Adventure Magazine Cover, November 10, 1924 — page 85: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Tales of the Hot Dog Tavern A seedy stranger, seamed of neck and cheek, And bronzed with many suns, began to speak: “This talk of jail,’’ he said, ‘‘as somethin’ sad Gives me a pain. The calaboose ain’t bad When you know how to use it. East an’ west I been in all the worst ones, an’ the best, In towns that’s large an’ villages that’s small, An’ this is how I feel about ’em all: “When the voice of Spring says, ‘Blow,’ Every hobo hits the grit For to seek the open country an’ the sun; An’ he wanders to an’ fro To wherever he can git; Aw’ he leads a lazy life till Summer’s done. “Sure it’s sweet to taste the breeze, An’ to sprawl upon yer back With no worry in the heart of you at all; But when frost is on the trees, Then it’s time to take your pack An’ to beat it to the city with the Fall. “When the frost comes down, Then it’s back to town, Where they picks you up some day; And they lets you dwell In a nice warm cell Where there ain’t no board to pay. I ain’t one to boast But I’ve sampled most Of the chinks from sea to sea. When I leaves the trail It is me for jail Which is Home Sweet Home to me. “Oh, the turnkeys knows my face From Toronto to Mobile, An’ from Portland Maine way out to Portland, O., An’ they always gives me space In a cell, so I can feel That I’ve got a home wherever I may go. I gets tumbled off of cars; I gets hustled off the streets, Aw the janitors of churches hollers ‘scat!’ I gets booted out of bars, But I’m sure of bed an’ eats For the jails has ‘Welcome’ written on the mail! “When the wind gets keen And the handouts lean, Aw the roads ts on the blink, Then I beats it strarght To the hoosegow gate, : For it’s snug an’ warm in clink. So I takes my ease COL Ghook 83 C© 5}