St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-22

to walk If he can ride. In Jersey City he
succeeds in snluggiing himself and his wife
pro tenn. into freight car, but if these are
found locked, they are not above taking
"gondola,' as the open freight cars are poeti-
caily Called
While the tramp has no fixed destination
in view when he leaves the city, he has the
plan of his summer operations usually ar
ranged in his mind. Along the lines of the
many railroads that seam New Jersey be-
tween New York and Philadelphia there are
countless market gardens. The tramp and
his companion leave the freight car at a
proper point, which he knows even better
than the conductor, and applies for work to
the nearest farmer. In the early spring the
men and women have but little difficulty in
finding employment at cutting asparagus,
the man receiving seventy-five cents day,
and the woman, though she may do more
work fifty cents, out Of which they must
board themselves. The farmer permits them
to sleep in his stable or barn, and where his
establishment is large, he often has rough
shanties erected for the special use OF his
temporary help. Often the woman finds en-
ployment as a servant in the house, when she
is enabled to provide food for her partner
without any great outlay, otherwise they buy
what is absolutely necessary from their en-
ployer at the lowest rates and live econont-
cally. A very curious feature of this arrange
ment is that the woman, although never seen
till this brief alliance was entered into, by
reason Of an unwritten law becomes the
treasurer of the firm and the custodian Of
re fund To of her rAGDapr-
able sisters, she carries her money in her
stocking, and when the summer has flown
and the leaves are falling. an equal division
is made of the funds and the two separate,
perhaps never to meet again, but to find
other companions when spring moves them
once more from the city. After the asparagus
season is over, the green pea season comes on,
and here the relative wages are the same,
though it is customary to pay for the amount
picked, rather than by the day. Following
the green peas, come the strawberries, and
by the time the New Jersey supply is ex-
hausted. the more enterprising of the tramps
make their way south as far as Delaware and
Maryland, where they are ready for the peach
harvest.
Frequently the tramps are skilled basket
makers, work which, the world over, seems
to be calling peculiar to Migrants, and if
the woman does not understand it, she is
quick to learn, and soon exceeds the man in
skill. Along the banks of the streams they
find suitable willow saplings in abundance
which they use without asking the owners
leave, and for the product of their labor they
find a ready market among the surrounding
farmers. Many Of these people return to the
city with sums of money which, if used with
the shrewdness and economy shown in col
Letting it, might carry them through the
winter: but the rule is, when the two separ-
ate they return to their old haunts in the
city and begin drunken debauch, which
lasts till every cent is gone and they are
forced to solicit aims on the street, or to
avail themselves of the shelter afforded by
the station-house or the Island.
The female accession to the army of tramps
of late years presents many sad features,
and seemingly insurmountable obstacles to
those interested in the elevation Of the
masses. 1t is now not unusual to find women
tramping alone and single handed, under
which circumstances they get along even
better than when accompanied by men, for
they are more fertile III resources and more
readily adapt themselves to their environ
ment In addition to this they have more
resources in themselves. They are quite as
skillful and able as the men in the farming
work they undertake, in addition to which
they can sew and do household work. which
is entirely out of the reach of the men. Farm
ers and villagers, perhaps because of the
novelty, regard more favorably women than
men tramps. They appeal to the sympathies
and hospitality of country folk, and being
usually fertile of speech, and with active
imaginations, they are never at loss to
frame appropriate stories TO excite the SYM
pathies and benevolence of those whom they
can get to listen. 1t is curious fact that
one never finds among these women members
of what may be designated as the middle
elass. They are either very ignorant and