The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-05-06
A Tramp's Trick.

come an ART. GOOQS arranged III pleas
inglv attractive manner attract the at
tention of passers by, and thus form a
cheap but effective advertisement of o
merchants business. The element Of
chance however, sometimes figures very
prominently in store front decorations,
as well rs in the other affairs of life. A
recent practice of several large furni-
ture dealers Of this city has been to give
their store windows the aspect of an ele-
gantly furnished sleeping apartment.
Bed, bureau, washstand, chairs, carpets,
curtains, and all the other appurtenances
incidental to the complete equipment of
bed room, are lastly arranged in the
window. Among those whose attention
was attracted one day last week by
display Of this kind in one of the larg-
est furniture stores in the city, was
member of the unpopular and despised
class known by the familiar titles of
"loafer, "bummer," tramp" vagrant,"
etc AS this impecunious and seedy
individual gazcd at the soft mattress,
spotless counterpart and downy pillows,
so cozily arranged within the window,
he involuntarily compared the luxurious
couch Sc near him with the hard hay
hunks, cramped dry goods boxes and
narrow entries in which he was wont to
WOO the favors of The capricious god of
slumbers. This comparison very natur-
ally gave birth to wish within him
that he might test the Injuries of the
elegant bed before him. He sighed as
he thought of his ftful slumbers in
nouldy hay bales and rickety wharves,
and lonsed to rest his weary bones on
the soft couch so temptinsly displayed
on the other side of the window. Saun-
tering down to Jackson street wharf,
and seating himself on his favcrite pile,
he set his intelects in motion TO find
some answer to the problem as how ne
was to CRAFTY his new born desire. The
bright blue of the eastern sky was be-
coming dimmed with gray, and the sun
beams fell slantingly from this source
in the west on the wave wrought surface
of the bay before he had solved the
conun,lrum. He exposed the top of
the pile to the air with a rapidity which
almost took the breath away from the
gentlemen of leisure who sat around
him, busilv engaged in waiting some
one to offer them salary OF
$3.50 a month, and made the boot and
shoe which had somehow met on his
person, travel more miles IN hour than
they had ever done before At last he
reached the furniture store which CON
tanned the object OF his longings. Care
fully watching lis opportunity, he Sc
lected moment when he could steal in |
the store without being observed, and |
hid himself among the furniture in an
obscure corner of the establishment. The
place was soon closed, the last clerk had
gone and no sound WAS heard within the
store but the tramp's half-suppressed
breathing. He had not long to wait for
nightfsll, and the darkness in the street
without soon told him that he could oc-
cupy the coveted bed without fear of
detection. So, after taking a big drink
of water, and pulling piece of leather
from his pocket, which he chewed on
the very numerous occasions when no
meals were ebtainable, he entered the
window alcove and began to disrobe.
The rather circumscribed limits of his
walking wardrobe made the operation a
brief one, and confident of his ability to
awake in time for an unmoiested de-
parture from his surreptitiously- obtained
lodgings, he sprang into the costly couch
and ensconced himself in its warm blan.
kets and fell asleep. Unaccustomed to
such comfortable quarters, his slumbers ,
were as deep and refreshing as those of
ON innocent child, and o'clock in the
morning found him still sleeping But
his repose, instead of being unobserved,
soon became an exhibition sleep. BY ,,
Z 80 o'clock crowd had collected in !
front of the store, compared to which
the. group which gazes at the sleeping !
beauty in the window of well known =
is solitude itself. Men laughed
and sneered and jeered, but the tramp
slept on. Sporting individuals amused {
by wagering that he would y
awake before s o'clock; but, needless of |
who lost or won, he continued his slum-
bers. The crowd grew larger, and his G
sleep grew deeper His tell-tale face
told the character of his dreams, and now ;
md then blight smile, commencing at
the tip of his unshaven chin, would agi-
ate the corners of his Inns traverse the :