St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-11
WILL SOON TAKE THE ROAD
"a Motley Mass Of Aimless HUI
man Beings Move
Forth
FROM CHOICE OR NECESSITY
fGlimpses Of the Genus Va
grant Gathered About a
Rural Camp Fire.

There was Pitts Blue and the
kid and me, but the kid got gay and
/ put him to work.
The speaker was a vaga bond-a
knight of the road, a tramp, and he
was recounting his misfortunes. 1t
was a Sunday morning in little
camp, of his followers near Ben
,.ning's, and three or four other
tramps were listening sympathetic
ally, says the Washington Post.
pitts Blue" a notorious character
among the tramps of the Pennsyl-
vania circuit, had been his partner.
The Kid" had been his boy. Now.
every tramp of that particular class
starts out on his travels accom-
panied by boy of ten or twelve
years of age. a thin, delicate, pitiful
looking little fellow he usually was.
too, and his mission in life was to
stand between the tramp and the
j. ungentle world, and act as a sort of
buffer When tramp strikes town
he finds himself comfortable nook
to rest in, and sends his kid" out
to beg. The people who will listen
to the appeal of a grown man who
begs are as rare as the men and
women who will turn a deaf ear
to the pleadings of child. The
tramp knows this only too well, and
never fails to keep his kid" as long
as he can. In return for the child's
services he teaches him how to beat
( his way. The kid is, in short, the
tramp's apprentice, and the worst
punishment his master can mete out
to him for getting gay is to find
him a place to work and leave him
in it.
1t is only one class of tramps, how
ever, that adopts this practice
Tramp is the general title given to
all vagabonds, but among them
selves they are divided into separate
'of the road is no more a tramp
than every American is a Yankee
The lowest class of all is the bum -
The bum hangs about a town and
will not leave it unless driven out by
the police. He maintains a precari-
Gus existence by begging and petty
thievery. A bully with the weak, the
terror of unprotected women and
| children, he is looked down upon by
other vaga bonds and justly deSpised.
The tramp comes next. The tramp
is a man who actually walks from
f0 a 10 q ORG
steal rides on passing railroad trains
r,andu makes the journeys on dusty
country roads. The yaristocrat of
wagabonds is the "hobo." The
hobo will not walk step unless
actually compelled to do so. He
travels by rail, and he travels from
one end of the country to the other.
THE GENUINE HOBO"
There are of course, many men to
be found ION the road who are not
hoboes. They are the unemployed
seeking work, prodigal sons return
ing home, or, occasionally, young
men without money who have some
definite stopping place. in view.
The real hobo" is none of these.
He is ION the road" for the love of
| it. He does not want work. He is
| not going anywhere in particular
he is simply vagabond by nature.
His characteristics are many and
varied, and they are not, for the
| most part, those that are popularity
| attributed to him. In the first place
he seldom wears a beard. When
| three or four hoboes are met to-
gether at least one of them is sure
to have razor, and the task of
shaving the rest of the party falls
to him. The hobo will go clean
| shaved if he possibly can. Then, he
is not nearly so unkempt as the
comic papers would have US believe
| The only article for toilet use he in
variably carries is a comb, and he
combs his hair about as often as