When I was a kid living in Tucson, Arizona 

I remember going down to a hobo jungle not too far from my house .  My buddies and I used to hunt gophers and lizards and gila monsters with our homemade 

sling shots.

We Got pretty good with the crude weapons.  We used to talk with the bums while they just arrived off a boxcar from the east . . . they thought the sunshine was cool

in December or January.

They looked pretty much like the bums shown here. Maybe that is where I became familiar with bums.  I got used to seeing them.  I always thought they were a great subject for laughs.  Although I felt sorry for them, I learned from listening to them all they were usually interested in was a good hot meal.