Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1850-06-27
S ELECT TALE
THE BANISHED SON:
Or r-.'-
The First Crime and its Results.
A STORY FOR YOUNG MEN

pleased 10 do so very frequently, although each
visit was productive of sadness and PAIN
,rss looked upon in some degree as an assocl-
ate by the taciturn, stern-looking officials, and
treated with as much openness as men of their
character and in their condition could be ex-
nected to show. do not know whether they
sympathized with me or not; perhaps they
smiled at my mission, which was one of per-
snasion and appeal, as they compared its visi-
81. oa.c;S with those of bolts and bars. They
,drn;,ted me 10 the cells, however, with all
apparent good will, and they never scrupled to
canverse with me regarding the inmates OF
these dreary abodes that were so frequently
changing their tenants.
well, Mr.. Barr said to a turnkey, as
passed him on his accustomed bench, how is
Harrington this morningp
why, he's marked for the third batch,
said the jailor, eoolly raising his eyes from the
Newgate Calendar which he was studying,
and he continued, he goes at two, p. M
The appeals of his friends have been un-
successful, then, said l, with a portion of the
sadness of my feelings trembling in my voice,
and the representations of Mr.. Morton have
ayailed him nothingp
You see, SIR said Barr, who was large,
stout man, with broad face and low forehead,
beneath which dull, leaden-like eyes twinkled
from the shade of bushy, dark eyebrows you
see, sir, the case was good un;' and the Jail
or reused himself up, laid aside his book, and
seemed preparing himself for discussion.
Poor fellow said l, involuntarily.
We'll, now,' said Barr, emphatically, he
might have known better He was not like
one of them kinchins that are brought up to
this, and are better here than out. He got
edication, and should like to know what use
edication is for, if it don't teach fellow to
keep beyond them walls. | said the case was
a good un,' he continued, pursuing up his
mouth, and looking infinitely satisfied. Cob
by and | were talking over it, and we came
to the conclusion that the judge that didn't see
his case wasn't fit for his situation
He is young, respectfully connected, and
this is his first crime, said I in a deprecating
voice.
.Ah. but then you see he flew high all at
oncel' said Barr, coolly. If he had been
sensible he would have tried the petty larceny
line first, and then he would have known by
degrees how we treats patients here; but he
didn't, you see Barr was here interrupted
by wave of the hand from a superior, and
with smile On his face at the idea of having
perpetrated Joke, he hurredly left me stand
ing alone, as could not visit any of the pris-
oners without his aid.
Edward Harrington was young man, whose
manners and exterior did not accord with his
prison. He wore the degrading badge of
crime, it is true, as well as the most deprayed-
looking of the wretches with whom he took
his daily airing in the yard but his counten-
ance had not vet assumed the Cain-like cast of
features that invariably stamps itself upon the
faces of the fallen and the vile, and he still re-
tanned the carriage and the restrained deport-
ment of one who had been conventlonally edu-
Gated. 1t is impossible to convey by language
an adequate idea of hardened, incorrigible
criminal. He must be seen in order to be
known. The dogged sullenness of his visage
and the bold, abandoned swagger OF his gait.
are more forcible indices of the condition of
his mind than are the oaths which he belches
from the darkened, foul cavern of his spirit.
Harrington possessed none of those graver at
tributes of the felon or murderer. A shade of
IRONY or irritability now and again passed
across his face, and sometimes painful con-
traction of his features would involuntarily
disclose the workings of mind diseased, but
otherwise he was as precise and gentlemanly
in his department as if he had been at home.
I liked the youth from the first time had seen
him, but was sorry to perceive that he re-
tanned the mental confidence sufficient to enable
him to act the conventionalist not that / con-
sidered good manners out of place in Jail, but
because the natural torrent of sorrow had been
too weak to irrigate his conscience with the
healing waters of repentance. When ne was
first brought to prison he appeared to be totally
cast down; tears, groans and sobs were my
only responses when | spoke to him of his con
dition and when I tried to operate upon hi
sympathies, that might warm his heart to re
eeiye the consultations of religion, he talket
incoherently, and would not be comforted.-
When he became calm, he evinced more anx
iety to know the relations of crime and punish
ment. than to listen to the precepts of religion
and morality, and took more pains to catechis'
me concerning the spirit of human laws, thai
of those which are eternal and divine. shal
never forget the terrified yet indignant lool
which his countenance assumed when l, aftel
repeated interrogation, informed him tina
young men of education, who had betrayed thu
trust which employers had reposed in them, o.
who used their education as the vehicle of dis
honesty, were far more severely punished thai
the oatcast, ignorant thief.
AND shall they Danish me for a first OF
fence ne cried, while choking in his throa
showed tne intensity Of his fear.
Forgery is grave crime, Young man,
said l, seriously, and you have neither iono
rance nor poverty to urge in extenuat;on Of !,
commission. You have been ins,rro.od !,
well-doing, and you have been nurtured !;
comfort, yet you have chosen the path of sham
and sorrow, and have brought grief 10 the 90,
of your only parent