St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-12-26
Written for the Daily Globe.l
when | WAS A TRAMP
RYH FL YOUNG.

iniscence will answer, l can tell what
happened once when | was a tramp.
When l was young people often made
long Journeys afoot. | accomplished
several such myself. and hence have the
right to claim that was once tramp.
True, did not beg cold victualS. sleep
in outhouscs, nor get drunk. | was
more decent sort of tramp, but
tramp nevertheless.
On bright September morning in
1S43 when about leaving Cincinnati to
visit my parents in Central Indiana, l
took my place in the stage coach in The
stable yard on Sycamore street near
Sixth. The fare was seven cents mile.
My elder brother was at the time build
ing barn iii the vicinity of Brookyille.
and expected to travel thence in his
company OH horseback.
The only railroads then in the country
were corduroys, with rails of wood laid
croSSwise. Ohio and Indiana were yet
newly settled, and were largely covered
with magnificent primeval forests, the
grand old trees of which not intre-
QuentIy lowered to height of upwards
of 100 feet, their crowns forming an UNI
brageous canopy, through whose in
terStlces the SUMS rays struggled to the
ground in slender scattered beams, and
beneath whose shade dense thiekets of
undergrOWth flourishcd and almost eX-
Guided human access. This is changed
now. Few of those leafy monarchs,
products OF decade of centuries, have
escaped the destroying axe and fire of
epterprising settlers. and now over vast
areas all signs of their having existed
are effaced.
1t was but 5 o'clock when l took my
place in the coach, for we were aStlr
early then. Mechanics began their
work at 6, continuing it, with the noon
hour intermission. till in the evening,
making twelve weary hours OF actual
toll six days every week. Working.
eating and sleeping left little leisure to
devote to mental Improvement, and eX-
cuSed their lack of refinement.
The driver speedily mounted his box,
blew his horn and cracked his whip,
when his four gallant grays, clearing
the yard in few bounds, swung into
the street in gallop, and away we
went over the stony streets, the old
Concord coach Swaying from side to
side like a bacchanalian reveler who
had just made night of it. l was al
ternately flying hlther and yon and
bounced and pounded by the variety
and violence of its motions. When we
whirled into Fourth street with un.
Blackened speed the coach slid half
way across the street. making of me an
animated hypothenuse, with my feet in
one corner and my head in its diagonal
opposite.
was agitated, but Strengthened up
preparatory to further trouble. which
came promptly. The stage stopped,
staccato style, in front of the poStoffice:
l went on. head-foremost, into the front
seat again. This provoked me, and
when the driver opened the door to see
whether the helpless victim of his reck-
lessnesS was comfortable. talked ugly
to him; but the hardened wretch only
laughed a prolonged, vulgar horse
laugh. | threatened to chastISe him,
thus provoking another hilarious roar.
He was head taller and thirty pounds
heavier than /, and beneath me socially.
AhNlNlOlO L NIOh my oOOuV LAS
and held my peace.
Within less than an hour five full
mail bags and trunk were loaded into
the boots behind and before, the driver
and a big, burly guard mounted the box,
and again we were off, rushing pell-mell
along Fourth street to Plum, up Plum
to Sixth, and westward OH Sixth, half
way the block, when we again halted
for a lady and two children to get
aboard. The weight of the load we re-
ceived at the poStoffice modified the
swaying of the coach materially. This,
with the eXhilarating influence of rapid
motion, restored my normal condition
of amlability, and when, while waiting
for the new passengers, the driver in
vited me to join him in drink of cider
at stall in the market on the left,
ignored caste, forgave his vulgar hilar-
lty. and not only drank with him, but
bought jug of the cider for future re-
freShment on the road.
We were soon reseated and off again,
turning into Western row. and main
tanning our break-neck speed till we
neared the confines of Texas, where we
took aboard a comely maiden. about
returning to her country home from a
visit to her married sister. She was
pretty, but unrefned; had slovenly
habits and was troubled with catarrh.
No further detentlons occurred till
we reached Cummingsvllle, where the
way mail was changed and another pas
Senger added. This was an elderly man
nf, ;,;, II
at once proclaimed himself an ex-Justice
of the peace, entitled to the appellation of
Squire. He believed himself learned in
the law, and, beginning as soon rs
seated, talked increasingly. The chill
dren gaped astonished, the country girl
forgot to sniffie, and the tired mother
sighed YEARLY i'll hopeless resignation.
AS for myself, he penned me on one
end of the forward seat and talked at
me in rasping voice, without cadence,
infection or rhetorical pause, until the
racket made me wild, and l prayed
earnestly that he might be struck
permanently dumb. He knew
all about everything and talked
on all subjects, but his forte
was the law. His expostions of
the errors of Blackstone, Kent and
Gritty, and of the absurd mistakes of
Chief Justices Marshall and fancy,
whom he criticised with tluency, were
simply wonderful. l was about to beg
the driver to let me get out and walk,
that might escape the incessant din of
this conceited babbler, when the coach
stopped with the welcome announce
ment:
TWENTY MINUTES FOR DINNER"
The Squire had just begun an earnest
diatribe on the dement's of local
judge, who maliciously overruled his
magisteral decisions, and regarding
this interruption as personal affront,
gave emphatic expression to his cha
grin. On coming to the table, his i'll