The Washington herald., 1915-11-21
THE 7RAMP'S SIDE OFT

''Oh. yes. see a good deal Of hu-
man nature as ] travel about" re-
piled the tramp. as he put his wet
shoes agasSst the hot stove, and the
more / see Of it. the more I wish
was a hermit in cave up in the Cat
skills."
do you find it growing worse?" was
asked.
Preachers tell US that the world is
growing better" continued Willie,
but IL one days travel in the coun-
try wouldn't prove to the contrary.
sixteen years ago and l give you my
word that there is at least twice the
wickedness now that there was then,
ffp Give is you SOms m iGstfations
81 meet SO many liars that have
come to believe that not one man in
hundred has any any respect Ss for truth ruth
a farmer. After the days work Is
done the family looks for me to sit
down and relate my adventure. They
to tell about the robberies and thefts
| have committed and the prisons
have been in and escaped from II
don't lie .outrageously. they think l
am a villain who will not give him
self away; IL ! do lie, the chances are
that they will give some constable
Int UP Will lie IOE lhC
crimes l have confessed.
II have heard husbands lie to wives
and wives to husbands. / have in fact
heard SO much lying as to disgust
hypocrisy and deceit everywhere.
There is swindling and graft every
where. A country constable, who ar
rests me on the highway as / am
plodding along. will swear before the
Justice of the Peace that l was just
entering or leaving a farmers barn.
duced to go into court and perjure
himself and the Justice who tries me
will remark that ! look like a muir
derer.
Every county jail is a nest Of Po-
prisoners is cut short by the Jailer to
make graft for himself and others
l have had happen to me. when SEN
fenced for ten days, that the jailer
allowed me to escape that / might be
arrested an hour later and given a
term the more for the grafters.
give you my word that Justice OF
the Peace once gave me 80 cents II
! would plead guilty to vagrancy and
take a sentence of ten days. | Obliged
him. but when / was sentenced II was
for three months and the money was
taken away from me as soon as /
entered the Jail and returned to the
man who put me there.
II have worked for a farmer who
ordered me TO put two hundred and
of his hay-rack. We then pitched on,
what he was going TO sell in town Tor
n ton OF hay and he was so sure
that he could get away with the grait;
that he didn't ask me TO keep still
about il. ! have never seen one yet
give full measure of anything but
steer when a merchant in town
II have seen a farmers wife put
an old 5-pound fiatiron at the bottom
he q
of butter, and when she saw my look
Of astonishment, she laughed IN my
face. Twenty different times over over
by order OF the wife. hunted out a
dozen addeled eggs to be sold with
four or five dozen fresh ones. II
of potatoes TO sell in town. there will
not be over nine bushels good meas
ure.
relate. One Sunday I was going by
country church and I heard the con-
gregation singing a fovOrite old hymn
OF mine II brought me back to my
better days and l quietly entered the
building and took a seat l had not
been sitting over two minutes. when
the preacher caught sight OF me and
pointing his finger. he shouted out:
Deacon Turner. throw that tramp
outdoors! 4 house of God is no place
for a vile tramp"
DtdNou 49, -
orders. / was Il tramp but not
vile one. and that preacher had no
business TO pass snap judgment upon
me. I was inspired by just as high
a sentiment as any other person in
the congregation and yet, because my
clothes were worn and a bit ragged.
| was bounced out And let me tell
YOU what | have afterwards learned
He was preaching sermon on the
African heathens-the duty we owed
them to let them see the Gospel light.
He didn't want n tramp at home TO
see that light,
II very seldom ever heard one fam
iIy speak well of another in the cOun-
try, but when they met they were al
WAYS very effusive. One afternoon
farmers wife had me in the house
scrubbing floors and washing windows
and moving furniture about In three
hours time she blasted the character
of every family for five miles around
She had Just finished her TRADE. when
a woman that she had accused most
bitterly. happened to drop in. The
accuser rushed for her with open
arms and kissed her half dozen
times before she stopped.
II have read and heard about saw
a gerry of war-the submarineS-the I
poisonous gases-the starvation OF I
prisoners, but. let me tell you that q
there is saVaEery elsewhere than IN /.
war Man was born savage In
the breast of every one of us is hid b
- - 80 ,o,, 70 N nu-sop who .