The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-05-05

| y y
a Teller. See tibet house over yonder?
Ye mus go thar an git us sunthin'
ter eat. It's a good place, an they
won't hurt We; 1 seen the marks onto
the gate Yesterday. Begin? Now don
ye be no fool Polly. I'm holy terror,
| am, when wunst gifts ugly. You go
long an git the grub, an ole Rustyll
do the rest
"They were real nice to me, Sam
my, at the house; only they kept ask
ing questions, and I'm afraid I told
some more stories. Do you know, Sam
my, if ever l should lie again I'd feel
| just like a tramp? The folks fed me
all l could eat-oh! but it was good
and they let me have some more to
eat on the road. When 1 showed it to
Rusty and told him I'd had mine he
gobbled up every bit of it.
"'Purty fair fer a kid he said, as he
finished the pie in about two bites.
You'll do, Polly. l knowed We could
work it. Now I'm goin' ter use We fair
an give ye jest a leetle of this. Most
fellers wouldn't divvy, bein' as We
didn't turn in no money, but 1 amt
mean, an it'll do We good
He had got some beer in an old tin
can. 1 took just one smell; guess it
was mostly the can I smelt 1t was a
salmon can-one. I thought he'd be
mad, but he didn't seem to mind.
"'Haf ter git over that sorter fool
ishness, Polly was all he said, and he
gulped the stuff down at one swallow.
Then he fixed himself UP a kind of
coat out of some burlaps he found tied
round a peach tree. He cut holes for
his arms, and fastened the thing on
with pieces of string. After awhile we
went back near the depot, and waited
behind the fence till a freight trair
came along. He'd got board that
was little longer than l am. 4 amt
in no shape ter go long with We jist
yit,' he said, but bein' ye're in SIGH
KILN resi-, I'll git We started right.
So we crawled under a car, and he laid
the board lengthwise on one of the
trucks. | was awfully scared. but he
said it was easy as sliding down hill
"'Jist hump up yer back agin the
bottom of the car. eff she goes ter wob
bin, he said. AN we bettew keep yer
eyes shet, mostly. An don't We try ter
git out till she's dead sure stopped
$50 l squeezed in, and lay along the
board, fat on my stomach. Pretty
soon the engine started, and for about
minute | thought twas going to be
picnic. The ties just under me looked
like a smooth plank walk, and when
looked out sideways the fields and
fences and houses slid by like regular
panorama. Then we got togoing faster
and the dust began to blow up in my
face, and I couldn't see a thing shut
my eyes tight, but it drove into my nose
till I couldn't breath, and when
| opened my mouth | thought I'd be
choked anyhow. 1t wasn't all just dust,
either. When we got to roaring along
at full speed, and the wheels were hum
ming close by my ears, and the iron
things were rafting all round me, the
gravel began TO fly UP, too and it pound
ed me- like big hailstones. You haven't
the least idea, Sammy, how fast a
freight train really goes. And it
doesn't run steady; it swings ahead,
and Stacks, and starts up again with a
yank that almost sends you off back
wards. Then you strike curve, and
your board slides round under you till
you just grit your teeth and say your
prayers. When I tried to brace by
launching up the way Rusty told me, it
seemed as if the whole car was jounc-
ing up and down on my back. thought
! was a dead boy 20 times that day,
Sammy.
81 must have been a sight when I did
crawl out, but it was night by that
time. ! could hardly see or hear or
| ached all over. 1t seemed as if the
grit had worked into my joints till l
could hardly move, and filled up my
head till it felt as big as a pumpkin
and about as much good. | don't see
what any tramp is thinking of when he
steals rides under the cars. He'd bet
ter feed a thrashing machine and done
with it.
How did l get the rest of the way
to New Yorl;? 1t would take too long
to tell all that tonight. l promised I'd
come home early, Sammy-and I'm not
playing any low-down tramp tricks
now, you better believe. But part of
the way l got ride on a canal boat
and part of the way l walked. 1 got
things to eat easy enough, and once
pr twice got bed but l was just a
miserable little beggar, and 1 felt like
yellow dog all the time. And the real
yellow dogs-they chase me, Sammy.
when l got to the city it wasn't so
easy. l sneaked up and down the
streets ever so long, and pretty near
starved to death before could find out
where those Cuban folks were. And
when I did find them they wouldn't
even listen to me.
"'What you want here, boy?' little
black-loolling man said to me. When
told him he got mad right away.
More as 100 fool boys do come here
each day he growled. What we want
of fool boys? You get out, quick
"Then I went down to the dock and
hid on ship that was going to Key
West, but they caught me just as she
xNoc ct o,.tinC. and oF 4bey'd half