The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1881-03-19


wouldn't harm hair of yer head. Jest
let me set here on the shady steps and
rest bit. If ye have crust o. bread
handy-ah! thankee, thankee, mem.
Ye have kind O. friendly. pitiful face
as seems to say We don't think so bad o.
me as some do. We're q hard lot-a
hard lotus tramps, an people have q
hate an dread of us that kind o. knocks
us lower and lower. an makes us feel
more an more like sneakin' prowiin'
thieves. They shove us sometimes q
mouthful out the door, an slam it pru-
IDENTIFY in our faces, while they run to
some crack or crevice an eye us Sc
cretly and suspiciously, whisperin'
their Judgments of the poor beg
gars who feel all the vileness inside
of 'em stirrin' up at sech treatment.
Not but it's material enough. s'pose.
mem, but human natur', you know,
don't thrive in that way, an man gets
hard, an bitter, an bad when every
body appears to be thinkin' evil O. him.
Of course, as We say, an its very true,
mem. man ought o. give reason for
people to hev faith in him, but ali, mem,
mebbe ye don't know how dreadful
discouragin' it's to try to pull yerself
right up all alone out o. the mire that
has somehow sucked We in, an walk off
on solid foundation without slip or q
wayer, an all the time not soul to
believe in We, an everybody a-sneerin'
an a-scoffin' We down. No, We don't
know, ye don't know.
There's tramps as are born tramps,
mem, an there's tramps as are made
sech by the drivin' stream of circum-
stance which they hain't got the-well,
the moral strength, as We might say, to
swim aginst. o, I've thought it all
over, mem, sittin' under the blessed
trees, an in the shadow of the rocks
along the dusty roads travel. I've
kind o reasoned it all out with my head
a-leanin' on my hand while rested in
pleasant places until startled an dis
tressed by some child or girl stealin'
past me, scared an breathless, breakin'
into swift run when once they had
cleared me, an cryin' wild to the first
ones they met that there was tramp
down the road! An then the whole
crowd would creep slyly back to peer at
me pickin' up my rags, an gettin'
ready to trudge on an on
Praps, mem, as ye say. needn't ha'
drifted like dry stick with the current
that sucked me into these DOGGY places
where nothin' can pluck me out, mabbe;
but I'll tell yc the story mem, if yell
care to hear. Yer SO kind o. gentle an
char table I'd like to have We know how
/ came to be askin' q bit of supper at
yer door.
I wasn't bad boy-a little weak,
mebbe. a little weak. but my mother
had kind of reason for that. I'll men,
ton it. The reason may be weak, too.
+" You will understand" said my moth
er, Martin was born under great
trouble, with the father a-drinkin' night
an day, an myself a-weepin' an a.
prayin', rebellin' an despairin'. an a.
givin' up in shiftless, hopeless sort of
way that was quite unsettlin' to the
sperit Of the babe that | wished might
never be borned.''
An ! know l growed up, mem, with
the feclin' that some wrong had been
done me, and that he'd to stand agin
world of abuse an trouble, an that it
couldn't matter much what done,
i wouldn't amount to nothin' no
way. An this is q kind o. feelin'.
p'raps, You don't know mem. that sort
O. pushes . weak Teller like me right
along into vagabond life-not that he
re'lizes where he is gittin' mo, no, not
till he is fast In the mud of the vaga-
bonds track, an can't get out without
, patient. helpin' hand that he doesn't
find. A strong, gruff, gritty natur
would rise up in . spirit o. rage an cry
out mad agin the wrongs seen an sui
fered. an that's the Kind mem, that
make all these wild disturbances, an
keep community stirred up with the
riots. an threatenin's, an all sech.
Scuse me il ye please mem. this amt
my story, but I've been a-thinkin' o.
these things good deal along the road
ye know. What dye saye A wayside
student an philos' pherP Well, p'raps
ye might call me 30. It's better'n "a
tramp, !" mem.
Now matters run along with no great
stir till l got in love, an then I was
very happy an very miserable, mem.
Linda she was sweet a. an apple-blos-
som, an my heart was sot on her, but
she played sort o. fast an loose with
me, SO never felt quite sure whether
she cared for me or no. An had per-
petal jealousy of Stephen White. who
was q smarter. holder man than me,
an had, 1 thought, a hankerin' fond
ness for Linda which couldn't all the
time make out whether was pleasin' to
her. But ct last, when I'd about give
up hopih' that she'd ever be honest with
me, she said all Of sudden one day
that she'd marry me, an didn't low
her time to change her mind afore got
the priest an took her at her word. Il
was a-doin' first-rate in them days, an
earnin' good deal of money with odd
jobs of an ON that paid thought, bet
tern regular work for which I'd never
had any trainin'. So we settled down
nicely to snug little housekeep-
in, an Linda seemed satisfied an
while Lord bless We,
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