Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-06-09
VAGABONDAGE.
HOME.RAISED RECRUITS FOR THE
VAGRANT ARMY.
The Career of the Tramp Traced
From His Native Heath to
the County Jail.

EDS. REcoRn-UNIoN Excursiveness is
more rife in Summer than in winter, and
at this time of year, among that class
OF the urban population who are not
IN settled occupation, the temptation to
forsake the dusty pavement for the sylvan
beauty Of the country is irresistible
About now is the time when the overspill
OF unpreductive humanity, which during
the winter months has remained damned
up III great cities, fersakes its customary
channels and mandates the smiling val
leys of California with its undesirable
presence. The annual pauper exodus
from the towns into the country is as
periodic in its recurrence as the overflow
of the Nile, and acts as most reliable
barometer for gauging the forwardness of
the season. The return of the swallow is
no more certain than the migration 10
the rural districts, as soon as summer sets
in, of helpless, thriftlesS population, who
cannot earn their bread in cities and
whom the latter will not support in a
state of idleness. Already the tramp evil
has grown to one of huge dimensions, and
IN the course of few years bids fair to
reach proportions of which its present ones
form no index. OF the great army of
tramps who are now waging sort of
guerilla warfare with the farmer, only a
few of their number are of home growth,
but as these are much the most interest
ing, propose to give some account of the
causes which lead them to
EMBRACE A LIFE OF vAGRANCY,
Whose goal sooner or later is the State
Prison Our home-raised tramp is in
variably of city growth, and in most cases
Is the son of industrious and honest
parents. The former has often had good
home, but want of training and lack of
industry or ability to apply himself to
trade finds him at the age of 20 or there
abouts utterly untitled to earn his bread
by the exertion of any lawful calling.
Never having been apprenticed to any use
full craft, and having been accustomed from
his youth up to the freedom of the street.
the tramp in embryo prepares himself for
his calling by evincing hatred for settled
occupations, and a contempt for those who
earn living by them In few instances
he may have served a short apprenticeship
at cigar-making or book-folding, but the
knowledge of it which he had picked up
during fugitive apprenticeship is never
destined to be of the slightest value to
him, and at the age we have mentioned he
starts on the world utterly disqualified to
take his part in the struggle for bread.
Hitherto young hopeful's peregrinations
have been confined to his native city, but
some fine summer morning he wakes nm
and suddenly forms the resolve of
TAKING A TRIP INTO THE COUNTRY.
With the idea that the conditions of life
there are easier than in the crowded COM
munity he has been raised. Incorrect no.
tons Of outdoor employment lead him to
suppose that little e1ertion on his part
Will enable him at the end of few months
TO accumulate stake which will support
him In ldleness through the long winter
months which will presently set in. Act
uated by praiseworthy motives, he con-
cludes to take the road, and having heard
much of the fertility of the Sacramento
valley he turns his feet in that direction.
nothing doubling but that the employment
an ~ ~ oSeai vi VI WILL Iulu up WIFI little
exertion on his part.
Alas for our hero's hopes The per-
spectlve which he formed of host of
farmers hating him on the high road and
Offering any price for his services, proves
lie Elusive, and has no more counterpart
in the reality than his widest dreams.
The times are out of joint, our traveller ar
CUES, and he soon makes the unwelcome
discovery that if he wants work he must
hunt 1t with pertinacity which leaves no
time for day dreaming. An unusual
scarcity of harvest hands soon gives our
city bred youth chance which, but for a
phenomenal dearth in the supply of casual
labor, would never have offered itself.
IT CAME ABOUT IN THIS WISE:
After long and dusty days tramp. he
arrived one evening at farm house about
whose exterior there is something which
leads him to hope that his usual request
for work will in this instance be favorably
entertained. Inquiry in no wise disap
points the expectations which he had
framed. The CHEEKY faced Agricola is
really in want of a man to cock up
few acres of hay, and after inviting
the young fellow to sit down and eat
some supper, the terms of the hiring
are discussed and agreed on, with every
show of satisfaction to either party. Our
wanderer presently retires to his bed in
the barn, well pleased with the prospect
before him tomorrow, and nothing doubt
ing but what he can fill the bill to the en-
tire satisfaction of the farmer who has
hired him. Now, cooking up hay is an
occupation for which knowledge of
cigarrolling or book-folding afford no pre-
paration. Easy of performance though
the former looks, those who try their
prentice hands at it will find that unless
they possess considerable strength and
stamina, the task is apt to get the better
of them. All the willingness and determi-
nation in the world will not atone for soft
muscles and lack of experience, and orr
hero soon finds that the work which he
had counted Oh as being
LITTLE HARDER THAN SMELLING; PEAS
Demands strength and exertion on his part
which he cannot put forth. His EMPLOYER
soon makes this discovery too, and not be-
ing able to afford to wait till the inexpe-
rlenced youth has acquired the knack of
handling the fork properly, pays the lat
ter off within few hours of starting him
to work. If this first experience is not
enough, subsequent ones soon convince
him that cooking hay and rolling cigar
leaves are two different things, and gradu-
ally our hero gets to look upon himself as
disqualified for the labors of the harvest
field And SO he is, and from every field
where the qualities Of thews, backbone
and muscles are brought into reuuisition.
Like the steward III the parable, he cannot
dig, and to beg he is ashamed. Somewhat
discouraged by his utter uselessness as "a
harvester of hay" he learns from acquaint-
ances he picks up on his travels that
grape picking is light and genteel en-
and yields none of the cruel
blisters Of the hay-fork. But, unfortu-
nately, the season is too early by month,
and how is our hero going to spend the
interval till the fruit ripens? He thus
loo Ks upon the grape question as settled.
and casts about for other means to find
him employment. 1t occurs to him that
DISTINGUISHING is an easy way of
uDING OVER DIsAGREEABLE HIATUS,
And it is obvious from its very name, that
the occupation calls for no particular
knowledge. Moreover, if the wages at
tached to it are small, this drawback is to
a certain extent met by being auartered
In civilization With plenty of good grub