The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-04-28

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HAWAIIAN MI worlS?" The IA
~ A&DW miliar question
sounded in my
ears one morning as l stood at my case
busily setting type. l knew at once
that member of the travelling fratcrn-
ity had made his advent He was a
queer looking individual, dusty, ragged
and forsallcn. His clothing seemed to
be made up of the contribution of al;
classes of people. a broadcloth Prince
Albert coat gave him decidedly minis
terial look, which was sadly dispcllcd
by Il jaunty crush hat which yainly
tried to hide his rough, uncombed hair.
He passed on to the next room and I
resumed my work. After awhile he
came back.
Say. pard, have you got n nickel
'bout?' he asked. '"The foreman is no
ing to give me some work and 1 want to
get Il bite to cat.''
L duly contributed and he passed
out.
The next morning when entered the
composing room he had been installed
i'll the same ALLEY" with myself and
was hard at work. And so he STAYED.
He was fine workman, Il thorough
master of his trade, and he declared that
he was tired of tramping and was going
to settle down.
II haven't always been tramp he
vouchsafed as he got on his stool at my
side. Upon my expressing my gratifi-
cation, he continued:
81 should say not. 1 was one of the
biggest men in IL big state one day,
young man. Owned one of the finest
daily papers in the west. They didn't
call me Old Pete, them he continued,
musingly, more to himself than to me.
II was Hon. Peter2Burbanks then, and
had nice home; now I'm Old Pete, the
tramp"
thought 1 actually saw tears glistcn
in tho old mans eyes, but must have
been mistaken. The truth is, several
years experience with his genus had
taught me that the wonderful tales they
always told of their previous lives were
not to be credited as absolutely true.
looked at the old man pityingly.
Ills bent and shrunken form and I'M
cared for person were certainly worthy
of compassion. His fingers mcchani-
cally deposited each letter in its proper
apartment, but his thoughts were far
away.
How did you come to be tramp"
ASKED, to arouse hiia.
"Oh, it got too rich for rne; couldn't
stand success, you know"
He looked at me defantly, and I
knew that his light answer was given
merely to conceal some circumstance,
some tragedy, perhaps, of his life of
which even he, tramp that he was, could
not bring himself to speak.
"Iiow long have. you been on the
road?" inquired.
Ten years. Haven't been back to nv
old home or heard n word from there in
all that time. Just been trampn',
trampin', working Il day here and Il day
there"
Again the veteran fell into rcvcrie
and the click, click of the type was the
only sound that broke the silence of the
Old Pete would talk
to whoever would listen. lie had been
everywhere and had seen many things.
Ilc told wonderful tales of his exploits,
of the things nc had done and the
notable people he had met, all of which
were pronounced ''fishy" by the work
mem
Tie governor sent for me one morn
ing he was saying one day as en-
tered the composing room and joined a
group of worimen who were waiting
for the ono n'rlnpl. cifrDal
"Whatd lie want of you?" asked the
galley boy, doubtingly.
WANTED INC to go down to Carbon
dale and sec if it would be necessary to
order out the militia to put down a riot
among the miners"
looked at him and thought that
truly he had the appearance of an am
bassador for the governor.
Didn't want to go, but the governor
insisted and | went, Things looked
ugly when got there, but talked TO
the miners and before left everything
was as quiet as summer morn. The
governor wanted to give inc job that
paid five thousand dollars a year to pay
for that, but would not have it. Got
any tobacco?" he asked of slug twenty,
a. the bell rang.
res he continued as he took his
place at his ease, II could have been
the governors private secretary if
had wanted the place, but | went l1ocls
and worked on my paper till"
Here lie stopped. Although he would
talk for hours of things that happened
to him during his balmy days, he never
spoke of the circumstances which
caused him to go out into the world Il
tramp.