WHAT MAKES A TRAMP A TRAMP.
By Jack Hazle
[Jack Hazle, in The Pilgrim for September.] The great cause to which we can attribute the existence of the hobo lies in an early lack of proper home training. It is a sad fact, but, nevertheless, a most painfully true one, that multitudes of parents imagine when they have fed and clothed a child properly that there their duty to him, themselves, and society is completed. Of course, they send him to school to be educated; but he is left to select his own standard of what is worthy and right. He is never taught that success is solely dependent upon faithful, consistent effort properly applied and concentrated. He isn't urged to early discover his own talents and capabilities; nor to choose that branch of the world's work for which he is adapted. He is never shown that the most lasting compensation and happiness in this world lies in the successes and remunerations which are earned by honest effort in the paths of strict duty and integrity. He sees only the sweat and grime and weariness of labor, and, comparing these with the apparent delights, pleasures, and easy existences of those whom he knows have a sufficiency of this world's goods, he draws false conclusions therefrom. He must become rich, and that soon, to escape the disagreeable features of life. Possibly he goes to work in a shop, under parental pressure. His distaste for this slow means of advancement increases to positive hate. He is a failure. He hasn't a chance in this "bum" old town. He imagines other places better; and feels he must seek these new, alluring pastures. He hasn't the money to pay his fare, but other men have used freight trains for vehicular purposes, why not he? He ultimately goes. The first time he begs his bread he is ashamed, but an empty stomach is importunate, and will not be denied. He is also ashamed to go back home and confess failure, after his boastful assertions and promises. A few nights on the road, constantly on the alert for trainmen and police, in order to escape injury and arrest; the highly exhilarating intoxication of the wild night rides, and the succeeding resultant enervation; the evil associations of other tramps deeper in vice and degradation than himself, and the artifices of life on the road which he eagerly imbibes from their experience; the deadly lassitude and weariness, so necessarily the result of the irregular life he leads; acquisition of heretofore unknown vermin on his unwashed body; all these combine to destroy what little ambition and self-respect he has still remaining. The die is cast. The work is complete. He is a hobo for life; except he be rescued by some unaccountable vagary of unscrutable fate, or the revival of some dormant, good impulse which will lead to his reformation. By long odds, the great causes of the major part of trampdom are those which induce a man to lose hold on his self-respect and the esteem of those with whom he is in daily contact, acting upon a sensitive, morbid nature. In this category I would include drink, the first arrest of some previously upright character; and unsuitable environment.