1885 - The Town Tramp #3

“Come into the garden broad

    For the tall weed has grown”

                                                                   Hamilton Spectator. August 15, 1885

          Yes, The Town Tramp is back again. And he feels sure his many friends will not be too inquisitive as to where he has been for so long. He will tell much as is good for the public to know. Men in positions of responsibility and trust – turnkeys and the like – will understand when The Town Tramp remarks that it is sometimes absolutely necessary for gentlemen of his profession to retire for shorter or longer periods from activities of the cruel world to enjoy a change of occupation and diet in the seclusion provided by a paternal government. But – no more on a painful subject.

          The Town Tramp was delighted the other day with the appearance of the house and grounds of Mr. B. E. Charlton on John Street North. Mr. Charlton, and his accomplished lady, are true lovers of the beautiful in both nature and art, and their good taste is shown in the removal of the fence which formerly encompassed their grounds, and the good effects they have obtained with the limited area at their disposal. The house is almost covered with the luxuriant growth of a handsome creeper, and, on a hot summer day, is to the traveller an oasis in the desert of dusty roadway and heated brick, most refreshing to the eye. Mr. Charlton is an enthusiastic and successful amateur photographer, and his love of the beautiful is no doubt nurtured by the pursuit of his favorite pastime.

          Talking of the beautiful reminds The Town Tramp of its opposite – ugliness, for a specimen, pure and unadulterated, the citizen is recommended to a sight of the city hall, meat market and market place on a Sunday morning. All sorts of refuse, rubbish, old papers and dirt is allowed to accumulate around the city buildings, and on the market place on Saturday, and left there to offend the eye and nostril until Monday. The Town Tramp has no love for the law, but thinks it would be well to enforce one against littering the public streets with handbills and refuse paper.