Middletown transcript., 1895-08-03
A TRAMP's STORY.

A TRAMP'S STORY.
aHave you pair of old shoes for an hon.
est tramp who is nearly barefoot" in
quired man So years old with gray hairs
and face that did not belle his words, at
the door of the TRANSCRIPT sanctum one
day this week. His language indicated
that he is above the average in intelligence
among the Knights of the Road. and he
was invited in to tell his little story. There
is no reason to doubt its truthfulness except
that man may doubt every thing he has
not personal knowledge of. This 'Sir
Knight" said he has been on the road about
three weeks, coming from Bethlehem, Pa,
where before "these hard times" came on he
had useful employment as laborer, not
having a trade. His bands were shown in
evidence of his being son of toll. He had
entered Delaware hoping to pick peaches
but finds in the peach sections about ten
peach plucks'' awaiting job for every
man that the farmers will care to employ.
He says the railroad from Clayton to Sea-
| ford, the limit of his travels, is lined with
tramps" and that they are having a hard
| time to live. The tramp who gets two
meals day is happy fellow and conten-
| ted. He himself has gone more than once
or twice for two days a. time without a
particle of food. He says that man beg
ging his bread will work on an average two
hours day to get breakfast, hustling from
house to house, to get "a bite here and a
scrap there. Dinner is the main meal, and
the man who gets a fair one does not
trouble about supper. The tramp is for
tunate who gets "a square meal" once in
two weeks, all that he can eat. He said
that most of them do not complain, recog-
nizing the fact that they are heavy tax
upon the people of the country, "but it is
not the wealthy who are the most generous
and treat the tramp best; it is the people in
moderate circumstances and in some in.
stances the compassionate poor who share
their little with fellow in distress"
"How do we sleep? On fair nights under
tree or in an old out house. if by chance
one is within our knowledge, or in box cars
along the railroad. Our tattered coats
serve as pillows, if it is not too cold to take
them off, and we turn many times during
the night because of the hardness of the
planks on which we lie. Three or four
hours sleep is as much as the tramp gets be-
tween fighting the mosquitoes in the night
and the flies in the day time. The box cars
are fairly comfortable for shelter but we
always run the risk of being pulled and
jailed for three or four days. The tramp is
committed for ten or twenty days but is
quietly let out in from two to four, and the
officers get nice thing of it in fees and
board bills"
1.-THE cause of our tramping The causes
are many. Some do not want work and
tramping is profession, but can assure
you that the hardest work ever did, and I
have raised family of seven by hard labor,
has been during the past three weeks in
your State trying to live honestly and to
keep from starving, seeking any kind of
work 1 could find. 1 read the papers and
smile when 1 see that business is booming.
Go as I have gone from shop to shop, from
factory to factory, seeking for something
to do and you will recognize that it is only
a political trick to claim that business is
good"
The origin of the trouble Oh, do not
blame Cleveland as so many do. I think
the manufacturers got scared when there
was no reason for it. Business was good
when Cleveland was elected and the clos
ing of factories was not necessary. OIL
course know the threats of tariff reform
and the change in values consequent upon
tariff revision but still hold that there
was more threat than performance in the
attack upon Protection by the Chicago
platform and the manufacturers should
have kept things going. This is the opin-
ion of tramp only. Thank you sir, wish |
you well let your political opinions be what
they may. Good day"