Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-01-01
LITERARY TRAMPS.
AUTHORS WHO ARE NOTED IN
HISTORY As PEDESTRIANS
Homer Was Among ne First Of Whom We
Have Any Record N the Riddle Ages tho
Singers Of Ballads Travelled on FcoL

Tho literary tramp - no new thing
Thousands Of years ago blind Que sang Of
tho beauty Of Helen and Che valor o.
Achilles Nearer our own days palmera
with scrip and scaliop she'll, told tales foi
bread az they tranped toward the Holy
Land or home from IT, Troubndours SANG
hs they strollc6 from castle to castle and
berame The fathers OF literature. Ther
literature ceased TO 70 ON foot When u
could not ride. as Chauccr did, Il staid at
home. bad roads, sparse habitations, above
all the growth Of cities, did away with lit
efury yagubondage. Literature nlmosl
forgot nature IN time, and the tramp took
30 garrcls rather than to highways and
wrote idylls IN bed 20 keep warm. ONLY
within the last hundred years hns litera
turs agnin found feet, and the pleasant
spectacle Of Is makers tramping alone o.
ia couples again becomes prominent.
Almost the first Of literary tranps, !
indeed they come within the description
an. were Shelley and MARY Goodwin Thoi
huvo left little trace OF their adventures
vet that thoy could walk, or thought tines
could. Is evident IN their plan to 90 o.
foot from Paris 20 Lausanne. We catch
noeti.g glimpse Of them trudelnR with
Jane Clairmont through the dust ant
nrmbiing bitterly nt tho evil fare anc
housing Of vagabondage, tho two womoI
riding by turns on their only donkey Gill
apraiucd ankle promoted Shelley himscl
90 ride. and they bad 20 buy "a chariot
The poorest Of trnmpg they must havt
bccn for not love Of nature but scarcity Of
gold put them On their feet What tht
natives Of the country Thought of thom ni
man can say, for the girls trudgcd in black
silk gowns ana were Of tio hated nation
Doubtless also they trudped along ia the
hid slippers and silk stockings and The
corded and iron bnsked stays that were o.
TINT day. No wonder the poet got
"nprainW
A mouter ~ less romantic pnir OF prdes
trians were James and Harriet Martinnau
who an i122 made q tour on foot togcshcrir
Scotland. walking 600 miles Ia a month
Miss Mnrlincau was always "a capita
walker while ahe had health, and Words
worth accused her Of walking the lec,
OFF, " hnlf the gentlemen Of Amblcidc
For all that abe was The most unimn sina
Give OF women Sho he'd "manly stride,
and mover nymph or pixie, eli or dryht
lurud her TO follow streams or TO dream
beneath ruhtlinR foliage. Herbert Brown
ING aud Slrinuun were another brother
and sister who covered miles upon miles
togothOr The peculiarly OF their journeys
lies in tho fnct thaJ they did not bogir
them till both were middle aged. They
formed their oumpauionship after MfF
Btowning's death, with whose feeble Etepi
noithcr OF thcm bad ever kept pace
Browning speaks Of seventeen mile walks
with Sarlanna, and records nine milos
accomplished in less than two hours
which certainly required more than thd
usual "munly stride' from his companion
Tho Wordsworths, brother aad sister
were aplcndld examples Of literary tramp
iuN Mrs Wordsworth told Harriet Mar
tInotu that William and Dorothy some
tlEcs walked forty miles day Tours uu
foot were a large part OK their experience
together, Tho first thing they did after
their reunion in i19i was 90 start oH upon
n little stroll, OF which Dorothy wrote, u
walked with my brother from kendpl %
GrAsmcrc, eighteen miles, and aftcrWard
10 keswick, hftcon miles, through the
most delightful country that ever was
seen" In November, llI, they started
upon n pedestrian tour with ColcridPe
along the 6cncuast
A littlo later in the same month the
three set cut at d.g0 OF q dark and cloudy
afternoon walking eight miles for "a stlrt,
II
lad, with tho sale OF which they Lopcd 90
pay the expenses Of the excursion The
methods q thc two did ret run easily 10.
gethcr and "lho Ancient Mariner was
soon given over entirely Go Coluridge.
Dorothy did roJ walk in a black silk gown.
Doubts are reasonable u even she ever had
one. Her usual walking costume WASH ''lit.
Gle Jacket and brown drvmn Colrrilge we
may imagino ga the sumo rainont in which
hc attcrward Travelled with the two in
scotland the s0ilCd ngnkeen truuaors, the
blue cont with bruHH buttons, IA which ho
mounted Unitarian pulpit md preached
candidate hgrmun Wordsworth doubt.
| loss also wore his Usual suit OF dlny
brown, with a tapping broad brimmed
straw hat 10 protect bis weak Dyes
They were not three grac0s, this distin.
| gulshed trio OF trhmps Wordsworth was
| not ~ Handsome man; not even au Impress.
| i've man. la spite oi the fact that the
brother and sister walked, according Co De
| Cuincey's calculation, between 10000 and
| 10000 miles, his legs were The worst pnr,
/ Ut him, and the total effect OF his narrow
| por8on was even more uncomely In move.
ment than IA rcposo. His walk was a RON
! aud lunge, with eyes fixed on the ground.
! "Mmbly on his lpgs,n the ueighhors do
scrihed him. Once Dorothy, walking far
Their behind him than usual aud thus zoe
tlng better view, was heard 70 cxclaim
dlscontcntadly several dmua "Cun that he
! NilliAmF llraiiiy hersoI WAS short ana
slight, With gypsy tan as Is rarely
seen upon au husish lnce. Her eyes were
not scst nor were they dgrcc or bold, bias
they were wild and startling and hurried
Ia their motion, like those If some wild.
wool creature. Macmllau's Magazine
Whore Wealth Might Ala soienre.
Professor Marx w. Harrington. chief al
The weather bureau says that one Of an,
| great dinlcnlties Ia periocupp the sciepe,
/ nj NM nnunIn..u h AL.L -. -