The Rock Island Argus and daily union., 1922-07-15

u6jcago. July IS (By ~ 40
I - Press sFhs hobo hal : nl-ll
Ilure Of his oun. no has his bi1-
i5fs 8 well q the cowboy. the
) ;rniaaneeY and the aailof. Much
r. m literature II oral, bot ca1e
80 organization has pubiished d
bound anthology Of verse And|
6fher issues q magazine
Much hobo verse lacks poetic
e6aljty because the author b trying
= present brief, to voice . grisv-
snce.s said Nels Anderson, who ID
nking q study Of migratory menl
der the auspices Of Chicago phil
snthropic agencies. I'm some, on
the other hand. there ID genuine
lr6Iing. The work Of the later Bill
\ 01irke is particularly meritorioua."
The paper-bound anthology bears
= the cover some discriminating
sd1anitions: "A hobo is . migratory
vufker. A tramp IL . migratory
l6n-worker. A bum u . stationary
1tn-worker." -
.The migratory worker" said Mr..
Anderson, is essential to industry.
sheep sheering and salmon fish
I'M. being seasonal tasks, can only
IS performed by wanderers. -Occn-
rational diseases send men from
ore kind Of work to another. Other
men wander because they lack the
backbone to stay at one Job, be-
cause they are queer and fail to
ct into their original environment,
or because they have lost out in
the struggle Of life"
One Of Bill Quirke's efforts con-
tains these lines:
Have you rotted wet in a grading
camp
o. scorched in a desert line?
Or done your night stunt with your
lamp,
Watching the ttmbers drip with
damp
And hearing the oil rig whine?
! do no kicking at God or fate.
I keep my shoes for the road
The long gray road, and I love it.
mate
Hay-foot, straw-foot = that's my
gait,
And l carry no other mans load.
Humorous Verse.
Grim humor characterizes "A
Story of the Jungles." 1t. relate.
the boasting of a genial liar WHIT
has supposed to be cooking "Mulli
gan stew" for his comrades at ,
hobo camp:
Now Checkers, he was a good fel
low,
As far as good fellowship goes,
But he will never again be hero
Or kill any more Of his foes.
He Is sleeping at peace in the val
ley,
Ger his head grow the laurel an,
fern;
He shall ride no more rattlers o
ponies,
For he let that Mulligan burn.
The 'hobo working stiff" defend
himself from abuse as follows:
When the wheat is ripe in the fell
Of grain,
He climbs on passenger blind,
And haggard sways on that tremh
ling train,
AS it rushes through the roug
night wind.
On the road, he's a cat, blood
fink,
And scissor-bill to spare,
And a bindle-stiff is a gentle lin
In the names he has to bear.
And the truth of it is, he's neithe
a tramp,
A fink. or a Johnny Yegg,
A fly-by-night, a vagrant scamp,
Or much of a fellow to beg.
Yes. the hobo worker is the la
that plods,
Up the track as the. train goes by
He builds the road and rides th
rods, >
And his cities light the sky;
But he has never bed to lay hi
head
Or roof to hide his CRIME.
He harvests the wheat that th
world may eat,
And goes hungry most Of the tim
Terms Defined.
Mr.. Anderson defined some of th
Unusual terms used here. A scissor
bill is hobo who grinds scissor
though the term has been tram
ferred to apply to any man who
new to the road, green-horn. y
hnk or yegg, is a criminal.
bindle-stiff or bundle stiff is a wal
derer who carries his bedding in
bundle, blanket stiff"
The mission and the emplo,
ment agency contribute to the Iii
q the tramps' neighborhood," sal
MI. Anderson. $50 does Paddy tt
Pig, the old fat man who sits @
the curb or argues with street CO
ner idlers, assuring them, 'You'l
all ignorant. used to be ignoral
myself So does the woman WI
soes about feeding the alley ca
tor an area of several blocks.
This particular woman dislik,
foreigners and prides herself (
ceing an American, but she has
kind spot in her heart for homeless
men az well az for homeless cat
ene says, The city could give VOL
% all you boys II It would set the
70 cleaning chimneys and the roof
Inc SCOT on the roofs blows ON Il
slotnes when they're hung out {
NE roofs to dry She does her ow
Art BY securing the fountains {