66 PRISON SCENES. 66 155 What for?" Taking him by the sleeve of the coat, the man leads him back to meet the females before described, and asks them if they have lost anything. At first they say, "No;" but one of them more agitated than the rest puts her hand into her pocket, and instantly cries out, "I've lost my purse." "Is this it?" inquires the same man, who is a detective officer in plain clothes, and who had been for some time watching the movements of the youth. The purse is at once recognised, and the sum of money found on the person of the boy corresponds with that which she says it contained when in her possession. The nearest magistrate, before whom he was identified as "an old hand," sends him to the sessions, when a jury of his countrymen having found him guilty of the heartless crime of picking pockets, the judge sentences him to ten years' transportation, and thus it happens that you see him in the Reception Room. But this brief description of that poor youth's arrest, trial, and expatriating sentence, is not his history, nor does it really account for his present position. Nine summers have hardly passed over his head, and yet it is not many months since he was discharged from prison, after undergoing a sentence of nine months' imprisonment for a similar offence, which was inflicted by the same judge who has now transported him. On the former trial his own father appeared in court and gave his child a bad character, when the judge addressed him thus: I have no doubt, from the inquiries that have been made, that you have encouraged your child to steal, and are glad to be relieved of the burden and responsibility of taking care of him and providing for him, even at the expense of his banishment to a foreign land.” This charge was true. One of this boy's brothers is already in Van Diemen's Land, another has been recently discharged from prison, and will doubtless soon return to it. And this child, whose precocity in the science of picking pockets has gained for him the character of being "one of the most expert thieves in London," is now to follow his brother to that land of doom, to which crime is transplanted from the home nurseries, and where it flourishes so very luxuriantly as to overgrow and out-top "the native plant" in the ratio of six to one, and where, but for the English importation of crime, would all but disappear. But it is not to the future, but the past of this poor child's life we would now advert. When he was first sent to prison he was totally ignorant of the elements or first principles of both letters and religion. He had never been to any school but that where he learned the art of thieving. In that school he soon "took a high degree." He possesses all the mental qualities or endowments necessary to make a boy quick in learning. He is of a naturally quick and tractable disposition, and if he had been early trained in “ the way he should go," might have been as eminent for good as he is for evil. In all the conversations which the Chaplain had with him before his last discharge from prison, he seemed fully aware of his peculiar qualifications for evil or for good; and often has he interrupted the Chaplain's words of instruction by remarks which showed how firm a hold "the evil one" had got of his mind, and how his thoughts were ever and anon reverting to the scenes through which he had passed out of prison. Thus, for example, at one time he would abruptly say, I know if I don't stop thieving I shall go after my brother." Again, in the midst of some words of counsel as to the danger and fatal consequences of his mode of life, he would knowingly remark, "I can tell what kind of coin is in a lady's pocket before I try to take it." And, again, when showing him how different his condition might have been had his parents sent him to school, he would say, "Nobody cared about me. I couldn't tell a letter when I first came in here, and now I can read very well." On such occasions, however, it was very evident that it required more than mere "book knowledge," or the power to read and write, to eradicate the evil principles so deeply imbedded in his heart, which even by nature is "deceitful and desperately wicked." How different the condition of this poor child from that of one not schooled as he has been! Born in sin, as all are, and prone to go astray, yet it must be allowed that where due moral discipline is seasonably commenced, there is a comparative suscepti bility of good, and a capability of moral culture, not to be met in those who have passed through the Reception Room. But when the seed-time of life has been allowed to pass unimproved-when that sacred season has been seized on by the enemy to sow his tares-it is, alas! too frequently and painfully true, that no human wisdom or discipline can root out the noxious crop, and that unless He who arrested Saul of Tarsus, and found out a runaway Onesimus, put forth His power to save, the tares must continue to grow till the harvest, and then they shall be bound together only to be destroyed and burned up. If the causes of this poor child's fall were taken into account, no one could hesitate to say, that if justice were duly administered, another and an older person should occupy his place in the Reception Room, and that person should be the father of the boy. He is morally guilty of the crimes committed by his son, whose training in anything good for body or mind he totally neglected. One of our best writers on moral philosophy, Dr. Paley, thus speaks of parental obligation, under the head of "Education," and as the passage bears strongly on the question of juvenile delinquency, no apology is offered for giving it at length. He says: "Some such preparation for life is necessary for children of all conditions, because without it they must be miserable, and probably will be vicious, when they grow up, either from want of means of subsistence, or from want of rational and inoffensive occupation. In civilized life everything is effected by art and skill, whence a person who is provided with neither (and neither can be acquired without exercise and instruction) will be useless; and he that is useless will generally be at the same time mischievous to the community. So that to send an uneducated child into the world, is injurious to the rest of mankind; it is little better then to turn out a mad dog or a wild