The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1875-07-29
The Tramp.
P
PhiladelpIia Inquirer.


mer, who happen to be of an observing
turn of mind, will notice lounging along
the highways and byways of almost any
neighbOrhood he may resort to in the At
lantic States, a slouehing figure clad in
the motley of mendicancy, with certain
uncertainty of manner, furtive, half
defiant, half-cringing air, and stealthy
sidelong glance which at once attracts at
tention and repels interest.
This creature is the tramp. New to
our country side, he is yet fast becoming
Il familiar object even in the most retired
and out-ofthe-way places, where, but a
few years since, his very name was un-
known. He exhibits the same character
under similar conditions, for, though he
can fawn and whine where he thinks
abasement will be safer or more service
able, yet at some lone farmhouse, where
he has only frightened women to deal
with, the bluster of the low-browed brute
is savage and impOrtunate.
He is generally seen alone, although a
chance encounter with an old pal oeea-
sionally leads to a temporary partnership
in vagabondage. But the tramp is
naturally unsOcial, his being a form of
misery that does not love company, and
drink, or bad temper, or both, generally
forbid friendship extending beyond few
days. But he sometimes has another sort
of companion, one who can not leave
when drink makes him disagreeable or
dangerous, one who has no refuge from
his rage but the grave. On summer
evening the tramp may happen to be
seen stretched at full length on some bit
of grass by the road side, smoking
stumpy black pipe, while forlorn, limp
and haggard semblance of womanhood
bends over the brands of a chip fire, or
gathers in a greasy old handkerchief the
munched and mumbled remnants of a
beggar's meal-a secondhand and third
hand saving that stands, in the life of
this wretched being, in place of all the
sweet ashes of household economy. Un-
less there is something in the presence of
the approaching party to forbid such an
exhibition, the chances are the tramp
will take opportunity when two or three
people are passing by to display his
brutality by hurling foul words, or a
stick, or stone at the unhappy slave
who would fain hide herself behind him.
If such an assault comes, she bears it as
one used to similar attacks, shrinking
and clutching her ragged shawl closer
about her throat, perhaps, but making
no moan, nor raising her head. Her
face is rarely seen; her eyes, never.
Whether those windows of the soul hide
the consciousness of awful depths of deg
radiation, or whether the light of ex-
preston has gone out, none will ever
know.
Our observer, if faithful in his calling,
will find the tramp has curious habit of
pokihg about the roots of tree by the
wayside, or the foot of telegraph pole
or gate post, and, if care is taken in
watching him, he may be frequently seen
engaged in this occupation either quite
early or quite late in the day. Examine
the place where he has been searching,
and close scrutiny may reveal three or
four cabalistic characters rudely scratched
on the wood or stone, cross or dot in
the center of circle or square, triangle,
signs resembling photography, or other
signs looking more like printers proof
marks. These are the tramps' guide
boards, the blazed trees of the path, the
trail of his hunting expeditions. They
tell him that the next turn leads to a
rich place, where he can safely ask for
money; that the poor soldier is a good
dodge to try in another direction; that
the farmer ON the right keeps savage
dog, that Gully crib or house of resort
for tramps, can be found in the village
on the canal. The tramp not onl y studies
these indications for his own instruc-
ton, but he is bound by 81 the rules Of
the road" to record such of his own ex-
periences as may be of use to those who
follow.
Crafty, shifty, sly, cunning in all the
tricks Of his trade, the tramp will beg
steal, live in the pOor-house, take a turn
in prison, or starve if it comes to that,
but never will do stroke of work in this
world. He is here in our midst, and ouI
community has got him to provide for.
We ought to see about the work by proper
legal enactments forthwith. He should
be taken care of by such means as will
prevent the increase of his tribe and the
waste of his depredatiOns. His destrue-
tive thefts, his terrible recklessness in the
Use of fire, and occasional outbreaks of
spite, render his methods of taking care
of himself altogether too costly to be en-
dured. Besides, he is disgusting and
a dreadful nuisance, and ought to be
abated