The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-04-18
BUNS, toBOs AND TRAMPS.
Some Nice Distinctions In the Use Of These
Terms.

SUMS, fOBOS AND TRAMPS.
Some Nice Distinctions In the Use Of These
Terms.
My friend-my warrant for so
styling him is based on the fact that
he has generally accepted sundry
loans from me-was telling of some
people he had met. By the way,
the conditions under which I met
him led me to believe that he knew
the gentlemen Of whom he spoke,
for our acquaintance was formed on
O back street at "a late hour. His
purse had been lost, strayed or stol-
on, and fortunately I was vouch-
safed the privilege of supplying his
immediate necessities in the par
ticular of what he jocularly termed
1.-THE price" His conversational
powers were at their best, notwith-
standing a certain murkiness about
his voice which I forbode to men,
ton to him. inadvertently I had
alluded to him as a bum" Now,
/ intended 40 Insult, but from the
subsequent remarks it was forced
upon my attention that l had offered
one.
"Ye don't want ter call me a bum,
seer" he observed. "Ye don't know
what a bum is. I'm a hobo. When
ye call a hobo a bum, yer takin
chances, see? Why. now if Spring
Jack wuz hero he'd give ye thu
strong arm fer that. Don't know
Spring Jack, ell? Well, ye be a ig-
norance. Horsepower, that's nei-
ther here e there, as me ole fren
Slim used ter say when he'd been
chucked off a freight. There's jest
two kin's Of buns n them is town
buns n shovel buns. Now, a town
buns a felley as won't work, but
buns aroun the town he belongs in.
They's a lot of 'em here. A shovel
bum will work when he's broke.
Them's the felleys as hangs out in
the Wayfarer's lodge.
"A town bum'll sponge on emmy
body, but a shovel bum won't
sponge. He'll work fer what he
gets. Next is tramps. They travel.
They's a big difference tween bums
n tranps. A tramp never washes;
he begs at houses instead of hustlin
on the street, n they're all can gau-
gers; they get a a n sneak roun
back doors of saloons n drink the
drippin's out of beer kegs. But ye
can gamble t a hobo's fly. He amt
got no use fer buns n tramps He
puts up a good trout, buns on the
fly, which is hustlin on the street fer
the price. He counts himself some
thin n don't 'sociate tn no buns n
tramps. A hobo hates a shovel bum.
He'll t'row his grub away fore he'll
give it ter a shovel bum. Ye see,
when a hobo gets down on his luck n
braces a shovel bum the other felley
calls him down n tells him ter go
ter work. The hobo alters gets
square. A hobo is up n comm most
OF the ti1ue. He up ter all the
tricks n can work a 'jigger' easy.
Don't know what a Tiger is? Why
ye scratch yer arm II put some kind
of liniment ON it, II it swells up, n
then ye show it ter people, N they
come down with the stun easy, SEQ?
It's a sure thing. Nose hobos is
crooks. Some OF 'em get up in the
business SOS they can crack a safe.
They're pretty high up then. A
hobo travels all the time. Ye don't
never lind them in the woodward.
This town has turned out a few good
hobos. I've seen their registers.
Ye see, a foley writes him name
n the direction he's goin, so the
other felleys knows where he is.
There's Spring Slim, Spring Jack,
Spring Red. This town amt turn.
ed out but one good crook. "-Spring-
field Union.