, 1886-02-04

49, :" h@f
married a pretty seamstress, lived hap
PLY together for years on their joint
earnings. No children-didn't want
t~hem-hadn't a care. Wife's work fol
oil, food lessened; she became ill; bit by
bit furniture sold, her heart broken al
parting with what she had painfully won
by her labor. When we had 10 sell the
sewing machine, / could see twas ali
oversize clammed and died. Afetr her
funeral, started off. Friends had left the
place. I couldn't stand the work. No
more happiness for me, sir. Whittier
boundl To s.. Worked there once
might get n job. THE only man
l knew. Hard, sir-very hardl"
During this fragmentary conversation.
I saw the man greedily grasp at a frag-
ment Of newspaper, lying upon the
ground. which had evidently been
wrapped round something.
Might have an advertisement on ii,
you know
The light Of a sewing machine always
suggests his touching history, told me
along a road skirting the sea one misty
spring day.
II AAAAAAAAAf hAtAA =
trade at their fingSr-ends. There is
always a chance for them somewhere,
and they lose nothing by not asking for
it. The skilled men on the road are
much rarer now. since railway travelling
has become so cheap, and unionism
has developed. A crisis or a strike will.
however, act in two ways-sending men
out, and drawing them in. A bundle of
clothing or tools is generally carried by
the skilled tramp, and his gait is more
energetic.
To show how gait betrays, here Is an
odd story. Meeting two brawy navvies
in Cornwall one day, l said to my com
panion:
Two well-set men. See how they swing
in step; ex-soldiers or policemen, likely"
Two days afterward we We're near one
of the barrack-gates at Davenport when,
behold, our two tramps coming along in
custody. An acute rural policeman had,
30 we learned, noticed their military step
and bearing and gone up to them, saying,
with n bold guess:
"You are deseaters from D~evonporty"
Taken aback, as much as persons are If
you can show you know anything about
them, and possibly %suspecting the man
had a description of them, they admitted
they were. and offered no resistance, dis
cipline once more asserting its power.
They belonged TO a killed regiment; they
had only been five days from barracks;
and finer fellows l never saw. They
were navvies by occupation.
Foreigners ON the tramp are not very
common, except on the coast-roads, and
they are mostly sailors. They are not
communicative, and know little English.
The oldest specimen of a foreigner | re
member was a German clock-mender
met in the midlands, who puzzled me
greatly. He walked like a drilled man;
had well-kept side whiskers, and a bag
over his shoulder. We passed and re-
passed several times. He called at road
side houses, and as l slackened pace, gen
orally overlook me, but l failed to get
him into fair conversation.
~Going far? To? Long way yet"
His peculiar German accent was com
ing out more strongly.
Seeking work.
"Yes, as he went along"
For several minutes we kept step in 81
lence. Taking out a newspaper | began
10 read. The mans face relaxed.
ANY news of Garibaldign was the sud
den question that startled me. A Carl
baldian, | said to myself at once. 1t was
just at the time the Italian hero made his
last armed venture. l read him the
news, and he broke out warmly:
AL I,I ..a, ..~,. ..t,lraI nam ~ He
became more of . puzzle than ever-a
nut | must crack.
l waited on his movements, diverted
from my intended walk, and devoted
myself to getting his story. He became
too excited TO be very connected, and his
German came grinding out at intervals
with orchestral effect. A friend
had beguiled him into associating with
Republicans; he had been in
some trouble in tbs movement of 1913
he had been imprisoned for opinions b.
did not hold; he was an absolutist and D
skeptic. He had lost all all his friends,
and had come to England. He was a
clock member, good at Americans or any
other make, and he tramped a district
from a center, earning about 10 shillings
q week. Our conversation became
lively; he forgot to call at road side
houses, and to my defense Of Garibaldi,
all he could %splutter was, pad man
very-wicked manl7 The chat seemed
10 excite him very much, and at last he
ambled into a little shop, got n job, and
l went forward.
Beggar tramps are the honest Juniors
aversion. They are full of tricks, and
sometimes smart in speech.
Il never give TO beggars on the road, "
l remarked 10 one Of this class, airing a
young mans general principle, perhaps
with some self conceit.
~Will yer honor ohlige me with yer
name and address. and I'll call ON yer r
was the prompt retort.
Between Coventry and Kenilworth
swarms OF beggars had formerly a fine
harvest. | One counted twenty. Some
were blind and lame; others were sing
ing Migrants. humming snatches Of their
w~ailing ballads. One elderly man, with
his legs in the dyke-a true tIamp's way
of sitting-was coming written testi-
m~onials, or begging letters, written on
dingy yellow paper, that Chatterton
might ave envied. He had a tiny black
pipe in his mouth, the kind OF thing a
tramp carries in his waistcoat pocket
and he was studying his papers with an
authors self-admiring interest. l fear
he was marking down some country par
son for a victim.
Dear Sir-The bearer -" was all |
could see before he slipped the paper into
a pocket in the lining OF his waistooat.
A dingy haversack and dirty garments
may make even an honest junior seem
like a beggar. Calling at a house in
II lonely part OF a w%ell-known
Yorkshire dale. to @k where ]