TRAMPS 41 



distant houses and whitewashed cottages shine clearly 

 miles away, and the spire of Bexley Church closes 

 the view in front, where the road ends dustily. Along 

 this road comes daily and all day a varied procession 

 of tramps. The traveller looks down upon them from 

 this eyrie with wonderment and dismay ; the cottagers, 

 the householders and gardeners hereabouts, see them 

 pass with less surprise and additional misgivings, for 

 their gardens, their hen-roosts, clothes-lines and 

 orchards pay tribute to these Ishmaelites to whom the 

 rights of property are but imperfectly known. This is 

 why the gates and doors along the Dover Road are so 

 uniformly and resolutely barred, bolted, chained, and 

 padlocked ; for these reasons ferocious dogs roam amid 

 the suburban pleasances, and turn red eyes and 

 foaming mouths toward one who leans across garden- 

 gates to admire the flowers with which the fertile soil of 

 Kent has so liberally spangled every cultivated spot ; 

 and to them is due the murderous -looking garnishment 

 of jagged and broken glass with which every wall-top is 

 armed. " Peace must lie down armed " on the Dover 

 Road ; the citizen must lock, bolt, and bar his house o' 

 nights, and does well to exhibit warning placards, 

 " Beware of the Dog ! " He does better to tip the 

 policeman occasionally to keep an especially vigilant 

 look-out, and it is not an excess of precaution that 

 so frequently covers the flower-beds with wire-netting. 



X 



There is, indeed, no road to equal the Dover Road 

 for thieves, tramps, cadgers, and miscellaneous 

 vagrants, either for number or depravity. Throughout 

 the year they infest alike the highways and byways 

 of Kent, but the most constant procession of them is to 

 be seen on the great main road between London and 

 the sea. A great deal of begging, some petty pilfering. 



