f any kind he simply
regards as weakness. He would be a highwayman if the existing conditions
of society allowed it, and if he had the necessary personal courage. As
it is, he is a blot upon our country life, and an eyesore on our roads.
Vagabondage is not a heritage with him, as it is with the genuine
Gipsies. He has taken to it from choice, and the true-bred Romany will
always regard him with contempt, as a mere migratory gaol bird, who knows
no tongue of the roads beyond the cant or 'kennick' of thieves--a
Whitechapel _argot_, familiarity with which at once tells its own tale.
Fortunately, our existing law is sufficient to keep the nuisance in
check, if only it be resolutely administered. The tramp, however, trades
upon spurious sympathy. There will always be weak-minded folk to pity
the poor man whom the hard-hearted magistrates have sent to gaol for
sleeping under a haystack--forgetting that this interesting offender is,
as a rule, no better than a common thief at large, who will steal
whatever he can lay his hands on, and who makes our lanes and pleasant
country byways unpleasant, if not actually dangerous."

The foregoing article upon Gipsies and tramps brought from a
correspondent in the _Standard_, under date September 12th, the following
letter:--"I have just been reading the article in your paper on the
subject of tramps. If you could stand at my gate for one day, you would
be astonished to see the number of tramps passing through our village,
which is on the high road between two of the principal towns in South
Yorkshire; and the same may be said of any place in England situated on
the main road, or what was formerly the coach road. We seldom meet
tramps in town, except towards evening, when they come in for the casual
ward. They spend their day in the country, passing from one town to
another, and to those who reside near the high road, as I do, they are an
intolerable nuisance. A tramp in a ten mile journey, which occupies him
all day, will frequently make 1s. 6d. or 2s. a day, besides being
supplied with food, and the more miserable and wretched he can make
himself appear, the more sympathy he will get, and if he is lucky enough
to meet a benevolent old lady out for her afternoon drive he will get 6d.
or 1s. from her. She will say 'Poor man,' and then go home thinking how
she has helped 'that poor, wretched man' on his way. Tramps are a class
of people who never have worked, and who never will,