From Coast to Coast with Jack London

Excerpt from From Coast to Coast With Jack London: The Famous Tramp To Restless Young Men and Boys Who Read this Book, the Author, who Has Led for Over a Quarter of a Century the Pitiful and Dangerous Life of a Tramp, gives this Well-Meant Advice: Do Not Jump on Moving Trains or Street Cars, even if only to ride to the next street crossing, because this might arouse the "Wanderlust," besides endangering needlessly your life and limbs. Wandering, once it becomes a habit, is almost incurable, so Never Run Away, but Stay At Home, as a roving lad usually ends in becoming a confirmed tramp. There is a dark side to a tramp's life: for every mile stolen on trains, there is one escape from a horrible death; for each mile of beautiful scenery and food in plenty, there are many weary miles of hard walking with no food or even water through mountain gorges and over parched deserts; for each warm summer night, there are ten bitter-cold, long winter nights; for every kindness, there are a score of unfriendly acts. A tramp is constantly hounded by the minions of the law; is shunned by all humanity, and never knows the meaning of home and friends. To tell the truth, the "Road" is a pitiful existence all the way through, and what is the end? It is an even ninety-nine chances out of a hundred that the finish will be a miserable one - an accident, an alms-house, but surely an un-marked pauper's grave. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.