The New York herald., 1922-12-25
CHEER Is SIZZLING
AT HOBO COLLEGE
So Are Stoves That Warm Up
4. Reunion of Rare Spirits
From Many Trails.
EVEN SIGNS DON'T CRATE
Poet Contributes Specimens OF
Unfettered Verse to In
crease Gayety.

A red hot. sizzling stove (the country
store Variety, twin Christmas trees
lighted and decorated. couple or cups
of coffee and a row of solid cots along
each side of the wall and you have
recipe that will make Merry Christmas
for any hobo from Frisco to the Battery
Add to this the opportunity OF meet
ing a lot of old cronies of the road that
you haven't seen for ten years or more
and you have achieved a temporary Ar
cadia. And then let a complete crew
of reporters come along and ask you how
many times you've been to the coast and
back and whether you've ever hoboed 1t
in Soviet Russia and the Christmas
has linquestionably arrived.
Which is just what happened last
night at the Hobo College at $50 Bow
cry. Ulster County Mike and Frisco
Brown sat in front of the stove look
ing as though they had just eaten re-
spective canaries, while Box Ca- Bessie
and Empire City Rosie did the honors
with box of chocolates they'd brought
back from the coast. Ulster being a
poet of some parts maintained the dig
nifty of his profession by enunciating
rarely but the ruminative look he cast
at the fire and the enjoyment he eX-
perienced from eXpectorating accurately
into the sand box were outward signs
of his complete happiness.
Dean Gus Schaeffer was tacking up
signs on the wall to give the place the
proper atmosphere on the opening night
and he wanted it distinctly understood
that the college has no connection what
ever with anything Jeff Davis ever has
been associated with. why that guy
has a room at the McAlpin," mumbled
Guss. taking a tack out Of his mouth
long enough to hammer up a placard
that might be said to represent the
Peak of Philosophy, to wit:
'rrake Things Easy. You Can AL
ways Go to Jail"
Ulster wandered over and without
saying a word submitted a poem that
he had dashed off one day last summer
while he was doing time harvesting in
the Catskills. Even superficial perusal
of the document shows why Ulster is
glad to be back with the bunch on the
Bowery, for he says:
81 have grown rather thin since I came to
And / don't look as good as did in the
face.
The bright glow of health Is fast leaving
And that rich crimson color has gone from
my beak-"
The concluding verse shows why the
allure has faded from those old hills and
proves that Ulster is a reader OF the
classics.
Since I've been boy and lived around here
Gone are the days OF old Beverwick beer.
The people round here are a queer lot Of
mugs,
I'll have to get back with the rest of the
bugs.
In.these catskill Mountains. I'll have you to
know, o.,
His wife chased him back and he had no
So for twenty long years In the rain and the
Slept, Old Rip Van Wrinkle. our original
sBo.' ~ r44
Frisco Brown is another silent men,
Der of the community. but Bessie Men
denez and Rosie Klein step forward
pertly and are willing to tell you every
stop they made from here to the
coast: how they stayed three days at
Salt Lake City and then hoped to Reno
and bummed rides on the Lincoln High
way. .c.t
Several collegiates whisper furtively
that Frisco Brown Is a psycholoanalyst,
but how he got that way Frisco was
too uncommunicative to explain. He
joined the International brotherhood of
Hoboes in Lima, Peru, in 1884, and has
been going ever since. Been around the
world so many times that he's over
Tapped himself and lost track. Sixty
years old. but spry as a youngster. Yes,
sir" And he looked 1t.
When the reporter left he and Ulster
were still sitting in front of the stove,
chewing the third round of chocolate
that Box Car Bessie had doled out for
her Christmas present.