Hobos are colorful characters who in earlier years were commonly seen traveling around the country in what appeared to be the “easy life.”  Historically they were originally “itinerant labors” who traveled from job to job wherever the jobs would lead them.  There is a difference in the meaning of terms applied to these “sojourners of the road.”  Hobos were once called “Hoe boys” who were agriculture laborers cultivating the fields with their hoes, thus the nickname.  So “Hobos” would travel to find work. The tern “Tramp” was ascribed to those itinerant laborers who would travel the rail by catching a ride on trains.  Other travelers through the country side riding the coat tails of the hobo and tramp way of life were called “Bums” because they would rather con and cheat off the generosity of kind-hearted folk than do any work.  Bums gave the hobo and tramp a bad name for their less than honest profession.

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