The Lives and Extraordinary Adventures of Fifteen Tramp Writers from the Golden Age of Vagabondage by Ian Cutler

Author:Ian Cutler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feral House
Published: 2020-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

The Wife I Won

The Wife I Won, unless a work of fiction, would have presumably covered that period of Livingston’s life in which he decided to settle down to a more conventional life and, given his literary accomplishments, a more prosperous and comfortable existence. Tantalizingly, London had referred to Livingston’s wife in the opening line of a letter he wrote to his old tramping companion dated March 1, 1917 (the year Coast to Coast was published) but no further mention of her is made:

Dear A. No. 1:

I can’t seem to say “Dear Mr Livingston.” And, as your wife is undoubtably proud of your remarkable career, she won’t mind!38

This is the only reference noted to Livingston’s wife in the nine other books reviewed for this chapter. The book is every bit as strange as the title, being another odd collection of hobo stories, anecdotes and opinions (from employment and unemployment to politics and war), including a yarn on Livingston’s only encounter with a Jewish tramp. One has to wait until the last chapter, “The Wife I Won,” to get any sense at all of the manner in which Livingston gave up tramping for domestic life.

Livingston recalls how, alone one day in a boxcar, he ended up in Erie, Pennsylvania, jumping from the car just as a train inspector was passing. Instead of the rough treatment he had come to expect, the railroad employee invited Livingston to sit in his office by a fire and share a meal. So grateful was Livingston for the hospitality he received that he promised to return one day, and the following year sent the man a box of oranges from Florida by way of thanks, a welcome gift indeed in the bleak and cold northern town. Then, in midsummer, Livingston made good his pledge to return to Erie where he received another warm welcome and was invited to stay with the man, his wife and family, comprising four daughters and a son.

The rest of the tale is predictable enough. Having been exposed to the vocal talents of the daughters and overcome by the moment (for reasons Livingston admits that, “to this day I cannot explain how I came to express such a singular desire”) he requested that they sing “Home, Sweet Home.” Livingston continues:

But it was too late for a retraction of my request, as presently Miss Mayme, the eldest, and of course, most comely of the interesting quartette of charming sisters, performed the song. When her pure soprano rang full through the room, I, who heretofore had always rated myself as being a most unemotional sort of chap, felt tears welling in my eyes—a first instance that on my long career of roving I had become conscience-stricken.39

Livingston is seated opposite the 19-year-old Mayme at dinner, furtive glances are exchanged, and, emotion now giving way to more practical concerns, Livingston dryly observes: “All this occurred in just a brief moment, yet proved of a duration sufficient to have me instinctively realize that the time for my mating was at hand.

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