The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-24
AMONG THE H0B0ES
Two Real Things Tell The Spy
Man About Christmas

Christmas for tramp seems to be
a cheerless proposition, but two knights
of the road encountered by The Spy
man at the corner of Waldo and Foster
streets, last evening, dispelled that
thought to some extent.
Both were looking for a place to sleep
and after being directed to the station
house on Waldo street, one of them
noted the location and then exclaimed
to his partner that he thought it
little too early to retire to his downy
couch for the evening. One of them was
about 25 years old and in response to
a question from The Spy man as to
where he intended to spend his Christ
mas, said:
We'll, yer see, it's dis way. Tn in
Buffalo last year on the day when
everybody is enjoying demselves, and
l feels purity sore. 1 sleeps in a station
house on de previous evening and in the
morning 1 am rudely awakened by de
sergeant, who tells me dat it is up to
me to move along de pike.
IT goes out and gets the position of de
wind and 1 moves along wild it. It's a
dead cinch dat when man moves wild
de wind dat he's a going to get a feed
at some stage of de game, and every
time you sees a hobo dat knows his
number he moves wild de wind. Well,
I'm purity sore at me predicament when
l gets outside and / moves along the
pike until gets under de shadow of a
large elm tree where de thermometer
wouldn't register less than zero and
dere l thinks and thinks hard. Use got
no swell friends in de town what will
break any windows calling me inside,
and l wanders around from sunrise in
de morning until after de noon hour
before l sets me lamps on any ting dat
looks promising.
Il decides finally to hit beanery fer
feed and what do yer tink? Der fell
Ter behind the plank says to me, I've
he'd good business today and if you'll
wash some dishes I'll give yer a feed
He Tugs me behind de tapestry and he
shows me pile of dishes as high as de
Eiffel tower.
g Now, me man. says he, IF you wash
dose dishes, I'll go yer feed Well, 1
says to him. what der yer take me for?
Der yer tink I'm de man what invented
work? We talks over de situation for
time and all de time I keeps picking
and eating what was stuck to de dishes
and l finally says, III have to tink
about it, and goes out.
de next place I strikes is a dead easy
NUT, and Use brought in and set down
kind of tings from onions to oysters on
de half shell, and every one of dem is
all mine if ken eat dem. Well, yer may
say / don't do ting but eat. Well,
OATS in Buffalo, but dis year I'm in New
England where the hobos whisper
among demselves as being a hard place
to get anything. Dis year I'll get feed
just de same and it won't be anything
short of red-hot potato and a slice off
) H. p6A So III III,
Now dere's no use of me trying to tell
yer anything about meself as dis old
bloke whats wild me has been on de pike
since de big wind, and | suppose he has
spent more Christmases putting Jumps
under his belt in other peoples homes
than 1 ever thought Of"
The "Old Bloke" referred to was
man about so years old, and seemed to
regard the young fellow with an amused
expression. He said to the reporter:
These youngsters what travels about
the country nowadays are the toughest
things ever saw They don't stop at
anything and I know for a fact that
some of them would steal anything they
could lay their hands on. 1 have been
on the road off and on for 20 years and
every time / went after a bite 1 always
got it. I had a good home once and
worked hard for a family. I took pride
in my home, but one day the entire
family was laid abed. I called in a doc
tor and he said that they all had yellow
fever I was living in the south at the
time and all my family died and have
been going ever since. I was in the con-
federate army and | always liked the
south, but l always get along in the
north. Last Christmas | got a dinner in
New York; from the Salvation Army,
and I'll get dinner some other place
this year
Its pretty hard not to have a home,
but, then, I'll get a good dinner and a
put up for the night somewhere, and
begin to think I'm as well off as If I
lived in brownstone front"
"Hully gee,' chimed in the young fell
low, you'd never tink de old buck used
to hang up his stocking behind de stove.
Well / used to hang up me own stock
ing wild me little sister once, and on
Christmas day dere was time when me
sister and me used to pull on the wish
bone to see who would get dere wish
Den was only kid. I'd be sure of me
tree squares a day dose times, but me
moder died and me sister. who had
leaning for being smart, is now teach
ing little kids. She's got good job and
once in a while L drops around and
gives her a touch.
"Well dis is getting too much like a
history of me life, SO let's be moving,
old man. We will go up and get out a
plank for de evening and a few crack
ers in de morning.
Both wandered off up Waldo street in
the direction of the station, the young
fellow whistling and the old man plod-
ding along at his side apparently as
happy as if his destination was a
feather bed