During The Great Depression many people decided to hop on the trains in search for a better life. Most of the people who took on this adventure were kids about your age. Thousands of kids would jump on freight trains and ride from town to town looking for work. The people who would ride the rails so became known as hobos. Click here to learn more about hobos. Hobos had many signs they used to communicate to each other. Click on the link to learn more about the signs they used.
Assignment: Choose one of the following stories to blog about. In your own words tell us who you are writing about and what their life was like during the depression. Title your comment the name of the person you are going to write about. Your comment should be about 10 sentences and written with an academic audience in mind.
Weaver Dial: Battling the Bulls
Leslie E. Paul: I Was a Burden
Henry Koczu: Going to California
Donald Newhouser: A Hobo’s Christmas
Norma Darrah: One Weary, Hungry Mile After Another
Gene Wadsworth: Losing a Brother
Berkeley Hackett: Feeling Like Tom Sawyer
wow that must have sucked to live in such a way.
How sad that remembering Christmas made him cry.
I read the story “losing a brother by Gene Wadsworth. I was astonished to read the story and hear that this youg man not only had to survive the great depression, but also had to survive losing someone very close to him. I was bewildered to see how desperate Americans were to find work and to survie. The dangers of being a hobo were clearly displayed. This story makes me wonder how many others there were that lost their lives on the freight trains they believed would take them to a better life.
I read “A Hobos Chiristmas” it’s very sad to hear that his not able to have a great christmas at an older age.
Henry Koczu
The life of Henry Koczu during the Great Depression was extremely tough. He lived in a home with a family of eight kids plus their mother and father. His father was out of a job and was super sick with ulcers in his stomach. They had a really hard time trying to live through the depression. Sometimes his mother had to make and serve potatoe soup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Henry thought that if he left his family it would be better for his family and himself. That is when he decided to leave his home at the age of sixteen and go west to California. So, he left and got on a train heading west. He really never thougt that anyone would go hungry in California. But somethings else that wasn’t on his plan was the many dangers that he would had to face on his way to California.
Gene Wadsworth:Losing a Brother
Growing up during The Great Depression was really hard for young, orphans. They tried real hard to make a living. I dont know what i would do if anything like that happened to me…i would have no idea how to even survive especially with everything that is going on.It sucks real bad that boy had to go through that..especially losing someone that you cared about during such a hard time.That would suck…
Donald Newhouser
He rode the trails to find some work because he was poor. He also he had lost everything and now he is living as a homeless person. He went through the West to find some work and he was on a farm. He also went to Colorado to find job also.
Leslie E. Paul
I was shocked to read that a young boy had to leave where he was living to go to somewhere he could get a job to support his family. When he left his mother was very emotional when he was leaving, he went to see his step father and shuck his hand. He did not ride the rails but walked 15 miles away from home along the highway.
hobos christmas
Donald nowhouser was born in nebraska he worked in the fields in idaho,washington, and in oregon.he looked down and saw a tree and it made him remember wene he was a child and had chrismas and played around and had fun like the kids he saw.
Gene Wadsworth
The story I read was losing a brother. The main character was Gene Wadsworth. This young man had to live through the Great Depression as an orphan. He lived with his uncle at age eleven. The bad thing was that his uncle had five kids of his own and Gene wasn’t excepted by one of his cousins. Gene then packed some things and ran away into the life of a hobo. He met a young man the same age and size as himself and they became good buddies until he was crushed under the wheels of a train. So the life of Gene wasn’t easy at all. He had to go through so much being an orphan and then living the life of a hobo looking for a job all over, and losing someone very close to him. This story touched me and made me realize what some of these people had to go through to survive.
I read losing a brother
when something happens to you like that there is nothing you can do life is hard and when you want someone to team with you and you cant find them but when you do its amazing and to lose them is exactly as the title says like losing a brother
Donald Newhouser from “A Hobo’s Christmas” a man from Nebraska lived his life as a hobo.He rode from city to city riding the trains just to follow the crops. Personally i don’t think that i would be able to live life in such a way. To fathum that someone would practically give up there whole life to follow just crops. The only good thing about this i could imagine is that you would get to see diverse areas and the sights of mountains, plains, seas, and just everything. I think he cried when he saw the fammily in the window because before the great depression he too spend the holidays with a family. Also, instead of being with a family he has resorted to solitude and lonliness.
To me Donald Newhouser is a brave man to leave his family just to do what it takes to support them or leave a home just to find work. Myself i am not brave enough to resort to this option. Ok this is what i learned from readin “A Hobo’s Christmas.”
one weary hungry mile after another was a very sad telling of life on the rails
Hobo Christmas
It is must have been very sad to see that as you ride on a freight train. I never missed a Christmas with my family but i couldn’t imagine how i would feel inside thinking all these other families are having a good time opening presents and sharing conversations. And the way it seems he was going from state to state for three years so he must have missed more than just a Christmas, he must have really felt it when he saw the kids running around the christmas tree having fun. If it was me I would of been thinking about my family and friends and all the fun things I have done with them.
“I was a Burden”
“I was a Burden”
Lesli E. Paul was an 18 year old male who left home looking for a better life. As his memories state, he gave his mother a kiss and long hug as she cried when he left. Befor he left home, his mother gave him 72 cents, all that she had. He didn’t really care too much for his step-father but he was greatful that he provided shelter and food. He gave him a handshake and bid his farewell. He had to ride a train to look for work. He packed his belongings including cigarettes and The Golden Grain. he wanted to go back as soon as he left but manned-up and stayed brave. He wanted to head for Charleton so he can get to Canada.
Hobo christmas
well gosh that sucks riding on trains at that age alone. missing christmas woolde suck chistmas is a time of year to be whit youre family and injoying it but puting my self in his shoes i woold cry too.
Hobo Christmas
It is must have been very sad to see that as you ride on a freight train. I never missed a Christmas with my family but i couldn’t imagine how i would feel inside thinking all these other families are having a good time opening presents and sharing conversations. And the way it seems he was going from state to state for three years so he must have missed more than just a Christmas, he must have really felt it when he saw the kids running around the christmas tree having fun. If it was me I would of been thinking about my family and friends and all the fun things I have done with them.
“A HOBO’S CHRISTMAS”
IT MUST HAVE BEEN SAD TO LIVE LIKE THIS. RIDING TRAINS BY YOUR SELF AND NOTHAVING ANYBODY TO TALK TOO. IT’S ALSO SAD TO SEE HOW HE COULDN’T HAVE A NICE CHRISTMAS LIKE HE USED TO WITH HIS FAMILY!!!!!!
A HOBO’S CHRISTMAS
I feel very bad for this person.I would hate to have 2 do wat he did.I would be able to live like that,i would have to have family or something.Especially him being old its sad.
The person’s life I read was Weaver Dial,”Battling the Bulls.” It is this guy who was around the Great Depression who grew up as a hobo. The bulls are referred to as the men who kicked off the hobos on the trains. The hobo talks about the time in some town starting with a C in Wyoming. The hobo with a group of other hobos trying to get on a heavy gaurded train. They first got kicked off in the mourning then tried in the evening but failed. Then late at night they able to make it on to a train but then ran into another issue. The bulls caught them again then made them strip to find money. What the main hobo relized is how messed up the bulls were when we are going through such a great problem, being heartless. Not the fact that they were doing their jobs but how ruthless the treated the hobos. My personnel opinuion is that I would think to myself, if I was a bull, I don’t know what that person has been through for all I know they are just looking for a way to make it through life. All in all, I am glad that I didn’t live through the time of the Great Depression but i do admire for those who survived it.