The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-26
A TRAMP ON TRAMPING.

The season OF the tramp mas coihe'
and soon he will spread over the land
like little toads after a rain in summer
! The tramp, being poor, is always with
us. One tramp goeth and another
cometh AS being separate and apart
/ from the rest of his fellow men, he is
interesting as study. and not as a
companion The Louisville Courier
Journal got a very interesting study
of the philosophy of tramping from
one of the craft 1t is interesting, 1t
might almost be said to be philosoph-
| ical: from the perpatetic point of view
it certainly is.
The tramp interviewed by the Cour-
ier-Journal says there is a philosophy
of tramping; and then he proceeds ~
tell wherein it consists. He declared
there were reasons why he chose to
live as he did. Upon reflection he was
convinced that the principal one was
IAN absolutely unconquerable disin-
clnation to work" He said he was
brought up well, but was always re-
markable for a lack of energy and
force The scoffer would say that he
was always remarkable for laziness,
for what. after all, is laziness but lack
of energy? This man said he had
watched the efforts of other men, had
observed their success and their fail
ures, but he had never endeavored to
do anything in his life. Il detest exer-
ton" said he 1T was born in me. I
have not the energy to try to overcome
it. Men have said to me, Try TO do
something; be a man; exert yourself to
action; persist in trying, and you will
overcome laziness and will acquire en-
ergy as a part of your character They
might as we'll stand by the bedside of a
sick man and say, BE we'll; take the
pure blood and the health and strength
that are in my body and get up and
be strong again Are there not men
tai diseases as pronounced and as in
durable as physical ones? They have
the energy; 1 have not, and nothing
can ever give it to me. 1 can accustom
myself to anything passive and mega
tive. as uncleanliness, rags and poor
food, but it is impossible for me to get
used to such a positive and active
thing as work. Do not think that
nave never ITl6u. mere DIT lIllS place
we must work for our food and lodg-
ing, and I was put to saving wood.
made an effort, but was soon dis
couraged and, refusing to try any
more, l was told that I must leave if
would not work. 1t is not that 1
would not, but cannot. So I am go
ing to leave in a few minutes
All that is but Introductory to his
real system of philosophy. Here is the
system as he epitomized it:
1 have no desire to be otherwise than
1 am. Consequently L am nearer to
contentment than many men of better
fortunes, who are tormented with hope
and fear, and are always concerned
with dissa abstraction with their present,
and apprehension of their future af-
fairs. Excitement wears men out. as
motion does machinery; inertia rusts
them, as it does steel and iron, but L
have a gentle motion of mind and body
so that [ neither rust nor wear out
am without responsibility, or care, or
trouble; nothing that may happen, or
that anybody can do, can disturb my
serenity. l do not care if it rains, for
I do not mind being wet; the weather
does not concern me, for in winter l am
in the south; clothes enough are given
me- I get enough to eat and smoke;
I believe nothing / hope nothing,
expect nothing. In short, L am as con-
tented as a human being may be- and
call myself philosopher. / have more |
right to that title than men who tor |
ment themselves with speculations |
about infinity, and the soul of man, and |
a thousand other things which are of |
no consequence in this world. / live |
what l preach, and that is, Nothing |
T1ncifinT Of ND
tentment I can look with pity upon |
men who struggle only to fail at last, |
whose desires are never realized, who |
hope and are ever disappointed, who |
expect much and receive little, and /
who finally lay down their wearisome |
burdens and are glad to die. Happy |
am to escape these things, and to live |
or to die, with an equal Indifference
and contentment.
All that has the true philosophic
twang, for what is philosophy but
and reflection? Where
action begins, there philosophy ceases
This man, this tramp, this Weary
WagglSs; of the Wayside, says he has
found contentment. Can the world
give man more than that? Has not the
task of the philosophers, from Thales
perfect contentment? Contentment is
peace, and peace is the longing of each
human soul. Peace is the New Jeru-
salem of the Christian, the nirvana of
the Buddhist. This tramp calls him
self a philosopher. And does he not
justly call himself one?
This tramp has told us of his thought
but not of his action He says he was
born without energy. But he signally
fails to complete his account of him
self when he neglects to state how it
s that he gets energy enough to tramp
from one town to another, for he can
not always hit the brake" 1t may
be that the tramping occurs during a
alteration of mind, a time
when philosophy is not in the ascend
Int. And it may be that there is a
alismanic force in the words Move
,nl'' words so familiar to the tramp,