New Britain herald., 1927-06-11

1 "Or they might say I've got IT ! cents. If 1 had eight cents more I'd have quarter. A quarter will pay 10 get prescription filled for my sick wife, He even goes so far as to pull dog cared prescription out of his pocket to prove that he has !, a sick wife.
 If q hobo can throw fit or ! good. All he has to do is to slip a ! piece of soap into his mouth and 1 chew it real well. Then he throws l a fit on sidewalk near crowd that looks like good spenders. When the crowd is large enough he comes to. He staggers to his feet feebly and appears 10 be ashamed. He apolo- gizeS and says he doesn't know what is the matter. He never did that be- fore. Then In half ashamed man. ner he says. it probably is because he hasn't eaten anything for two days. That's enough. some boob in the crowd immediately starts around with a hat. A good fit is good for | S5 anywhere at any time, especially on any decent street.
 | Tn January when the Christmas bilsl begin coming in to people the
 tramp has a hard time getting much
 money. Then they gather around a
 fire somewhere and discuss condi- | tn
 tains. some go to Florida, some go 10 the shore. The tramps meet and seriously discuss the best jails to go | to. Then they discuss the best 90
 day offenses. It must be 90 days. A
 30 day offense would throw them
 outdoors in the middle of February
 and that is not so good. A six
 months sentence would cause them
 to miss the beautiful spring. So it
 must be 90 days.
 [ Those fellows know lot about
 law. too. You'd be surprised at the
 amount of law those fellows know.
 Easy To Get Clothes Then there is the question of
 clothing. Getting clothing is the
 simplest thing in the world for a
 tramp. If l wanted to get shoes
 I'd put on the oldest pair I could
 find. with the toes sticking out. and
 then I'd tell my hard luck story. 1 After I'd collected few dozen pairs 1 I'd select the best for myself and sell the others. The same thing
 works with clothes. I'd put on an
 old coat with the elbows out. es-
 pecially if it were a chilly day.
 When I had clothes enough I'd keep about three coats and vests and sell
 the rest.
 "The hobo loves to fit. He never travels, he fits. I've seen crowds of
 them waiting at railroad crossings to take the first train that came
 along. It didn't make any differ
 ence where they went. It might be
 back to where they came from. That
 doesn't make any difference. they 1 must be on the move.
 For a while they also travelled | by auto trucks, but the insurance companies with their liability rules permitted no more truck drivers to , pick up tramps so they went back to the railroads.
 "They usually travel on passenger trains rather than freight trains and always at night. The modern pas senger train is a good deal longer than the average village station. Near the front between the head light from the engine and the glare from the fire box is the darkest place in the world. They will stand here until the train is ready to go. then swing on the second express car and stand in the little niche of doorway which is never opened. It must be the second car because ,, on some of the long mountain trains the engine scoops up water while : moving and they don't always know , when they have enough. Also if they stood on the front car they would be in plain view of the fire men, and some firemen have a play ful habit of amusing themselves by throwing Jumps of coal.
 Freight Cars Dangerous
 Sometimes they ride the freight trans-side door pullmans. But this is inconvenient and dangerous. Freight cars may be sealed and side tracked and tramps freeze or starve to death. The best place Is the cattle car. Or they can ride the trucks underneath the cars. That also is dangerous. The president of one railroad told me they dug 225 graves in one year for nameless hoboes who had lost their grip while riding the rods. They fell asleep. They must keep their eyes shut be- cause of the dust and cinders, and the everlastingly monotonous click of the rails lulls them to sleep and to their death. If you are inclined to go to sleep don't try this"
 A group of French songs and a group of English songs were given by Miss Barbara Hillard of New York, accompanied by Theron W. Hart. Miss Hillard's rendition was clear and distinct and according to Mir. Hart. who Is an authority on musical subjects her technique was perfect. She gave her program and then by request sang "The Water of Minnetonka." an Indian love song, by Lieurance, by request. AS a ges- ture Of courtesy which pleased the Rotarians she sang MT. Harts com position Ashes of Roses" which she had seen for the first time in the aft crnoon.
 It was the last meeting of the present Rotary year and was the last meeting over which A. r. Corbin presided during his present term as president. Tn opening the meeting MT. Corbin referred to the Rotary convention now in session at Os- Il I