MEN ON TRAMP.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10057, 31 May 1910, Page 4

MEN ON TRAMP.

The open-air life has received the compliment due to every modern success. It has r.ow an "organ," in which admirers are free to chant or otherwise show forth its praise. "The Tramp," described as an "open air magazine," has some advantage over its more specialised fellows, because its interests may naturally include yachting, motoring, flying, and any other manner of sport toat taKes place in the open air. But tre pleasures cf walkirg are those to be chiefly dwelt on;.and it is a pleasant papeij- called "On the Road in Prance" which reveals the principal articleof a tramp's creed, "that the first object nf walking is sitting down." It 13 not while you are walking that interesting things happen, says th-D essayist, but every time you stop. On the sauie principal, one must suppose,' the chief object of caravaning is the nightly camp. Scudamore Jarvcuis, writing of the man who casts aside conventions and takes up his abode in a caravaD, begins by boasting that, like the Arabs, he can pitch his camp wheresoever it pleases him. Yet soon we have a confession that the district to tour in has become a matter cf considerable thought. "In the home counties one is worried by the dust of countless motor car 3, and it is hard to persuade farmers to allow one to draw in, owing to the large number of real gipsies who have spoilt the market." The amiable amateur is driven to Devon and Dorset, where he finds good scenery, but very bad hills; or to Wales, where tramping is expensive; or, if be desires true comfort and happiness on the road, he will find them waiting on the green ways through Erin. "For free fishing, free shooting, cheap living, and charming people, there is no place to rank with Ireland." The weather is not all that it might be, hut north, south, east or west, the caravsner meets civility at every stopping place, and trout in every stream. Banished by surly farmers trom his native land, the earnest outdoor Briton may solve the mysteries of 'Shelta," the secret jargon of Irish tinkers, or share any other romantic interest that belongs to Irish air. If the less peaceful aspects of the Celtic character have been rather emphasised lately, let Cork rioting reports be balanced by , this tribute from "The Tramp." |