Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1883-12-05
TRAMP IlTa,
IT'S BUMoR, ROMANCE AND LlTERA-
TURE.

TURE.
Doesn't it seem pity that your
class have no literature and no poetryE
said a reporter who bad met with an
intelligent tramp.
'Ah yes, my SON. the tramp re-
piled; hut we have both. 90 into
any pooi house, Jail or country depot;
examine any covered bridge, and you
will find the literature. 1t Is crude and
somewhat personal, but it is literature.
The covered bridges you will hnd
scrawled all over with personal incl
dents IN the recent lives of tramrs, Tor
the information Of their fellows. These
bridges and depots also furnish means
of communication, and as a tramp ar
rlves at one. his first business is to ~
&C ribe lis way farirg and destination.
Then be rtsds the other inscriptions.
and il forms himself of the where
abcuts. destinations and fortunes OF his
friends. There IS tramp poetry TOO;
but il is scarcely of the kind 10 suit
cultivated taste. There is famous
song much iu vogue among tramps,
Illustrative of the housebolder's hos
tilitv. and The chorus of which runs:
Get out, you tramp, you lazy scamp;
You ignominious hummer
You'd harvest in the winter time
And cut ice in the summer"
II is much sung when large band
get together in the Western harvest
fields"
'Tnen tramps 90 work"
oh! yes. The Western harvesting
is done by them altogether. LIS free
whisky, free grub, free sleep ard hiIy
cents a day; and The farmers are glad
to get them. They give them tie
whisky because it fires the gentleman
up. and gets more work out OF them
Is a,vesting their only bonarza"
NO. There are the Indiana elec-
t;cns. A we'll instructed tramp al
ways makes an Indiana town week
before election. They take care OF
him up to The time he votes. Then be
gets 50, aud goes out 10 commune
W i,h the clean nature Of the woods aud
6elds. and get tie political faint tfl
him.
Are there many female tramps"
VERY few, ard they are only found
among those who 60 about in flocks.
But good woman is a bonarza to a
crowd. Wien the woman is along she
acts as wife 10 The leader and does
nearly all the cumming. BY bumming
I mean begging. and woman will al
WAYS pan out better than any half
dozen men. When she goes TO house
if she tees q woman first, che tells a
warn of being deserted by a husband.
who has rnu away with some other
woman. If she meets man, she has
been deserted. Tie women always
s,mpathize with deserted vile where
thew would throw stones at a wrogned
cil: but tie men open their hearts TO
| female ylo has been Overtrustiul.
Then. again, a woman Is handy at do
inc odd Jobs Of nending. The female
tramp is a tougher customer than The
male. and once she gets well into the
I country life there is no hope Tor her.
put I've never found it policy 10 make
o connection of this kind. In crowd
# ,s ant to breed trouble. The other
fellows get after her, then there's leal'
ousy. and finally fight and perhaps
murder. A month ago one OF. the boys
killed another near Camden o. account
Of the woman they had with 'em.'
How many tramps do you think
there are IN the countryT
That's a hard thing to get al; I've
heard lhtm sized up at 100, 900; but l
don't think there are 10000 in the
limited States, and not 500 women are
on the tut altogether. The number is
decreasing, TOO. Death takes a great
many. by natural causes and railroad
accidents. and the recruits are not
many. Men who had been IN The army
didn't care what straits they were
found in, but fellows brought up in The
cities and not used 10 bard life are
afraid of open-air sleeping and depend
ing for grub and clothing on asking for
lit. The great majority of tramps now
are men who work occasionally and
walk from place to place. or steal their
way on freight trains. to get employ
ment. They'll put in a week or two
and Then 90 Off on hurrah and Try the
road again."
What trades have you found most
frequently represented on the roadS'
printers, rolling mill men, house
painters, and shoemakers get there
mostly; bul once / met man who was
maker Of dolls eyes. know ans
number of printers who keep going all
the year round. Some of 'em keep