DISGUISED AS TRAMP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19988, 3 November 1927, Page 2

DISGUISED AS TRAMP

CLERGYMAN’S EXPERIENCES VALUE OF A READY TONGUE. The adventures which befell him when he went on the road disguised as a tramp from Manchester to the Midlands are interestingly described by the Bev. F. G. CLovassut, rector of Hulme Church. The aims of his exploit was to find out what were the conditions under which the educated man who was down and out was living. To discover this he tramped from place to place, St the same time searching for permanent employment. “I started out with eight shillings in my pocket,” he said, “and I earned my living in any way I could. I did any sort of odd job that came along, such as sweeping gardens, carrying parcels, and selling papers in the street. If I was in a suburban sort of place I used to go to a house where a gandiener was not employed and offer to sweep the garden. If the people at first refused I used to stick out my elbows and look down at the leaves lying about, and they generally changed their minds. A Soft Job. “After about a fortnight I got a permanent job in a works packing parcels. It was the softest time I ever had in my life. I got so bored at the slow pace at which the work was done that I used to get through my work anCs then retire to a secluded corner and get on with a review I was writing. It was actually more trouble tb get out of t'he job than to get in it. If I told them the truth I thought they would feel they had been ‘had,’ and if I disappeared I felt that I would queer the pitch for the next genuine unemployed man who came along. Eventually I got a friend in Manchester to write and say he thought there was an opportunity for me to get back to the sort of work to which I was accustomed, and I gave a week’s notice. “The one great impression I formed,' was that anybody with moderate intelligence and a fairly ready tongue, after about two days’ practice, can tell a tale that is almost question-proof. I refused to take any money unless I had earned it. People offered me money often, and rarely less than silver. If I had taken all I was offered I could 'have made upwards of ten. shillings a day. In fact people were too ready to give money. On the whole I always managed to earn an average of four shillings a day. Of course I went under an assumed name, i .Most of the lodging-houses were very dirty. At one place I got a clean little | bedroom to myself and breakfast for i two shillings. That was very exceptional, however. ’ ’