42 THE DOVER ROAD 



and a modicum of work in the fruit season and during 

 the hop-harvest suffice to keep them going for the 

 greater part of the year, while the winter months are 

 fleeted in progresses from one casual ward to another 

 in the numerous unions along the road. Phenomenally 

 ragged, bronzed by the sun, unshaven, unshorn, they 

 are met, men, women, and children alike, at every turn, 

 for many miles, especially between Southwark and 

 Canterbury. The sixteen miles' stretch of road 

 between Canterbury and Dover is comparatively 

 unfrequented by them ; but Gravesend, Dartford, 

 Crayford, and Bexley Heath are centres of the most 

 disgraceful mendicanc}^ " Lodgings for travellers " 

 at fourpence a night, or two shillings a week, are a 

 feature of these places, and how prominent a feature 

 cannot be guessed by any one who has not been there. 

 Whole families on the tramp are to be met with between 

 these places, and long vistas of them are gained along 

 any particularly straight piece of road. They are 

 everything that is dirty and horrible, but they are 

 perfectly happy and quite irreclaimable, many of them 

 being hereditary tramps. 



Philanthropic societies inquire into the tramp ; 

 classify him, endeavour to cleanse him and restore 

 him to some place in society, but all to no purpose. 

 He is quite satisfied with himself ; he likes dirt, and 

 dislikes nothing so much as either moral or physical 

 cleansing. That is one reason why he seeks the 

 shelter of the casual ward only as a last resource. 

 He has to undergo a bath there, and feels as chilly 

 when his top-dressing of grime is removed as you 

 and I would be were we turned naked into the streets. 

 To reform your tramp it would be essential to snare 

 him at a very early age indeed, and, even then, 

 I am not sure but that his natural traits would break 

 out suddenly, like those of any other wild beast kept 

 in captivity. 



The truth is, tramping is a very old profession, and 

 hereditary in a degree very few good people imagine. 



