The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless ManAnderson, Nels
General
The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man
Anderson, Nels
Chicago (Ill.) -- Social conditions; Tramps
There are jobs open to the homeless man that are more wholesome.
Sometimes he finds himself in communities where he is neither
isolated nor an outcast. The tramp is not often interested in
small-town or country associations, because they generally tend to
terminate seriously and he does not want to be taken seriously. If
he has the money to spend, and he usually has while he is working,
he can meet women, but he meets them in town when he has leisure.
He may have a hundred reasons for going to town, but the major
reason, whether he admits it or not, is to meet women. The types
of women he meets depends upon his personality, his taste, and his
purse. In this he is like the soldier or the sailor.
The younger hobos, especially those who are on the road and off
again by turns, are able at times to save money and put on a
“front.” These younger men are frequently able, therefore, to
get into the social life of the communities in which they find
themselves. When they are in town with money to spend they “go
the limit” while it lasts, and then they go out to work and save
up another “stake.” Usually they have a number of women on their
correspondence lists. As they go from one city to another they make
new acquaintances and forget the old friends. Usually they are as
transient in their attachments to women as to their jobs.
Many of these younger men ultimately settle down, but they do not
always have the ability to make permanent attachments though they
may try again and again. They invariably seek greener pastures.
Wherever they are, they will be found “burning the candles at both
ends.” As long as they are young and attractive they have little
difficulty in finding girls who are willing to assist them in
scattering their cash.
Among these are the show girls who sing or dance in the cheap
burlesque theaters on South State and West Madison streets.
Thousands of hobos, who never can hope to come in personal contact
with chorus girls, throng the cheap playhouses of Hobohemia.
The titillations of a State Street vaudeville are vulgar and
inexpensive. The men, many of them, at least, would not and could
not appreciate a higher grade of entertainment.
The hobo has few ideal associations with women. Since most of
them are unmarried, or living apart from their wives, their sex
relations are naturally illicit. The tramp is not a marrying man,
though he does enter into transient free unions with women when the
occasion offers. There are many women in the larger cities who have
no scruples against living with a man during the winter, or for
even a year or two, without insisting upon the marriage rite. They
are not prostitutes, not even “kept women.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account