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Show H TRAMPS HAVE SIGNS I I II K rommon or ria.Mii 7 I tramp la Hot a populai or m-..;., m-..;., lerestliiR person. Ills ap pearance ( usually uhprepos. sewsliiR. his honesty In r,. quently not above suspicion. sit4 bht distaste for work has passed lit,, psovenh.. Police and public Hs eye him with auspicious dislike, as, ,3 slouches' along the highroad. The tramps, thus cut off by a barrier bar-rier of dislike from communion win, , 'Tv""'.'" ' .i-V!u"''W.'-V 'tJ "No Good to Csll Here." their more reaiiectuhle Icllow-cn-s-tures, havo been forced, In sheer self-ili self-ili fiiiie. to aid and assist one as-other. as-other. There la no particular bond of sympathy iKtwenti tramp and trump; but the necessity for self-preservation self-preservation rompela the members of this stratiKU iraleriill;-' of wayfarers and workbiilcra to coopurfttn 10 n certain extent, one of the. most In-terestlns; In-terestlns; forms which this co-oper: Hon tukoH Is thu silent, but none the less powerful, medium of a sign-language, whereby any 'member of the brotherhood, following In the steps of a pioneer, may learn what fnto has In store for him In the way of good or bud luck at the various places ho vlsjis. The writer was recently privileged priv-ileged tn have this curious sign-language explained to him by a venerable venera-ble and grizzled member of ilio tramp fraternity an Interesting old ruffian who confessed that he had been tramping the high-roads and by ways for the last forty years, during which period ho bud done about a fortnight's hnncst work. The eigne havo the merit of being easily made; a piore of chalk or whiting and a handy wall or fsnco are all that la required. When made they are quite unintelligible to the layman, and look very Hke the mess. ItiRleaa scrawls of school children, who have purloined a fragment of the toachar's chalk. That Uin hiarka are not meaningless, however, will be abundantly proved by the following Illustrations, which were pri-iiared under un-der the supervision ot luy Iraap friend. V . r The members of the fraternity not being, as a rule, artistically gifted, the marks are distinguished by their absolute simplicity. There la do sign which cannot be drawn In an Instant by the moat unskilled hand. Take, for Instance, the llrst sign we reproduce repro-duce here. This ahowa a simple circle, cir-cle, drawn on a wall, and yet I convey con-vey to the ere nf'the Initialed tramp the unwelcome Information: -No good to call here." Homo other tramp has happened along this way,, ha called at this farm house with a modest request re-quest for food or money, and baa been repulsed. Therefore lie has left behind be-hind him a warning to any fellow-tramp fellow-tramp who may b on the aame road. And Weary Wllllo gives tho Inhospitable Inhospita-ble dwelling a wide berth. We have seen thut a plain circle Ml sv2s---;g. j,, psj I I L-r j "Psople Hera Will Give You food." Is sn oiwn of evil to the tramp. Indicating In-dicating a stony-hiarlcd refusal of his gentle pleadings and tbe possible "nilng out" of himself from the farmyard farm-yard by some lndlgimnt owner. ' If, however, a large cross be Inserted In the circle, then tho sign tells a very different story a story which semis lu travel-atnlned render hurrying up tho path to tbe back door. For now It reads: "'1 he peopln here will give you food." And your genuine tramp never docllnea food that la lu Ixi had fur tho asking unless It be a pie mado by the new ly-uiarrled dlplomeo of the cookery school. The tramp Is not always allowed to approach and leave a. house or farm in peace. As I have bcfort re- marked, bis appearance is usunllv dl nnrtly. BKHlust him, ami some jf h spncles have nn awkward habit ol annexing mile nnronsldered trll1e which come in their way. .Moreover, farmers suspect them of an unhappv "penrlisiit" for sh-cplug In stacks and aecliienially sitting then, lire: Hrnc it is that poor Weary William Is as often as n,H. forcibly yjectcd from the premises or else ril'lxcQ off by some frrorloirs vnti h doe. When this fate haoiH iis In a tramp he ia In duty boo i , to do, bis best In prevent his comrades from nlklng Into thu enie Irap. Therefore. If circumstances circum-stances permit and no pursuit Is at-tempted. at-tempted. t,e ntllxea to the furin a sign selling forth the facts. . , A( certain lllucs of tint year, hnw-en hnw-en r. pat tl, iilurly at sin h busy sea- I "'i .ltinii- iui, I linnet, runners 'Mti often ilo wlih the letntioiary ser-Mies ser-Mies nf unsl.llleii 'men. a'tid .-when n iimps nlT-r ihemsi lvi's ihey arv Ire' unfitly 'tal.ru on. A Hump who bat '"Hi tl upon a plain of tills sort sketches on some fouw-nlcnt fence a Ict. hl h mums, practically, "Food anrl money h,.r,. ( you fare to work. " As tunny tramps have a rooted ohjec. lion In nmni.i.l labor. It la tint all "f thorn who ball ibis sign with Jor. Mom y. by the way. Is usually - Imll-'aiel Imll-'aiel In lb,, slgii'lanummo by liny circles, but as tramps do not often receive money tb-j slgu la not much Used. If anything could dash a tramp's h'M h It Is, the sign wo have just inscribed. ins-cribed. For this sign teHa tin, footsore foot-sore tramp ilmt hia Journuy lias In-en inure or lets In vain; thai ha will meet tt , nothing but uiikliidiiesa In the village; and that tbe best thing i" enn do Is to diag his tired limbs, onwar ls to some other and more hos. nltablu hamlet. For the idnnei-r tramp tells us here: "tlet nut of this Vlllagit as soon as you can; there la nothing any good l be got here." What could m liill ' mi ii 1 s Lmtmm "Oct Out of This Village aa Quickly as Voii Can." ' In more depressing after a long day' Joorney? , There are several other signs In the tramp language, most of them more Intricate than tho foregoing and some of tbem nn well known, but ws have contented oerselvo with telling about the signs moat commonly common-ly used by the fraternity of the road. |
