The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1908-08-18
EXPERIMENTING
ON A TRAMP.


former One afternoon she left Der
farm for the village to do sc-ae trad
ing" At O'Clock, when she returned
and drove into the yard, a strange
spectacle greeted her What might be
called the north end 81 man was pro-
truding from a kitchen window. The
case was plain. His trousers and shoes
showed him to belong to the genus
tramp. He had called and finding the
house alone, had forced up the sash
Of the window and started to climb In
At the halfway point the oash had
come down on the small OF his back,
and he was neld as securely as II be
had been handcuffed and shackled.
The widows face beamed with sat
isfactIon as she entered the house to
take look at his phiz. Yes, It was
tramp. anl hulking big fellow at
that. She went outdoors with a look
Of anticipation in her eyes and hunted
up a bit Of board OF just the right
shape. and for tue next half hour she
was busy woman. She stood OF at
just the right distance from the win
dow, and the board rose and fell with
amazing regularity and vlgor. The
tramp kicked his legs about and In
dulged in remarks. but the wnlloping
did not end until the woman aad tired
herself out Then she took down the
clothesline and wrapped It around the
tramp's legs about forty times, en-
tered the house and tied his wrists
securely. and then raised the sash and
let him fall backward on the grass.
AS he lay there she came out to bend
over him and ask;
"Well, how do you feel nowg"
"I-1 don't exactly know" was the
reply
This is an experiment on my part.
! want to bring you to a state OF bnm-
bleness DO you think have accom-
plished it?'
"Ycs; feel humber than | did. It's
a new feelin', and you must take the
risks Of IT.
"Oh, III look out for the risks Just
make yourself as comfortable and as
humble as You can, and when the hired
man comes up Iii see TO your case fur
ther."
Two hours later the tramp's hands
we're unbound and food set before bim.
The food consisted OF bread and water.
There was consistency In humble
man eating humble fare. When he had
finished eating he was again made Sc
cure aud dragged to the barn and lock-
ed up in the granary for the night
"'rhe next step is 10 arouse your am-
bition,p said the widow as she left
him. "and III tell you my programme
In the morning. | hope to find your
humbcness greatly increased by then.
DO you stil feel humility bubbling up
in your soulT'
II do, marin, and l am sorter afraid
OF IL. It's new feelln'. and don't
know what it's going to lead to. Its
an experiment, is III"
1T Is"
"Then you must take the risks. as
said before, understands myself as a
cheeky tramp. but when you come to
make humble tramp OF me that's DIFF
ferent"
Next morning the fellow was hauled
out Of the barn and asked If any addi-
tional feeling had come to him during
the night, aud ho replied:
Il think there has, marin. think
I'm feeling what you call ambitious
this morning. find myself thinkin OF
work without the usual feelln's OF
dread accompanying It. That's amhi-
ton. take itG'
"Yes."
'But don't blame me, marin. II any
thin happens. When you 90 for TO Inn
plant new feellns IN the breast OF a
tramp you can't tell what he's goin' 10
do"
"Wln you take a hoe and 60 to work
In the field II | give you a good break
fastr
Il Will, mann. I'm sorter Gurus my
SELF to see what's goln' to result from
this new feelin,"
The first result was breakfast that
should have done for three hired men.
II Kept the widow on this jump to keep
the table supplied. lie wasn't eating
on his humility appetite. but on his
at last Ae was asked TO cut some wood
before going to the field. Ia the course
of ten minutes he shiyered two AK
handles and gave a cherry tree a NOR.
tai blow. Started for the field to as
sist the hired man, he tramped over
the tomato and cucumber patches. tore
down panel Of rail fence getting over
it aud iu the course of another bali
hour had welded his hoe so vigorous
~ among the turnips that he had dug
up two bushels With the weeds and
broken the blade. The hired man
sought TO curb him. lie was lusly
Tired man that had licked over score
Of tmmps, but they had been tramps
without ambition When he tackled
this one be was laid on his back forth
with
Then the tramp headed for the barn.
and with n club be smashed the spokes
out Of three wheels of the family car