St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-11-13

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That announce the professional bum.
The great army of Migrants is now i'll
winter quarters.
All summer long this host of homeless
men was scattered in the highways and
oyways of the country, living by their
wits and by their wickedneSs, with the
sky for the roof of their lodging house
ana the ground for the ever ready bed.
But the first chill winds of autumn
turned them city wards, and they have,
most Of them, arrived fat and thirsty
after their summers campaign and
ready 10 beat the town resident, as they
did the countryman, out of enough to
Keep them comfortable until spring gets
nicely started by and by.
The professional tramp is not well
come visitor. Once back in town he
establishes himself in some cheap lodg-
ing house. and from there carries on his
battle against work and hunger alike.
Just before election he is sure to have
all his needs supplied. He counts upon
the fat living incidental to political
canvass for weeks ahead. The tramp
who delays his return until after cleo
ton is classed as a Jay" by his fellows.
All the cheap lodging houses are now
filed to overlooking. The 25-cent
houses are considered the high-class es-
adjustments. At the bottom of the list
is the seven-cent house, with clientele
to be ranked accordingly. The inmates
of these sQualld sleeping places are
down, down, down. For years they
have fought for bare existence rather
than do honest work, and they have for
gotten that they are men. The causes
of their VciousnesS and misery are man
fold, but love of drink comes first.
Among all the Vagrant thousands there
is hardly one whose predomlnatlng pas
sion is not for drink. Theft and general
Toguery have their charms, and wanton
wlckedness of other sorts is pleasant to
them, but drink owns them and governs
their every movement.
In summer, when the rank and file Of
the yagrant army is out I'D the country,
the park benches are crowded with
half-tledged tramps, who work when
they are not drunk, and with an Occa-
SiOnal old timer or TWO i'll town for
few days before Stal ting out on fresh
TRIP.
When the weather is warm the home.
less crowd spends the whole night on
the park benches, sleeping with hands
thrust into pockets and chinS resting on
slightly covered breasts. The first au-
tumn winds send most of them to shell
ter, but a few hardened unfortunateS
continue to spend their nights there
through the fall and into winter, beg
gng from belated pedestrians Tor money
to buy drink. Only when the weather
is so cold that the IlI-cad WretcheS
would freeze if they sat i'll the park all
night does the last nocturnal loafer dis
appear.
To most people there is something
amazingly funny about these poverty
stricken wretches. but a moments
thought Will dispel the merriment their
grOtesque misery eXcites. Each has his
story to tell, and while the tramp's story
is supposed TO be his stock in trade it is
frequently not without foundation of
truth. In the ranks of the army of
trampS are men once prosperous and
h0nOred in the business community OF
the city, and scores of unfOrtunateS
from other towns who once stood on
level with their fellow men. Some Of
them show tattereG papers that prove
their statements. One Of these is man
who was a major IN the Confederate
army and once atfluent III the South.
The fortunes of war ruined him, and
time and drink have done the rest. He
Is now one OF inc WrelcneueSI Vi IIdulpS.
1t is in the small hours of the morning
that the tramp is seen in his true coors.
During the day, when there is life and
noise and warmth about him, he seems
a jolly yagabond, full of daredevil
drollery. But in the chilly night hours,
when the streets are empty and every
door is shut against him, he shows the
real misery that wraps him up in a
mantle much closer than his ragged,
sagging clothes.
The writer made the acquaintance of
tramp as he hurried across Seventh
street about 5 o'clock on one of last
weeks chllliest mornings.
''Give me enough 10 get bed with.
Sir, for Gods sake" he whined.
The reporter gave him a quarter.
The tramp stepped into the light cast
by Pickering street lamp and pulled
aside the lapels Of his thin coat, reveal
ing his naked breast.
There" he exclaimed with an i'm
FASHIONED energy that caused his single
listener to voluntarily take step back
ward: There is what | have come to.