Tramping with Tramps: Studies and Sketches of Vagabond LifeFlynt, Josiah
History
Tramping with Tramps: Studies and Sketches of Vagabond Life
Flynt, Josiah
Tramps
The trip from Hanover to Bremen was uninteresting, with only one
incident worth recording. Five of us stopped on Easter night at one of
the large bonfires that the peasants had built, just outside of Hanover,
to commemorate the great holiday. When we arrived they were carousing
most jovially, and seemed only too glad to welcome other companions; so
we all took part, and danced around the fire, sometimes with the peasant
girls, and then again by ourselves or singly. The peasants took no
notice of the fact that we were tramps, and shared their sour milk and
brown bread with us as if we were their best friends. One old fellow
took such a fancy to Carl that he actually gave him a sechser. I was
surprised to see him accept it, for the old man needed it much more than
he did. This illustrates very truthfully the utter lack of friendly
consideration in the character of the German tramp. One of the American
species would have returned the penny with thanks, for he is a generous
fellow, and can appreciate other interests than his own. But the
Chausséegrabentapezirer has the least tender feeling of any beggar of my
acquaintance. Even as a boon companion he falls far below the standard,
and would never be tolerated in American trampdom. I can now understand
why the great majority of German beggars in America are compelled to
"flock" by themselves, and to choose companions from their own ranks.
Their selfishness bars them out of the true brotherhood.
In Bremen poor Carl suffered a keen disappointment. He found that he
could not ship as a coal-trimmer without a pass permitting him to leave
the country. I advised him to seek work, and to earn money enough to pay
his passage to New York. His trade was not overcrowded, and he had had a
chance to labor in nearly every town we had visited, and I knew that he
could succeed in Bremen. He finally decided to follow my advice; but the
resolution weakened him so that I fear for a week at least he was a
sorry-looking fellow. When we separated, he said, "Auf Wiedersehen in
Sheekago in '93." Indeed, nearly every tramp that I met intended to
cross the ocean in '93, and to take part in Germany's exhibit at the
fair. Of course they did not all succeed, but some most certainly did.
[Illustration: HUNTING FOR HIS PASS.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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