Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-10-29
A Tramp-With q Mission.
''To KEEP THE YooNG KITS OFF THEIR
ROAD, HE IS THERE HIMSELF.

ITO KEEP THE I0ONG KITS OFF THER
ROAD, HE is THERE HIMSELF.
A small sized cyclone blew into town
and into the Democrat Office one night
last week. 1t was in the form Of man,
and man widely known in America,
though this is the first time he was ever
here.
he is known as "a No. l." If he has
any other name, he keeps it secret. His
business is tramping-that is, the kind
of tramping which is done mostly over
wheels, at the expense of the railroad
company. But he has, so he says, a pur-
pose in this. 1t is his aim to keep the
boys of this country from becoming
tramps. Don't run away from home,"
he says, and Immediately informs his
audience that he ran away from home
when he was eleven years old, and has
been without home ever since.
A confirmed drunkard, who had a
brother on the temperance lecture plat
form. once said, when asked his business,
that he assisted his brother in his lectur-
ing, and when asked how that was pos
sible, said that he furnished the horrible
example. So the business OF A. No. is
to restrain the American boys from be-
coming trsmps-as he says, "to keep
Their yoong kits off Their road" and he is
meanwhile furnishing the horrible ex-
ample.
Thousands of boys, says A. No. /, run
away from home in this country every
year, and the hoboes get hold of many OF
them. There are TO classes oi lran ps
VINO ~ant q boy to travel with them.
One class are those who know II would
be no use to beg at doors themselves, but
can send a boy, and the misguided
woman of the house, instead of trying to
send the boy home, will give him food
and perhaps money. The other class are
the "yeggs," who use the boy in their
criminal work, and start him in crimi-
nal life.
So he says to the boys, Don't run away
from home, Don't yield to the ,cander-
lust. And then he says. ~ ran away
from home when / was eleven years old.
Now | am forty, The made it forty. five
few minutes later1 and have no home,
no occupation, nothing that can call my
own, except a tombstone. To-day
went from Bethel to Berlin, back to
Gorham, and just came in from there on
the blind baggage. And already / am
figuring how can get out OF town the
quickest and get to Mechanic Falls.
have travelled sos l4 miles, and have
never paid but 81 81 in railroad fare"
Just how much good it does to warn
the bows against the icdRderlast, when II
has become an obsession with him, II
may be pertinent to inquire. However,
he seems decidedly earnest in his ex.
hortatious, and is certainly voluble.
Now perhaps you may have in mind
picture of frowsly, blear eyed Wander.
ing Willie, with three-days' growth Of
beard, a tarred string round his waist,
and tin can sluog on his back. Not so
A No. is man Of middle age, rather
short and a trifle inclined to embonpoint
with a complexion of the freshness Of
youth, and of alert, vivacious, almost
nervous temperament. As he appears
when be has landed In town and pre-
pared himself for business, he Is well
dressed and smooth shaver, with immac
ulate collar. Overalls and jumper be
wears to travel in, but when he gets Oh
the train they are wrapped up with bis
other bundle.
He is, as he says, of French American
origin. born in San Francisco, but he
speaks English with pronounced Ger
man accent, and pours the words out al
a rate which would send stenographel
to the insane asylum, and put a phono
graph out of commission. He does mo-
drink, smoke, or practice any OF the
other bad habits, and as he seems to
have no active participation in politics,
is only rarely accused Of being liar.
His most priceless possession Is wha
might be called bis passport book-sG
precious that the profane editorial hand
could not be laid upon 1t to turn a leai
without the injunction to "Be careful o.
that book" In II are small documents
from officials of many railroads OF tht
country, showing that like "Owney."
the famous postal dog, he appears to D
persona grata on the railroads, and II N
rides on the blind baggage or the bump
ers, they don't SEQ him. There are also
autograph letters from Jack London
whom be once picked up and sen
home, Thomas A. Edison, VIM. d
Taft and Theodore Roosevelt, and
number of other prominent men.
A small income comes to him from
books he has written regarding tram
life, but he made no attempt to sci
them here.
Several more reams might be writtel
from what he said 10 brief hour In tn
Democrat office, but We will let him res
at this.
Everywhere he goes A. No. ! leave
his mark, he says-a cabslistio sign VII
the date and an arrow underneath. d
left It in South Paris. Whether u
Grand Trunk Railway will be any NOR
kindly inclined toward the benehciar
of Its nearsightedness for defacing tn
newly kslsomined wall OF the statio
waiting room with that design' 10
question.