The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-07-05
AN ENGLISH CASUAL.
WHERE TRAMfS GET FOOD AND
LODGING FOR WORK.

Josiah Fiynt and . Companion Wind Up
. Study Of Tramp Life In England by q
Visit to = "Spike"-Meeting With .
Great Friend Of Mark Twain.
Josiah Flynt, who has given interest
ing studies on tramp life in Germany
and in this country, has extended his
Investigations to England. He writes a
paper entitled, 1.-TWO Tramps In Eng
land" in Century. He and his com
panion, a German student, completed q
tour through the provinces with an ex-
p%erience in a casual" at Noting Hill,
London. Mr.. Flynt writes: ,
We appeared at the door Of the ward
about half past Z in the evening. A lit
tie window was raised, and ! stepped
forward to state my business. Uncon-
sciously I leaned against the sill of the
window, which offended the inspector
in charge considerably.
whats your name?' he Numbered.
Still leaning on the sill, I gave him my
name honestly enough. He then remark
ed to some person inside that we were
not accustomed to such places evident
ly, and called out, "Stand back, will
your Back I stood. He cried out again,
Take off your haiti" My hat came off
i%nstanter. Still again: You come in
here as if You was a ~meeleeonary. You're
not. You're q casual" / was as meek
as could we'll be. Ryborg was itching to
grab the inspector with his long arms.
The mex question was as to where we
had slept the night before.
"Straw stack" I replied.
"None Of your ~impudence! You slept
out. Why don't you say SO? Have you
got any money!"
"A %hap'enny, sir"
Hand it in" In it went. Then l
had to tell my trade, which wa that of
a sailor, and naturally the next question
was as to where l was bound.
ITO Ameriky, sir, if / a ever get
there" w.
You re goin to tramp it, aren't you?"
Eyes, sir that's my intention But
for the life Of me I could not see how l
was to reach America that way. I was
- frightened hat I would have told
MN anything ne wanted.
When he was through with us, akind
hearted attendant took us in hand gave
Us some Cruel and bread, a bath, clean
night shirts, and then a cell apiece, in
which We slept very we'll.
AS there were only four inmates that
morning we were needed for the clean
ing up, and so escaped stone breaking,
which I dreaded exceedingly, and were
put at various light occupations-or
rather I was. Ryborg was the victim Of
his strength. Our breakfast consisted of
the same dish as our supper of the night
before. l was soon busy as general fire.
man, scrubber, knife cleaner, coal car
rier, dish washer and helper of my sis
ter sufferer, Mrs. Murphy, as she wash
ed her task Of towels and shirts. At
loon we had pea soup and bread. I en-
joyed it, but Ryborg did not. The poor
fellow was feeling badly. he had had
to scrub nearly go cells, and the bend
ing over incident to such a feat had
nearly broken his back. At dinner he
said plaintively, ."'Flynt, l want to GO
home" 80 do l." I replied, "but 1
fancy we're wanted here till tomorrow
morning This proved to be the case,
but he felt better in the afternoon and
got through comfortably, wheeling near
ly a ton Of stone from some Of the cells
to the general pile. He earned his
keep" If ever any poor prisoner did.
l fear I was more shiftless, for about
the middle of the afternoon the attend
ant who was with me at the furnace
said: "You might as we'll rest. Just
keep your eye ON the fires, that's all"
1t was kind Of him, and as I had at
least earned my pea soup and cruel
took his advice. He was kinder to me,
I think, because I gave him a corncob
pipe which he had had to take away
from me the night before. During the
day he had asked me several questions
about it, and I said, Its a very decent
sort Of pipe-coolinlike, you know"
Doesn't Mark Twain always smoke
one O. them pipes:" said he.
"Blest if I know" said l. ''but l can
we'll think it."
I'm a great friend Of Mark Twain"
he pursued, IAN I'm a-thinkin O. gettin
one O. them pipes, jest out Of respect for
him"
WELL" said l, permit me in the
name of your respect to present you
with my pipe. Resides you'v got it any
how" He thanked me profusely, and
promised to keep it forever. Later IN the
day he reported it to be just as I had
said, "sort O. coolin like" And he was
a good friend to me all the rest Of my
stay in the Noting Hill station.
On Wednesday morning we were turn
ed loose with our two ha'pennies. We
We're both SO happy that we decided to
get off the road that very day.
We had been tramps for three weeks,
and had walked most Of this time fully
Is miles a day. So we looked up my
friend at the Temple, and in a few hours
were respectable again. That same day
l took my tramp clothes ont t. the casual
ward and presented them to my friend
the attendant. I had told him the day
before that I expected to get new "togs''
l 49, nrl k~ 1nl ,.k r. $3.50