beast into the streets." And, again, when speaking of the effects of parental neglect on the character of children of the inferior classes of society, the same writer observes, "Parents who do not inure their children betimes to labour and restraint, by providing them with apprenticeships, services, or other regular employment, but who suffer them to waste their youth in idleness and vagrancy, or to betake themselves to some lazy, trifling, and precarious calling; for the consequence of having thus tasted the sweets of natural liberty at an age when their passions and relish for it are at the highest, is, that they become incapable, for the remainder of their lives, of continued industry, or of persevering attention to anything; spend their time in a miserable struggle between the importunity of want and the irksomeness of regular application; and are prepared to embrace any expedient which presents a hope of supplying their necessities without confining them to the plough, the loom, the shop, or the countinghouse." Comment on these remarks is not only unnecessary, but would be impertinent; and if they are true, can that be called an infringement on the liberty of the subject which would compel the parent, or those who stand in loco parentis, whether the parish or the nation, to fulfil the responsibility which the Creator has thrown upon them? To one who looks at the causes of crime, that seems to be a question of grievous deficiency-a want of symmetry-an inequality of law-which punishes the crimes which are the natural offspring of the neglect of the seed-time of life, while at the same time it suffers demoralization to ferment upon ignorance and idleness. Are we not, as it respects legislature on this subject, if not really particeps criminis, at least "accessory before the fact," in that we deal only with the punishment of crime, and not directly with its preventive? Who can tell what the condition of the youth whose history has been briefly sketched above might have been, had his natural protectors realized and fulfilled their responsibilities? Instead of a precocious maturity in the science of picking pockets, and the all but utter annihilation of the moral sense, his natural quickness and tractableness offer ground for asserting he might have been an ornament to society; nay, even with such training as Ragged Schools afford, he might have become an honest and useful member of the community. But, alas! when once a child like this has taken his seat in the Reception Roomwhen he has experienced "the utmost rigour of the law" to be only picking a small quantity of oakum, or turning a crank so many times, and that it is neither severely penal nor probably reformatory-and when, moreover, he finds himself, in his own estimation and that of his companions, "whitewashed," by a passive submission to the usual process of "vindicating the law," and then turned adrift at the prison gate, or handed over to a worthless and drunken parent-when he finds nearly every man's hand against him, who could anticipate any other result than that he should soon become an inmate of the Reception once more, with the felon's brand, doomed to ten years' exile from his native country, and the vicious parents who have been the cause of his banishment. And now, before leaving the Reception Room, let us take one glance more at this unhappy youth. He feels his position far less than you do. The brazen brow, however, does not altogether hide the conscious guilt which sits upon it. But crime and criminal associations have wrought their natural effects upon him, so that conscious guilt produces no blush, and the brazen front is not arrested, but the youth himself looks at you with an indifference which forebodes no immediate reformation. Reader, this is a true statement; pray that the Lord may lay his hand upon the youthful prodigal here described, so that he may yet be induced to arise and return to Him who waits to receive the penitent sinner, and to embrace with a father's love the poor outcasts of society, whenever they cry unto Him. May this much-to-be-pitied inmate of the Reception Room yet be a brand plucked from the burning! Plans and Progress. BIBLE QUESTIONS. A -N. QUESTION 16.-First Prize.-Bridget Corkren, aged 10, Original Ragged School, Edinburgh. Second Prize.-Euphemia Murray, aged 12, Original Ragged School, Edinburgh. Approved.-Elizabeth Robinson, Ragged School, Perth; Elizabeth Crawford, Euphemia Dowie, Emma Marks, QUESTION 17.-First Prize.-James Ward, aged 13, Compton Place Ragged QUESTION 18.-First Prize.-Margetum Dyer, aged 11, Ragged School, Dover. Second Prize.-Elizabeth Hewitt, aged 12, Compton Place Approved.-Catherine Briggs, Christ Chapel Ragged School, London: Elizabeth Robinson, Ragged School, Perth; James W. Turner, aged 9, and Elizabeth Turner, aged 11, attending the Huntsworth Mews Ragged School, London, were both entitled to prizes, but they have both been so frequently rewarded before, that we must now, and in future, limit the prizes to new competitors. We hope that these deserving children will obtain employment, and so be enabled to pay for their education. Will the boys of our Ragged Schools allow the girls to carry away all the prizes ? R ARE YOU ABLE TO READ WRITING? EXTRACT from a letter from the Secretary of the Electric Telegraph Company to the Honorary Secretary of the Ragged School Shoe-black Society: "You were kind enough to send us some boys to act as messengers. I am sorry to inform you that one of these lads, in consequence of his being unable to read or write, gave us a great deal of trouble and annoyance about a message which he was sent to deliver. You will understand that I do not blame the boy, I only call your attention to this, to show you the importance of our messengers being able to read writing and write themselves." The friends of Ragged Schools will, I am sure, feel grateful to the Company which thus employs the boys, bearing with their deficiencies, and encouraging us to stimulate the well-behaved in improving their education. The publication of a clever periodical has engaged four of our messengers at good wages; and another philanthropic gentlemen has made arrangements for starting six of our boys as knife-cleaners from house to house, the machines for this purpose being provided at his cost, and the trouble of canvassing for customers undertaken by