256 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



obtain printed cards which will be of great assistance to him. 

 The one-legged man will find a selection of most heart-rending 

 poetry under titles such as The Woodman's Lament or The Rail- 

 road Boy's Appeal. The lame, the halt, and the blind are all pro- 

 vided with cards at so much per hundred. Another firm will 

 make a specialty of so-called high-class novelties, and will issue a 

 Mammoth Catalogue, probably advertised with a picture of a cat. 

 Here you will find listed pewter spoons at twenty-five cents per 

 dozen, tied with pink ribbon in half-dozen lots, and each spoon 

 labeled sterling silver and done up separately in white tissue 

 paper. Spectacles may be bought for two dollars and a quarter 

 per dozen for the man who " just found a pair of gold-bowed spec- 

 tacles down the road, and if they fit you, you may have them for 

 two dollars, as I have no use for them." Not all grafts, however, 

 are dishonest. The sale of pencils, paper, and in fact any article 

 sold by tramps, would come under this definition. 



There is also a large number of persons in this class whose 

 employment is not at first sight apparent. Professional gamblers 

 and book-makers are obliged by the nature of their employment 

 to be on the move constantly. When in luck they spend their 

 money lavishly, yet in case of pinch they take to the freight with- 

 out a grumble. We traveled quite a distance with two such 

 characters. They were dressed in immaculate linen, tailor-made 

 suits, and derbies, and looked entirely out of place. In this class 

 there belong a number of people who are not tramps in any sense 

 of the word. The chronic book agent is an example. They fol- 

 low the occupation because they have something in their charac- 

 ter which will not allow them to remain quiet. Most women on 

 the road might be classed among these indeed, i)ermanent can- 

 vassers are more often women than men. 



The women on the road seem to be much more irreclaimable 

 than the men. They have less true politeness, less sense of honor, 

 and if dishonest are much more subtle. In a religious commu- 

 nity they are invariably religious, and have uniformly been 

 abandoned by their husbands and have six children dependent on 

 their efi;orts. Male agents, as a rule, will be fair with each other 

 and have a strong esprit de corps, but for the female agent every- 

 thing is fish that comes into her net. 



There are several trades whose members seem condemned to 

 be perpetually on the road. Printers and hotel cooks are a case 

 to the point. We traveled with a hotel cook for a couple of weeks 

 who is a good example of his class. He had at different times been 

 a brakeman, a school teacher, an expert accountant, a bookkeeper, 

 a sailor, an agent, a basket-maker, and a cook. If necessity de- 

 manded, he could be anything else on short notice, as we soon 

 found out. It seemed impossible for him to settle down. When 



