In Europe, but we have other classes ,
y habit ual ofltndels whose cases presu
W. not less interesting problem to a
m students of social science.