The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-07-12
tRy Associatea Press

NAAAN<10Ob Aii.t July III uo HODO
has a literature of his own. He has
his ballads as we'll as the cowboy,
the mountaineer and the sailor. Much
of his literature is oral, but one hobo
organization has published a paper
bound anthology of verse and another
issues magazine.
Much hobo verse lacks poetic
quality because the author is trying
to present a brief, to voice a griev-
ance,' said Nels Anderson, who is
making a study of migratory men
under the auspices of Chicago philan-
thropic agencies. "In some, on the
other hand, there is genuine feeling.
The work of the late Bill Quirke is
particularly meritorious.'
The paper-bound anthology bears on
the cover some discriminating defini-
tionst "a hobo is a migratory work
er. A tramp is a migratory non-work-
er. A bum is stationary non-work-
err"
Migratory Worker Needed
"The migratory worker" said Mr..
Anderson. is essential to industry.
strengthening and salmon fishing.
being seasonal tasks, Gan only be per-
diseases send men from one kind Of
work to another Other men wander
because they lack the backbone to-
stay at one job. because they are
queer and fail to fit into their origi-
nal environment, or because they have
lost out in the struggle of life"
One of Bill Quirke's efforts contains
these lines:
Have you rotted wet in a grading
camp
Or scorched in a desert line?
Or done your night stunt with your
lamp
Watching the timbers 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 / love it,
Hay-foot, straw-foot-that's my gait,
And / carry no other mans load
Grim humor characterizes "a Story
of the Jungles." 1t relates the boast
ing of a genial liar who was supposed
to be cooking "Mulligan stew" for his
comrades at a hobo camp:
Now Checkers, he was a good fellow,
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 valley,
Ger his head grow the laurel and fern;
He shall ride no more rattlers or
ponies,
For he let that Mulligan burn!
The hobo working stiff defends
himself from abuse as follows:
When the wheat is ripe in the field
of grain,
He climbs on a passenger blind,
And haggard sways on that trembling
train,
AS it rushes through the rough night
wind.
On the road, he's cat, a bloody fink,
And scissor bill to spare,
And a bindle-stiff is a gentle link
In the names he has to bear
And the truth of it is, he's neither a
tramp,
A fink, or Johnny Yegg,
A fly-by-night. a vagrant scamp,
Or much of fellow to beg.
Yes, the hobo worker is the lad that
plods,
Up the track as the train goes by;
He builds the road and rides the rods,
And his cities light the sky;
But he has never a bed to lay his
head
Or a roof to hide his CRIME.
He harvests the wheat that the world
may eat,
And goes hungry most of the time.
Defines Unusual Terms
Mr. Anderson defined some of the
unusual terms used here. A scissor
bill is a hobo who grinds scissors
though the term has been transferred
to apply to any man who is new te
the road, green-horn. A fink or 6
yegg. is a criminal. A bindle-stiff OF
bundle stiff is a wanderer who car
N