Warren sheaf., 1892-04-21

ears one morning as stood at my case
busily setting type. l knew at once
that member of the travelling fratern-
ity had made his advent de was a
queer looking individual, dusty, ragged
and forsaken. His clothing seemed to
be made up of the contribution of all
Albert coat gave him a decidedly minis
terial look, which was sadly dispelled
by a jaunty crush hat which vainly
tried to hide his rough, uncombed hair.
He passed on to the next room and
resumed my work. After awhile he
came back.
Say. ~pard, have you got a nickel
'bout?" he asked. "The foreman is 60
ing to give me some work and want to
get a bite to eat
l duly contributed and he passed
out.
The next morning when I entered the
composing room he had been installed
in the same Galley" with myself and
was hard at work. And so he stayed
He was a fine workman, a thorough
master of his trade, and he declared that
he was tired of tramping and was going
to settle down.
81 haven't always been tramp" he
vouchsafed as he got on his stool at my
side. Upon my expressing my gratifi-
cation, he continued: ~ --,..~.....,.
II should say not. l was one Of the
biggest men in a big state one day,
young man. Owned one of the finest
daily papers in the west. They didn't
call me Old Pete, then," he continued,
musingly, more to himself than to me-
81 was Hon. Peter BurbankS then, and
had a nice home; now I'm Old Pete, the
tramp
thought actually saw tears glisten
in the 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 We're
not to be credited as absolutely true.
l looked at the old man pityingly.
His bent and shrunken form and un-
cared for person were certainly worthy
of compassion. His fingers mechani-
cally deposited each letter in it's proper
apartment, but his thoughts were far
away.
''How did you come to be tramp?'' l
asked, to arouse him.
''Oh, it got too rich for me: couldn't
stand success, you know
He looked at me defiantly, and |
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.
"How long have you been on the
road?" l inquired.
''Ten years. Haven't been back to nv
old home or heard word from there in
all that time. Just been trampin'.
trampin', working day here and day
there
Again the veteran fell into a reverie
and the click, click of the type was the
only sound that broke the silence of the
composing-room. Old Pete would talk
to whoever would listen. He had been
everywhere and had seen many things.
lie told wonderful tales of his exploits,
of the things he had done and the
notable people he had met, all of which
were pronounced ''fshy'' by the work
men.
The governor sent for me one morn
ing" he was saying one day as en-
tered the composing room and joined a
group Of Workmen who were waiting
for the one o'clock signal. .,
s.-,g "What'd he want Of yon?'" asked the
galley boy, doubtingly :: 81; 81: ~.,::
Wanted me:to go down. to Carbon
dale and see if it would be necessary to
order out the militia to put down a riot
among the miners l.. :#a"' s.;s;;
- looked at hiln:sEand thought that
truly he had the5:appearance of an am.
zbassador for the governor
sDidn'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 me job that
paid five thousand dollars a year to pay
for that, put would not have it. Got
any tobacco?" he asked of slug twenty,
as the bel, rang. ~ !, ~,
eyes," he continued as he took hiss;
place at his case, 81 could have been
the governors private secretary if l
had wanted the place, but went back
and worked on my paper till S'''
Here he 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
tramp.
He worked away for nearly six weeks
and we had come to look upon him as q
permanent fixture, when one morning
his stand was vacant and the word went
round that Old Pete was drunk and
that his discharge would be -forthcom-
ing. Toward night he came around to
bid us good-by, looking more pathetic
than ever.
Couldn't stand it any longer" he
said, apologetically; stayed sober
longer this time than had before for
ten years. Had to do it, had to do it,
l,e repeated, with silly laugh, as he
passed out to begin again his weary
tramp.
Time passed on and Old Pete and his
remarkable career were alike forgotten.
One morning was gratifled to re-
ceiye notice Of my appointment to
<sI[ .sIT|T TETz.sI s.