The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-05-14
THE ADVENTURES OF A TROPI.
CAL TRAMP. BY Harry l.. Foster
Dodd. Mead & Co.

Il
Those that the restless
seeker after new sights ard sensa-
lions takes with him as companions
and monitors and those which help
less fortunate or lazier mortals to
satisfy their wanderlust in the safe
shelter of their own firesiSe. There
is a third and much rarer type of
travel book whose appeal is human
rather than geographical. 1t may
have the heightened color of an
exotic background, but its interest
centers in personal experiences, odd
types Of character, cross sections of
life sketched on a world wida canvas.
It may lack the methodicai accuracy
of a Baedecker or the vivid word
painting of a Pierre Lott. but in its
capacity of many sided, harlequin
human document it offers entertain
ment equally to the incuratye roamer
and the inveterate stay at home.
"The Adventures of a Tropical
Tramp" is book belonging to t, is
enviable third type. 1t might not
prove a very helpful volume if you
were preparing for visit to Bolivia
or Peru or for a trip up the Amazon.
and pictorially it misses the riotous
flare of tropic color, the Sc. enc i'm
mensity of Andean heights. To Mr..
Foster mountains are primarily an
obstacle to be surmouated, and
forests, even tropical forests. a laby-
rinth through which to grope ones
way. To be sure, they offer adven-
ture; but the kind Of adventure
which Mr.. Foster Graves is not bat
ties with the elements, bu. encoun-
tiers With all sorts and conditions of
men. He is an explorer into I'M
charted regions of human nature
in vagabonding down the Andes, he
merely followed his own line of least
resistance. Turn him adrift at any
of the worlds strange crossways and
he would inevitably bring home Just
such another inimitable panorama
OF motley and picturesque human
lives, and with that same quirk of
caricature that makes the sketchiest
portrait memorable.
At the outset Mr.. Foster insists
upon the nice distinction between a
Tropical Tramp and a Beachcomber:
the latter subsists on the aims he
can wheedle from his fellow country
men with hard luck stories: the
tramp works for his living and is
called a tramp merely because his
love OF adventure keeps him from
working long in any one pace.
The informal fraternity of trop-
ical tramps who drift from country
to country in search of new scenes
and new adventures includes any
one from college graduates to
illiterate, provided only that he
possess the common failing of
wanderlust and the common virtue
of helping fellow T. T. in dis
tress.
Mr.. Foster made the initial mis-
take of seeking romance in the
Panama Canal Zone, for he landed
at Cristobal some eight years after
romance had fled. A temporary Job
in the Government conmissary's
shoe department proved Unendur-
able, since the wives of the civilian
employees. having few household
duties owing to the chespness of
local labor, found their chief amuse-
ment in a daily call at the shoe de-
partment. where they tried on the
entire stock. departing with a pleas
ant Good day; I'll b. in again to-
morrow"
Although young and susceptible
soon began to wonder whether
shoe clerks ever marry. Inc sight
of woman entering the shoe de-
partment sent cold siivers up my
spine. There was only ONT in the
whole Zone that our shoes seemed
to please. She was a little girl
who waited daily outside The door
in order TO be the first one in. and
she usually remained until the
pangs of hunger forced her to go
home. =. I never figured out
whether she was bug on the sub
ject of slippers or whefhers she