Tramping with Tramps: Studies and Sketches of Vagabond Life

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Flynt Josiah. Tramping with Tramps: Studies and Sketches of Vagabond Life

TO. MY MOTHER

AUTHOR'S NOTE

PART I. STUDIES

I. THE CRIMINAL IN THE OPEN

I

II

III

IV

V

II. THE CHILDREN OF THE ROAD

I

II

III

IV

III. CLUB LIFE AMONG OUTCASTS

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IV. THE AMERICAN TRAMP CONSIDERED GEOGRAPHICALLY

THE NORTH

THE EAST

THE WEST

THE SOUTH

V. THE CITY TRAMP

VI. WHAT THE TRAMP EATS AND WEARS

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

PART II. TRAVELS

I. LIFE AMONG GERMAN TRAMPS

II. WITH THE RUSSIAN GORIOUNS

I

II

III

IV

III. TWO TRAMPS IN ENGLAND

IV. THE TRAMP AT HOME

V. THE TRAMP AND THE RAILROADS

PART III. SKETCHES

I. OLD BOSTON MARY

II. JAMIE THE KID

III. ONE NIGHT ON THE "Q"

IV. A PULQUE DREAM

V. A HOBO PRECEDENT

PART IV. THE TRAMPS JARGON

GLOSSARY

Отрывок из книги

During my university studies in Berlin I saw my fellow-students working in scientific laboratories to discover the minutest parasitic forms of life, and later publishing their discoveries in book form as valuable contributions to knowledge. In writing on what I have learned concerning human parasites by an experience that may be called scientific in so far as it deals with the subject on its own ground and in its peculiar conditions and environment, I seem to myself to be doing similar work with a like purpose. This is my apology, if apology be necessary, for a book which attempts to give a picture of the tramp world, with incidental reference to causes and occasional suggestion of remedies.

A majority of the papers in this volume have appeared in the "Century Magazine." Thanks are due to Houghton, Mifflin & Co. for permission to reprint "The Children of the Road" and "Old Boston Mary," published in the "Atlantic Monthly"; to Harper & Brothers for similar permission in regard to the papers entitled "Jamie the Kid" and "Club Life among Outcasts," published in "Harper's Monthly Magazine," and "What the Tramp Eats and Wears" and "One Night on the 'Q'," which appeared in "Harper's Weekly." To the Forum Publishing Company I am indebted for permission to reprint from the "Forum" the paper called "The Criminal in the Open."

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Such are the main avenues by which boys and girls are driven to the road in the United States. Hunger, I candidly admit, is the whip in many instances, but the wielder of it is more often than not the drunken father or mother. It is the hunger that comes of selfish indulgence, and not of ill adjusted labor conditions.

Of my third class, those who are enticed to the road, – and their number is legion, – I have been able to discover three different types. The old roadster knows them all. Wherever he goes they cross his path, and beg him to stop awhile and tell them of his travels. They seem to realize that they have been swindled – that the road is, after all, only a tantalizing delusion; but they cannot understand why it appeals to so many of their elders, and it is in the hope that these will in the end put them on the right track for the fun they are seeking that they hail them, and cry, "What cheer?" It is a pitiful call, this, and even the "old stager" winces at times on hearing it; but he cannot bring himself to go back on "the profession," and quickly conquering his emotion, he gives the tiny traveler fresh directions. The boy starts out anew, hoping against experience that he is at last on the right route, and plods on eagerly until stopped again at some troublesome cross-road where he does not know which turn to take. Once more he asks for directions, once more receives them, and so the ceaseless trudge goes on. It is mainly at the cross-roads that I have learned to know these children. Notwithstanding my alien position, they have hailed me too, and inquired for sign-posts. I have seldom been able to help them, even in the way that I most desired, but surely there are others who can.

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