The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-05-29
TRAMP BOYSOF THECOUNTRY
.dBOUT SEVEN THOUSAND or THEM
1LTOG ETHER.
They Are Called "Prushuns' and Are
the Slaves of Other Tramps.

the slaves of Other Tramps.
There are about seven thousand boys
in the United States who live, from one
end of the year to the other, exclusively
in tramp life. 1t is impossible to take
an exact census of all--they are too mi
gratory-but l base my estimate on over
ten years acquaintance with American
tramp life, aid on travels with tramps
which have taken me into thirty states.
In winter there are easily five hundred
tramp boys in New York city alone.
or course, there are more than this
number who have to pick up their liv-
ing in more or less tramp fashion, but
l refer to the lads who actually belong
3. to the tramp fraternity and are part and
parcel of it's manifestations. They are
called kids and "prushuns" in the
hobo's vernacular, and when they take
tramp names, always have to add the
sufiix kid to the name of the town
from which they are distinguished, but
they are known to the general public
merely as truants and ''incorrigibles.
No one acquainted with the tramp
world, however, would mistake them for
anything but what they are, Stylish
clothes and bath could not change
their shambling gait, rounded shoulders,
harsh voices and exaggerated tough"
manner. Even upon the youngest the
! life has had it's effect, and tramp
could easily single them out in miscel
laneous collection of boys. Their aver
age age is about fourteen years, but
there are some nearly eighteen and 9TH
ers not yet ten.
They are in tramp life, to use a home-
| ly expression, because the tramp needs
| them in his business" The tramp, as a
class, or the hoboes (hautes beauX) as I
prefer to call them came upon the scene
not long after the civil war; and many
of them soon discovered that 1t was
much easier for boy to excite sympa-
thy than for man, and they began to
entice youngsters into the life. 1T was
immaterial to them where they found
the boys or who were their parents so
long as they were quick, intelligent and
willing. These are the necessary quail
fications for successful ''prushun,
and although there are some boys much
more willing and active than others, the
great majority of them are bright and
attractive. Rich and poor alike con-
tribute to their class. A millonaire's
son, If a hobo can catch him near rail
way watering tank and fasciuate him
with interesting stories, is as liable to
CONSUMPTION as the young hopeful of a
poor workingman. The only thing ne
cessary,is that the lad should have a ro-
mantle temperament. If he has gone
through course of dime novels be-
fore the hobo meets him, it makes it all
the easier for the latter to fire his mag
nation with accounts of wild western
life but there are youngsters unable to
read that he has influenced.
In New York city 1t is the boy of the
sums that the hobo is most likely to
reach While in the city he spends most
of his time in the congested Districts
they are the best places for him to find
charity, as well as to hide his vagabond-
age, and he naturally sees great deal
of the local boys. If he Is in search of
one to take away with him on his trav-
els, he prowls about the streets, ac-
quainting himself with the boys play
grounds and gathering places. Before
long he Is sure to find collection of
lads which he thinks he can influence,
and then he tries to get the boy who
seems to him the most promising
Watch him at his preliminary work.
He is seated on an ash barrel, a crowd
of gamns gazing up at him with adj
miring eyes. When he tells his stories,
each one thinks that he is being talked
to just as much as the rest, and yet,
somehow, little by little, there is ia
vQrite who is getting more and more
than his share of the winks and smiles;
soon the most exciting parts of the sto
ries are gradually devoted to him alone,
but in such an artfu way that he him
self fails to notice 1t at first 1t Is not
long, however, before he feels his mpor-
lance. He begins to wink, too, but just
as slyly as his charmer, and his little
mouth curls into return smile when
the others are not looking. I'm his ia
vorite, I am he thinks. Hell take
me with him, he will, and show me
things"
He is what the hobo calls "petrifed,"
which means, as much as anything else,
hypnotized. The stories that he has
heard amount to very little in them
selves. but the way they are told, the
happy-go-lucky manner. the subtle par
TALLY, the winning voice, and the sem
sitiveness Of the boys nature to things
of wonder, all combine to turn his head.
Then his own parents cannot control |
him as can this slouching wizard.
In the country the favorite gathering |
place for boys likely to be attracted by |
tramp life, as well as for the hoboes, is |
the railway watering tank. For over
twenty years the hohoes have used the
railroads as thoroughfares, beating their
way on trains and sleeping at night in
box cars, sand-houses and at camp |
fires near the track. The watering tank
is their depot" because they can board
freight trains here while the trains are
taking water.
In our provincial towns it is we'll
known to the boys that there is general
ly a collection of interesting wanderers
to be found at the watering tank, and
during the long summer months, when
time often drags heavily on their hands,
they like to join the hoboes and listen to
appeals to some member of the gang
who is looking for 'prushun," the
same process of 'petrifying" is gone
through as in the case of city boys, and
It is often possible to get lad from the
to run away more quickly than
)ne of the metropolitan training, be-
cause he is less suspicious
once on the road, che lie OF these
,nvc ar, ploly ba li1xpnal IN that of | F.,