TRAMPS 129 



a penniless bachelor with a light pair of breeches, who 

 burdens himself at the outside with no more luggage 

 than can be tied up in the corners of a ragged coloured 

 pocket-handkerchief. But after all, the genus is wide 

 enough to comprise the gipsy, or pseudo-gipsy, who is 

 invested with some halo of romance. It is true that the 

 gipsy who has a wife, or a plurality of wives, transports 

 his family and belongings on wheels. But for himself, 

 as it is his habit to go on foot, plodding along in 

 advance of his caravan and flourishing his cudgel of 

 knotted oak, he tramps it, to all intents and purposes. 

 He is by no means scrupulous as to how he lays in his 

 supplies ; he makes no hypocritical profession of keep- 

 ing his hands from picking and stealing. On the con- 

 trary, he takes an honest pride in the dexterity with 

 which he " conveys." All the members of his miscel- 

 laneous household, from the failing grand-dame to the 

 toddling brat, keep their eyes on the country they are 

 travelling, with a view to foraging for the family 

 kettle. It is only in the last resort that he extends his 

 patronage to the village ale-house, where his room is 

 regarded as more welcome than his company. He 

 picks out his camping-place in the most picturesque 

 situations, where there are wood and water, grass and 

 shade. Or he pulls up in some sequestered dingle, in a 

 dip of the common not far from the road, where he 

 might lie perdu to the sight of the passengers were he 

 not betrayed by the swirl of the smoke from his fire. 

 He is as familiar with the face of the country as a 

 sergeant of engineers on the Ordnance Survey ; and 



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