- The Printer's Tramp
- Stanley Q. Jones, Esq. at your service, Sire!
- I'm a printin' expert an' ready for hire.
- Experience? Why, yes sir, I've been around.
- Ask anyone! (but not that feller 'cross town.)
- I cut my teeth on a Linotype mat!
- My first chapeau was a pressman's hat!
- I can set type with the fastest swift.
- An' run any press. (But, I just can't lift!)
- From my associates, I hear you're in a crunch.
- I can help! (Do you provide the lunch?)
- I've had experience from across the whole US of A.
- (By-the-way, on which day do you pay?)
- Currently, I am on a worldwide tour
- An' between engagements, seeking "la job de jour."
- My breath? Why no sir! I never partakes!
- (Jus' my prescription, because of the shakes!)
- No work for me! Well bless me luck!
- Say! How 'bout it? Lend a feller a buck?
- The "printing tramp", "hobo", or "tourist" was a fixture some years back. Skilled printer's with the wanderlust. Some were journeymen who moved with the seasons. Southern printers called them "snowbirds" as they came south for the Winter returned north in the Spring.
- They provided a needed service and spread knowledge and skills across the country. Many were good workers and proud of the title "tramp." Some drank. Some drank often. Many left small debts along the way, but it would be untrue say it was the norm.
Copyright © 1996, Frank Granger
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