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Show One type of wanderer did give Mother concern. He was the hobo who came trudging down the railroad. Usually these tramps or unemployed were men the train crews kicked out of "sidedoor pullmans" or other freight cars at Thermo watertank where freights halted to fill the locomotive tanks. These seemed as different as human beings could be; young and old, clean an(l neat or slovenly and dirty. Some had a little money for food, some begged, some asked for a job to earn a meal. Although sometimes a dozen came straggling down the track after a train had passed, Father and Mother could not resist an appeal from a hungry man. One out of twenty of the wanderers was a woman, usually with a male companion. If they plead empty pockets Father would set them to chopping old railroad ties or juniper for firewood. They usually worked well for their simple meal. Only one roused Father to wrath. That one sawed up a whole set of wagon bows we were saving to install on a wagonbox to hold up the canvas far a "pra^ie schooner" for camping. None who came to our door seemed at all dangerous. Some were thrifty, not wishing to spend hard-earned cash on railroad fares in their quest for employment. Some were vanguards of the Okies who years later left the "dust-bowl" and drifted to California. Our contacts with these unfortunates may be evidence that people in humble or penniless circumstances are more upright than comfortably situated people give them credit for. True as this may be, I still feel that the rare rescal or potential criminal among them sized Father up as a man of strength. By this I do not mean that some criminal types could not have overcome him by trickery or stealth. My theory is that a person who is absolutely fearless can go anywhere with much less chance of being attacked. A timid person may |
