My companions on the first trip were a queer lot. In one end of the car was a band playing the vilest music for the few sechser (five-pfennig pieces) occasionally thrown down to them. Their only rival was a little tambourine girl, who danced and rattled her noisy instrument as if her life depended upon her agility, as no doubt it did. The other travelers were market-women, laborers, and journeymen, and a fellow called Peasant Carl, who was more of a tramp than anything else, in spite of the fact that he had a trade. We were soon talking on various subjects, and it was not difficult to lead the conversation to the subject of tramp life. Carl was considerably surprised to find that an American should be _auf der Walze_ (on the road), and needed some proof ere he was convinced that I was a roadster. My old clothes and general forlorn condition were not sufficient, and I was compelled to tell him a story. Once satisfied on this point, he turned out to be a good friend, and among other valuable facts that he generously gave me were scraps from the German tramp vocabulary, which he said might "come handy," since I was a stranger. I found that _Kunde_, or customer, was the general word for vagrant, but as the term vaguely covers the thousands of traveling journeymen in the community also, another term has been invented for the genuine tramp, none other than _Chausséegrabentapezirer_, or upholsterer of the highway ditches. What could be more genuinely, deliciously German? As this dialect is rather unique, and as different from the German language proper as black from white, I am tempted to give a few more words, tabulating them, for comparison's sake, alongside their American equivalents: _German_ _American_ _Tramp_ _Tramp_ _English._ _German._ _Dialect._ _Dialect._ Bread Das Brod Der Kramp Punk. Water Das Wasser Der Gänsewein To beg Betteln Abklappen To Batter. To walk Laufen Tibbeln To Drill. Policeman Der Schutzmann Der Putz The Bull. Gendarmes Gendarmes Der Deckel Village Das Dorf Der Kaff Jerktown. Whisky-flask Die Schnappsflasche Die Finne The Growler. Passport Der Reise-Pass Die Flebbe Hunger Der Hunger Der Kohldampf