The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1908-07-09
ruin wrought until you get among the

people.
Up to year or so ago it was sell
dom that a farmer turned me down.
If he had nothing for me to do to earn
meal or lodging he would not turn
me away. He most always took me
on trust and had no fear that | was
rascal in disguise It's all changed
now. All last summer / was pad
ding the hoOf in Connecticut and Mas
sachusetts. making sort of grand
farewell tour. and it was hard work
for NE to even get a few apples of
the farmers. They used to be full of
chin and gossip. They used to hold
me for an hour in order to hear all
the news. | found them last summer
sullen and sulky and calling to me
from the fields to move On In other
years the village landlord would set
me at work in the sta aes or with a
pail of whitewash in some of the
rooms. and in that way ia pay for my
stay. ! found change there.
Three years ago if you had started
out for days tramp with me along
country road every farmer we met
would have had Il 'Howdy? for US
and perhaps stopped for a chin. You'd
have heard whstling or singing from
every man at work. and the farmers
wife would have called to you that she
had some fresh buttermilk Take such
tramp today and youIl find ire
menGous change. | can't estimate the
sum the farmers aud villagers have
been robbed of during the past years
of prosperity. but it is something ap-
palling for the whole country. As
much and more has been taken out of
victims in the cities. but the case is
different. The man in the city doesn't
pin his faith to an advertisement He
sprculatcS on chance. He is where
he can use the law if needs be If he
loses here he goes at it to get even
there With the other class it is a
dead loss, and the swindler can give
them the laugh. Take almost any
highway you will. leading through al
most any state and eight farmers out
of ten have been made victims Even
the man who hasn't lost above $40 has
been hardened by it"
The Change Hurt Him.
81 said that this change hurt me.
and so it does. You may he surprised
to hear that anything can hurt the feel
ingS of a tramp but that is because
you don't know him. He is looked
upon as an outlaw in the cities, but
ever since he took the road there has
been a sort of bond between him and
the dwelers outside. He has paid his
way or been willing to. He has asked
for but little and done little harm. The
newspapers have made thousands of
farmers tell hard stories about the
tramp, but it has been in the newspa-
perS alone. The two have worked to-
Gether tremendously. Have you got
any idea of how the professional CON
ducts himself on the road? No? Well.
1t won't happen once a week that you
will find one without a little money. 1t
has been earned by hard work. When
he stops at a farmhouse he offers to
work for Il meal If there is no work
he pays cash for what he gets. If he
has been padding along for three or
four days he will stop and work for
half a week if the chance is offered
him. In his work he keeps up with
the hired man. He washes before he
eats. He knows what forks are made
for. He carries a clean handkerchief
oftener than the man he works for.
The average tramp can dress a chick
en-, Kill pig. empty and fill a straw
bed, whitewash Kitchen paint the
house or fence, hoe corn dig potatoes,
run cultivatOr. drive a team. split
fence rails. dig a WELL single a roof
or rebuild chimney. He is a handy
man. He eats what he gets, sleeps
where he is told TO and brings the farm
er bigger budget of news than any
two of his county papers. When his
work is finished he sings his hook and
Is told to stop again. That's the tramp
and that's the farmer just as they
have been for the last forty years. and
that's the reason | bemoan this change
In the farmer. He has been victimiZed
by men he thought We're honest, he has
been swind!ed and robbed where he
trusted, and in changing his feelings
toward mankind he must include the
tramp who has never wronged him."
NJ. QUAD.