Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-11-30
H0BOES At SCHOOL
New and Somewhat Doubtful
Phase of Student Life at
Missouri University.
WEARY NILLiES EMULATED
Unofficial Department Turns Out Well
Travelled Young Men at Expense
of the Railroads.

1t has been left to the University OF
Missouri at Columbia. Mo. to set il |
new pace in the college world. This |
school is developing Il phase of college |
life that is making other colleges and |
universities gasp, says the st. Louis !
! rost-Dispatch.
Each year the colleges vie with each |
other to establish some new depart |
mcnt. Departments of domestic sci |
ence. tailoring. journalism ana chicken |
Judging have been installed in adyauc-
ed educational institutions of the Unit |
ed States. hut Missouri university is
putting forward phase of college life
never before dreamed of by rival uni
versiticS.
This is hObOing.
Missouri university is the only school
in the world that has Il hobo day"
StudeTtS from the eastern schools are
set agasp when they attend Il meeting
of the United Brotherhood of Knights
of the Road. as held each spring al
Columbia. Mo. Each year Il half day
is taken by the boys of this university
when they emulate the Weary Willies
Classes are cut" and an all afternoon
jol!ification with hobo convention at
night is held.
Nearly every young man in school
dresses in what he considers just the
suit Il tramp should wear. The Oldest,
raggedest clothes in town are donned
y boy will hunt for weeks to fix out
his hobo day costume 1t is matter
Of n1-i.l with hirrA Of 1,A I,,,
hoes said each suit is a bundle of
holes tied together with rags. Pan
handle HetcS greet the girls and pro
fessors in living reality.
At noou scope five or six hundred
bundles of rags shuttle out the rail-
road tracks Il mile, where they flag
down the first train that comes along
On top, on the brake beams. on the
tender. on the cCwcatCher, the boys
swarm. They literally cover the train.
And then they ride into Coum bia in
grand style. Hundreds of persons are
at the depot to meet them A grand
procession marches up and down the
streets, led 10y the hobo band and
Weary Willum, king of hoboes. To
the girls dormitories and to the fe-
males colleges the knights march,
where they are cheered by the girls.
The girls throw them oranges, and
the boys scramble over them, like
newshoys over penny.
To the athletic field they march, two
abreast, the line three blocks long, all
singing to the tin can band:
How can l work when there's no work
to do?
Halleluiah. I'm bum bum!
Halleluiah. I'm bum bumI
Oh. revive us again.
Give a handouti
I'm bum bum!
Pay No Admission.
Over the ten foot fence into the ath-
letic field they so. To pay admission
would be Il sin. Here Il game of base
ball is played, with ali the girls and
professors in school as witnesses
There are eighteen men on side.
When n bit is made the batter is
trundcd to first in wheelbarrow He
Is too tired to run all tI.at distance
For supper every bum has to beg
his meal From back door to back
door they 20. getting Il biscuit here.
an onion there and maybe piece of
cake at the next house At g O'Clock
the amalCanated order assemblies in
the conference hall, Again the uni
verSity girls and tOwnspeople are in
attendance. Speeches are made. stories
are told and officers elected for the
coming year. The meeting is adjourn
ed, and coffee drinking is held around
a big campfire, where private jolliti-
e., =. I
at 10 o'clock the hcbOes go to their
rooms and spend the rest of the night
in cleaning up and getting the flesh
paint off.
The unofficial department of hOboin2
is producing results. 1t is not de-
partment based on theory which lasts
only one day. but Il feature of the
school. which can proudly point TO re-
suits. This last summer eight young
men from the University of Missouri
spent the summer hohoing in reality.
These men laid aside their calculus.
differential psychology, ethics and
constitutional law. donned the garb of
the tramp and spent the vacation in
seeing the world at the expense of the
railroads.
Starting out with only a few dollars
these young men Travelled all summer
and crime back to school in the fall
with almost as much money as they
possessed when they left. They trav-
eled from Mexico to Canada and from
Cuba to England, paid no fare. slept
out. worked day now and then and
enjoyed themselves as much as ii