Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-07-25
JARooN OF ENGLISH TRAMps.
1t Dates from the Reformation and 10
Picturesque Language.

The English government Is going to
consider the vagrant. Nagrancy has
engaged the attention of the authori-
ties ever since it started in the whole
sale line with the reformation. In good
Queen Bess' days vagrant was
whipped for being one the first time,
he had portion of his right ear cut
off If he repeated the performance. and
II he was convicted third time he
was sent on a long journey from which
there is no possibility Of return. Mild
er statutes came with the Georges.
Our present vagrant act was passed In
1924 and amended in 1885, The va
grant has not been amended at all.
Tranping runs in families. | have
traced the history of tramp family
back over 100 years, and found that
FIVE generate Of them have been
born in the workhouse and all had
been lifelong vagabOnds.
They are conservative people, and
it is interesting to note that many Of
the words which were tramps' IAN
guage when Harmon compiled his die
tionary In 1860 are in the tramps' and
thieves vernacuIar at this very second
that ticks from the clock. The
"boosing ken" of the sixteenth cen
fury Is the "boosing KEN of the twen-
tieth. The 'beak," constable, has
become the "beak," magistrate.
Dudes" clothes. have become "duds;"
"cassam" Is still cheese, "autem" is
still a church. and mort" slightly al
tered is woman, and an "autem mort"
or church woman, a wife.
"Saltee" (soldiD are still pence, and
the thief and the vagrant still reckon
in Italian. Tray saltee" is three
pence, "chinker saltee" is five pence,
eight pence Is otter saltee," nine
pence is "nobba saltee' and ten pence
is "dacha saltee"-ltalian, tire. cinque,
otto, move, dieci-six pence is some
times tester" which was its Off
cial name in the days Of Henry WILL,
and shilling is ''beong," Italian,
bianco-white. Rome" which meant
good or chief, is to-day rum" In the
language Of the road in Elizabeth
time the queen was the Rome mort
and London was Rome Vile" In
buskers' slang, the manager of the
Gull"
The tramps are an ancient fraterni.
ty. II they are forced off the road
into labor colonies, | wonder IL their
venerable jargon will gradually pass
away? l don't think SO, because It Ia
a secret language and at no time will
a tramp find secret language more
useful than when he and his fellows
are in difficulties. can imagine no
difficulty greater to the true born
tramp than hard work.-London Ref
cree.
"PIain Living aud High Thinking"
Parodies of great thoughts are not
edifying. and unless they are very clev-
er, do not justify themselves. Some
variations Of Wordsworth's great
phrase, "Plain living and high think
Ing" which the pupils of public
school arrived at. are amusing rs I'M
conscious humor, and also because
they show the wonderful working of
the young mind.
The teacher had made Emerson's
centenary all occasion to teach her chill
dren some elementary principles of the
great mans thought
One boy, who had been looking at
Emerson's picture. wrote that the phil
osopher was famous for his high
which made up for his being
plain looking. Handsome is as hand
some does"
Another child announced that Elmer
son believed in high thinking and low
living" A third gave the great phra Sc
a turn which will please those who in
cline to regard philosophy with satiric
His version was, plain
living and fancy thinking"