Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-28
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IL
Many useful and important actlvlties
OF the present take their common rise
in pure vagabondage. Such Is true Oh
the beginning of trade and commerce.
out of which big business has grown
True, also, of road and water trafnc
and of the dawning sky business OF
man flight. The early practice OF
healing was by way of plain Vaga-
bondage. So was that Of administer
ing justice and dispensing the con-
solutions and admonitions of religion.
'Vagabond' Is word Of lovely con-
tent, but, like many another thing IN
life. it has lost it's virtue through
overuse and a perverted use. In its
original innocence the word 'Vaga-
bond means simply a .fanderer. he
is the one who leaves the familiar
narrow path of safety for new roads
OF possible danger. Vagabondage IS
the whole beautiful state of freedom
that beckonS out to wider experience.
1t is here that the explorers are
found, and the adventures, and the
whole tribe of audacious experiment
ers in life. And these give account
of that which is called progress. With
in this state there are others also,
strolling dreamers and seers. These
are the poets and artists. And others,
their feet active in passing them on
from place to place. And here are the
tramps and hoboes. Unhappily, these
last have pre-empted the whole of this
delectable state, in so far as its mean
ing nowadays Is construed. So the
vagabond Is an idle fellow in common
acceptance where. as matter of fact,
he is but a small and insignificant
part of the great and useful common
wealth of vagabondage.
X X
Going back into the early days of
America, Mr.. Wright has found there
and has brought back to us the sort of
vagabond, the good sort, who stands
for many Of our useful beginnings.
who is, so to speak, the seed of much
that bulks so large today in the in
dustrial character Of this country.
In easy storytelling manner the
author goes back to the days when
highways were country roads, rough
and narrow. with nothing more excit-
ing upon them than old Dobbin, half
asleep, jogging to the next village
and back again, with sugar and tea
exchanged for butter and eggs of the
farm. Not motor in sight, not for
a hundred years and more yet. AS for
what happened to Darius Green.
Don't be silly, Now here, coming
down the road. is something real.
Here is the peddler. with his trunk
strapped to his shoulders-a trunk so
filled with wares as right then and
there to lift the matter Of compact
storage to it's full perfection. And here
are many anecdotes of the travelling
merchant of the early days. Here is
the story of the rise of the yankee
Peddler," that shrewd, ingenious, per
sistent, purveyor of useful and use
less articles who stands, clear and un
challenged, as the true progenitor OF
the big business of the present. Here,
too, healing and justice take to the
road. The first doctor trudging out of
a primitive settlement to an isolated
hut in a forest clearing lis no more
than the grandfather of the modern
specialist looming along cement road
in a high-powered car" The circuit
Judge began the itineracy Of the
law, carrying justice around the coun'
try from away back in 1890, just as
the circuit rider delivered religious
sustenance from settlement to settle
ment at that time.
To this general picture Of strolling
peddlers and preachers, doctors and
LAWYERS, players and circuses--a pic
ture reaching from our earliest days
to the Civil Wharf.-The author adds GER
tain individual portraits that are most
interesting BY reading and hearsay
YOU know Bronson Alcott, the New
England philosopher of transcendental
pattern, famous man in his day. BE-
lieve it or not. he himself was a vaga'
bond once. Positively refused to &c
to Yale, but consented. instead. to &c
down South in pursuit of a teaching
Job. And he did go to Norfolk. but
the story runs that his search Tor a
school to teach was not of the most
urgent sort. Something that suited
this vagabond better was peddler S
pack with which. as an excuse, he
was free to let his feet loose along the
country roads and lanes Of lovely V1r'
ginia. Made money, too-"from 50 70
200 per cent profit. No Yankee could
resist that, provided there had been
no other lure, and it was several years
before Bronson Alcott even turned his
mind toward the deep and brilliant
thinkings for which he was finally IA
nous and beloved. There are innu.
merable others in this vagrant band OF
peddlers and money-makers, all OF
them interesting. all OF them con
tributing definitely to round the pic
ture of this period. One other calls
for special word.
And this is Johnnie Appleseed, of
whom Mr.. Wright says: among the
strange figures known to the trails
and waterways of the Middle West IN
the beginning of the last century was
Johnnie Appleseed, a rare soul. Poets
have extolled him, and the Legends
gather so thick about his figure that II
is difficult to unravel the false from
the true" Then. we have sketch OF
what is known about him-not much
more than his name. Jonathan Chap
man of Massachusetts,. Like every
body worth while, Johnathan had his
passion and ideals and mission. His
was nothing less beautiful than to
plant frontier apple orchards so that
settlers, ever moving West, would
have a good fruit to eat, something be-
side the fish they caught and the
game they shot or trapped. His first
orchard was in Ohio. 1t was in 1901
that he appeared there with sacks of
apple seeds that he had collected from
cider mills in New York and Pennsyl
yania. Idealists are often said to be-
gin with many good works that they
never finish. Not so with this doer
of good. He planted his orchards
right, certain of their safety and
growth, because he stayed by long
enough to make sure. Why not? He
had all the time there was. From
Ohio. Johnnie Appleseed f1oated down
the Ohio River with two canoe loads
of apple seeds. bound for what was
then the Western frontier. Every
body loved such man as that. The
Indians were his friends and among
them he, incidentally. did little mis-
sionary work. carrying Bibles along
with the apple seeds. and preaching
the Gospel to the Indians. An odd
fellow-not very appealing in appear
ance and dress. Just coffee
sack for clothes, except for such cast
off garments as he could get now and
then in trade for the seeds. Bare
foot Winter and Summer. On his
head q tin pan that served as cooking