The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1909-01-26
EXPERIMENTING
ON A TRAMP.

former. One afternoon she left hel
farm for the village to do some trad
ing" At 4 O'Clock, when she returned
and drove into the yard, a strange
spectacle greeted her. What might be
called the north end of a man was pro
truding from kitchen window The
case was plain. His trousers and shoes
showed him to belong to the genus
tramp. He had called and, 1nd1ng the
house alone, had forced up the sash
Of the window and started to climb in
At the halfway point the sash had
come down on the small of his back,
and he was held as securely as If he
had been handcuffed and shankled.
The widows face beamed with sat
isfaction as she entered the house to
take look at his phiz. Yes, it was a
tramp, and a hulking big fellow at
that. She went outdoors with a look
Of anticipation in her eyes and hunted
up bit Of board of just the right
shape, and for the next half hour she
was busy woman. She stood off at
| just the right distance from the win
dow, and the board rose and fell with
/ amazing regularity and vigor. The
| tramp kicked his legs about and in
| dulged in remarks, but the walloping
! did not end until the woman had tired
herself out Then she took down the
clothesline and wrapped it around the
tramps 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 now?
IL don't exactly know" was. the
reply
This is an experiment on my part.
l want to bring you to a state OF hum
bleness Do you think 1 have accom-
plished it?'
Eyes; feel humber than 1 did. It's
new feelin', and you must take the
risks of it."
''Oh, I'll look out for the risks. Just
make yourself as comfortable and as
humble as you can, and when the hired
man comes up I'll see to your case fur
ther'
Two hours later the tramps hands
were unbound and food set before him.
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 and dragged to the barn and lock-
ed up in the granary for the night.
"The next step is to arouse your am
bitfon," said the widow as she LETT
him, land III tell you my programme
in the morning. 1 hope to find your
drunkenness greatly increased by then.
Do you still feel humility bubblfng up
In your soul?"
Il do, marin, and am sorter afraid
Of it. It's new feelin', and 1 don't
know what it's going to lead to. It's
an experiment, is it?"
ct is"
Then you must take the risks, as l
said before. l 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, and he replied:
Il think there has, marin. 1 think
I'm feeling what you call ambitious
this morning. find myself thinkin' of
work without the usual feelin's of
dread accompanying it. That's ambi-
ton, take it?'
yes"
But don't blame me, marin. if any,
thin happens. When you go for to i'm
plant new feelin's in the breast of a |
tramp you can't tell what he's goin' to |
do"
''Will you take hoe and go to work |
in the field if l give you a good break
fast?'
Il will, marin. I'm sorter Gurus N.Y.
self to see what's goin' to result from |
this new feelin'"
The first result was a breakfast that |
should have done for three hired men. |
1t kept the widow on the jump to keep
the table supplied. He wasn't eating
on his humility appetite, but on his
ambitious one. When he had finished
at last he was asked to cut some wood
before going to the field. In the course
Of ten minutes he shivered two ak
handles and gave a cherry tree 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
1t and in the course of another half
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. He was a lusty
hired man that had licked over a score
of tramps, but they had been tramps
without ambition. When he tackled
this one he was laid on his back forth
with
Then the tramp headed for the barn,
and with club he smashed the spokes
out of three wheels of the family car
riage. He pulled the harness down