himself. Allow me to repeat, that if the teachers and Committees of our schools would turn their attention to schemes of regular organized street employment they might easily procure situations for the deserving lads whose characters can be depended upon. I recently met two boys who had set themselves up as Shoe-blacks on their own account, and for a long time 12 others have been similarly engaged under the management of a Frenchman, who (according to the boys' account) charges each of them 3s. a week for the use of box, brushes, and uniform, but without bestowing any attention upon their religious training or their education. It is intended, God willing, to take the Shoe-blacks on an excursion down the Thames, on Monday, August 9th, and to give them a run in the woods and grass of a gentleman's park. Those who take an interest in "the brigade," are invited to accompany them on this occasion, concerning which information will be given at the Society's Office, No. 1, Off Alley, George Court, Strand. Temple. J. M. The Children's Gallery. children was great-where they were neg. lected and growing up without any knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Saviour-and hearing that a school for them was opened in it, Bibles were furnished, teachers were ready, and the only thing wanting was money to keep the school going,—she began to think about the subject, then to talk about it to others, and at last resolved to try to do something towards getting money for it. She was not discouraged because she was little, nor yet because she had no money to begin with. No, nor yet because she was fre quently ill. She set to work in good THE CHILDREN'S GALLERY. earnest to do something. The first thing was to call at a milliner's where she was known. Here she had given to her some waste pieces and cuttings; then she went to her aunt's, a bonnet-maker, and begged some straw and little bits of trimmings. With this stock she began, under the direction of her mother, to make dolls' bonnets. These being very tastefully finished, soon found customers, and the money appropriated to support the poor school for the children less favoured than herself. We recollect reading some time since of a poor lame boy, who one day came to a gentleman, and asked for a piece of string, saying, "Do let it be a good long bit, sir." The gentleman inquired what it was for; the boy seemed unwilling to tell, but at last said it was to make a cabbage net, which he could sell for threepence, and intended to give the money to help to send Bibles to those who had none. "I am told," he said, "Bibles can be had for about one shilling each, and my net will pay for a quarter of a Bible." This was enough; the gentleman gave him a very long piece of string, which he soon made into a net. At the gentleman's request he took the net to him to look at, which so well pleased him that he offered to buy it, and said, "Here are the threepence you wish for the Bibles, and here is another threepence I wish you to spend upon yourself." The lad's eye glistened with delight, and soon filled with tears of joy. He scarcely knew what to say, and at last stammered out"Oh! sir,"- -"No, sir, — pray do let me send it all, sir, it will pay for a whole half Bible, sir." Such diligence, such earnestness, and such self-denial, did more than pay half the value of the Bible. influence was brought to bear upon that gentleman by which he also began to think he had too long neglected doing something for the same good cause. An Within the last few days we have received two letters from a friend of ours, and we shall give one or two extracts, which will be read with pleasure. In the first note our friend says: My son, F. A. C., is much disappointed at not having received his Ragged School Magazine for the month of June. We were at the sea during the month, and I apprehend it may have been lost. I feel sure you will give him another. It delights me to see his zeal for the cause, and though only twelve years old, it is his highest pleasure to save all the money he receives for some one or other of our 159 blessed Societies. But the Ragged School comes first with him; and he has not spent even a shilling on himself for more than twelve months, and has good hopes of doubling his little contribution this year. He has also turned advocate for the cause, and has pleaded it with others at the seaside, where, for the sake of health, we were sojourning for a few weeks. "Believe me, yours very truly, In a more recent letter, in reply to our own inquiry, he says: "I could mention many proofs of my little boy's self-denial which have often cheered my heart. I can assure you that he seems never to let an opportunity slip of exercising his youthful sympathy with the poor Ragged School children. The magazines are read over and over again; and as he lies by my bedside I frequently see him reading one or other of the interesting numbers before six in the morning. Holy Scripture saith, 'The liberal deviseth liberal things.' Now this devising liberal things is well illustrated in the case of my dear boy, by a little circumstance which I will relate to you. In the early part of this year he applied to me for a portion of the ground of my garden for his own use, in order that by careful management he might have a crop of vegetables to sell or dispose of as he thought fit. After many such applications from him, I at length fixed upon a spot, supposing, of course, that whatever he raised by his gardening operations would be applied by him in some way or other to his own profit or pleasure; but his object was far otherwise; for no sooner was the crop ready for use than he applied to me, in order to ascertain whether I was prepared to purchase it of him, that he might give the money to the Ragged Schools. This was devising liberal things;' and to God alone be ALL the praise!" Cannot other children make dolls' bonnets, and cabbage nets, cultivate gardens, use their influence, and become able supporters and advocates? We believe they can-let them think about it-talk about it-and then try to do something, and it will not be long before we hear of their success. Only let all be done from a pure desire to please God, not forgetting what St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, xiii. 3, "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, (love,) it profiteth me nothing." |