Evening star., 1932-12-21
BY DANIEL ROBERT MAUE.

Hitch travelling life in the center Of
the transients' park, green square at
Ell Paso, Tex, was basking In one OF
its more pleasant byways when ]
reached there on a Winter forenoon
The sun seemingly healed physical
bruises. 1t soothed mental turmoil
It's warmth drowned both memory OF
the past chill night and anticipation
Of the trying night to come.
A spoon, half Of pair OF manicure
scissors, a toothbrush, stub OF pencil
and one carefully wrapped cigarette-a
2O-year-old hitch traveller from Cincin-
natl Ohio seated among group on q
Slated bench, produced In the order
named, and then added to these an
endless variety of articles from the
depths Of his numerous, rumpled gar
ments. Finally he unearthed needle
and thread and began mending his
soft cap.
Tn going to the Rio Grande or
Bro nsvile (TeXas) s)-some place where
my Iaetll get warm" said sandy
haired young Irishman in soiled tan
trousers and blue sweater.
With lS years and an eighth:grade
education behind him, he had left
home to help With the Autumn harvest
at an uncle's farm near Britton. s.
Oak. That done. he kept on to Seattle.
ITO Fresno, to Frisco. and then to l..
A. interrupted Charles West, out OF
Hornell, New York State.
Ell Paso an Easy" Place.
Il guess I'll stay here for a week or
well built and shiningly clean blond
fellow from the further end Of another
bench.
moi" he exclaimed when asked II
this was his first wandering from home.
Nineteen. through high school, he was
out of Oklahoma. this time" by way
of the Northwest and California. I
ceased to annoy him. and he returned
to intermittently intense reading OF a
II ike that town of Houston. I'd
sure settle down there If eould get a
job in the place." said a 20-year- old
boy in near-ieather jacket. He, too,
was Cincinnatian.
He broke his back trying to LIT q
nickers worth of wheat" laughed a
soiled fellow in overalls in telling a joke
at the expense of President Hoover.
The joker appeared as young as he
was mirthful.
My last job didn't pay enough to
live on" said 22-year-old eleItrician's
helper, just in from Kentucky. Missis-
sippi. Louisiana and Eastern Texas.
Boy. where'd you get cigarette
that long?" queried a surprised tran
sient out OF New York State. Hold
me shorts on it, will you?" he begged
Of companion from Illinois.
Thus youthful life went on in the
center of the El Paso square, about the
alligator pond, along the benches, up
and down the paths.
No one knew the name Of that city
park, and so why should I? Groups
everywhere now accepted me as one
of their hitch travelling number, as q
young fellow who like themselves,
milled over these United States in
search of amusement, in part no doubt,
but more frequently in search of some
oasis in the world of unemployment
where one might alight. Or. again,
they simply accepted me as one who
had need Of food and warm shelter
and who was going somewhere.
Leave Park, but Return.
I had travelled from New York City
to El Paso by motor car or devious
method, that l might hear,their stories.
Now as one Of them was to ride the
freightS through to the West Coast.
That the groups accepted me whole
heartedly as they did is perhaps more
to their credit than to mine.
When noon whistles screamed in the
distance a new alertness came to the
square The solitary hitch travellers,
the pairs, or the groups, did not rush
away; they drifted off quietly or broke
up into smaller units, and SO sifted
through the city. A few asked for
money, but more sought the back
doors of hotel or private homes and
asked for food. None, in my belief,
was guilty of theft.
By midafternoon the transients, for
surely under 25, had again pre- e-empted
more than half of the benches about
the park.
Along it's paths, at its center and
along its sides they sat and read pulp
magazines, dozed in the shade now,
for the day grew warm, or strolled and
lolled in talking groups. Faces grew
familiar to me. I questioned when I
had opportunity. The groups never
maintained the same consistency OF
personnel They shifted about from
bench to bench. broke up into singles
or pairs, and then reassembled again.
There was sensible talk of politics
and labor conditions, as there was
talk of families and friends, of sports
and athletics, Of school and OF books,
of trips and of travels. There was
gayety and laughter.
And always there was talk of east
bound and west-bound freights. Rumor
flowed freely. Advance information
had always to be corrected. Headed
westward. I, of course, heard chiefly
talk of the route to Tucson and Yuma.
There would be one freight available
at $50 in the evening. one an hour
later, and a third two hours later. The
unanimously accepted point at which
to board the west-bound freights lay
between reaches of low buildings, the
rear entrances of shops where the
tracks ran through the middle of sew
eral blocks. This station of the tran
sients lay within a few hundred feet
of the park. Its location accounts for
the pref -emption of that particular
green spot in the Texas city.
Clean, Calm and Alert.
Along these tracks about midafter-
noon met Jennings Hida. 10. son Of
a veneer manufacturer at Piqua, Ohio,
Jennings appeared as clean and calm
as though he were on the front lawn
of his parental home. His fair hair
went uncovered. In tweed trousers