employment, in the town. But even under the
most advantageous circumstances, going on the
road is anything but pleasant, and is by the
great body of working men regarded as a mode
of looking for work only to be adopted as a last
resource. I remember a mate of mine being
discharged a week after he was married; the
establishment in which he had been employed
being the only one of its kind in the town, and
trade being dull at the time, there was nothing
left for him but to go on the road. He was
most unwillingly making up his bundle ready
for a start, when, owing to the firm receiving
a large order, I was sent to tell him that he could
have his job again. He was living in an
upstairs room, and when I entered it, was kneeling
beside a box selecting the necessary articles
of clothing to take with him on his journey;
but the instant I delivered my message he
sprang to his feet with a whoop of triumph, and
commenced the performance of an ecstatic
break-down, in the midst of which a weak part
of the flooring gave way, and one of his legs went
through the ceiling of the room below, much
to the consternation of its occupants. Nor is
such extravagance, under such circumstances,
by any means rare. There are many men who
would regard themselves as ingrates were they
not to celebrate their being "shopped," after
having been out of collar, by "a spree," and I
have often seen men when they have drawn their
first pay after having been out of work for a
considerable time, throw the money on the ground,
and then lie down and roll over it: at the same
time triumphantly calling the attention of their
shopmates to the fact that they, though so
recently "hard up," were rolling in their riches.

When it becomes necessary to go on tramp,
two mates generally try to go together; sometimes,
if they are both young and unmarried, and
especially if they have been fellow-apprentices,
they will make an arrangement to the effect,
either that neither will take work in a town
where the other cannot get work too, or, that
if one gets work before the other, he shall keep
both until his companion also "drops in."
These bargains are almost always kept, not
only with scrupulous honour, but in the kindest
possible spirit.

The summer, as might naturally be expected,
is the pleasantest season for being on the road,
and it is also the cheapest, as at that time of
year there is always a chance of getting
a "fill" of fruit or vegetables while passing
through the agricultural districts that lie
between large manufacturing towns. If the
weather be very hot, it is a frequent practice for
men on tramp to travel by night and sleep during
the hottest part of the day. Tramps have seldom
an eye for the natural beauties of rural scenery,
but they are not without methods of relieving
the monotony of pedestrian travel. Speculations
as to the probabilities of their finding employment
in the town at which they are next going
to call, and narrations of adventures met with on
previous tramps (in the telling of which a little
drawing on the imagination for the sake of effect
is in no way objected to), serve to shorten the road.
Sometimes if only travelling for one day, or, in
order to make sure of work, or to have a Sunday
in any particular town, or when they have
any other special object in view, a tramp will
walk forty or fifty miles in a day; but under
ordinary circumstances, twenty-five miles is
considered a good average day's walk.

In tramping, as in everything else, experience
maketh wise, and the experienced tramp, when
on the road, suffers less in person, purse, and
wardrobe, than his inexperienced brethren.
The practised tramp has ingenious methods of
fastening on buttons, or repairing a broken
brace. He can generally do a bit of extempore
tailoring, and can, at a push, wash his own
shirt and stockings; and he has got rid of that
fallacious notion, as erroneous as it is uncleanly,
that it hardens the feet to leave them unwashed,
and bathes them at least once a day whenever
it is possible to do so. He is great on the
subject of shoes, and knows that the best kind for
tramping in are a strong pair of lace-ups that
have never been cobbled, and which have been
sufficiently worn to bring them to the set of the
feet. When on the road, the old tramp always
keeps his boots well greased, and is generally in
possession of cheap and cunning recipes for the
manufacture of dubbin, which shall at the same
time soften the leather and render it impervious
to damp. He is weather-wise, and will read
the approach of a storm in signs that would
altogether escape the notice of a young tramp.
He has a beneficial knowledge of what may be
called road-craft, and has a practical acquaintance
with the "ins and outs" of many roads.
On coming to the commencement of a long
stretch of soft or grass-bordered road, he will,
in dry weather, take off his boots, sling them
across his shoulders, and walk barefoot: by this
means saving his boots and easing and cooling
his feet; and if, from being a long time on
tramp, his feet become blistered or inflamed, he
can doctor them skilfully. The old tramp, too,
knows the most advantageous manner of laying
out small sums of money. He will not, like the
inexperienced, buy two-pennyworths of bread
and cheese, or expend his coppers in the
purchase of the low-priced but really dear
productions of small coot-shops. He adopts the more
profitable plan of buying his provisions in the
rough, and by weight, and as he knows the
names and prices of all the "odd bits" in the
butchers' shops, he can indulge in the luxury
of flesh meat much oftener than an
inexperienced man, and can vary the dressing and
cooking of his coarse and limited food to a
surprising extent. It often happens that while
waiting for an answer to an application for
work, a man on the road has to remain in a
town for a day or two. In this case the tramp
who "knows his way about" knows what to do.
In towns that are large enough to make it worth
the while of men in search of work to stop in
them for a day or two, on the chance of something
"turning up," there is generally a free
reading-room, or one to which admission can