New-York tribune., 1873-12-24
CHRLSTMAS KLEPTOM1NFd

upon ABSTRACTION anu Cou|cIoiVh' Vn 'ii'
pavement, in the cars and stages, ana III the
shops, the felonious industry goes on
with much shrill wailng from the plum
derea a. well az the plundereTs, with
occasional detectiOns and arrests, anu
with no little real aud inconvenient
loss The shopkeepers. If you ask theni' wiil
tell you a doleful story of great deal OIL
property carried off in spite Of numerous anu
unremitting precautions, not the least Oh the
trouble being that innocent and honorable
ladies' are now and then accused of tilchlng, and
,tupidly and cruelty arrested, only to be summa-
rily discharged and restored to their distracted
homes. The shopmen will further tell you as the
result of their sad experience. that not all the
larcenies. by any means, arc perpetrateu Dy
experts 4; that women of respectable social
position and under no pressing temptation OIL
want will carry Oft goods and chatteis 1or
which they have neither bargained nor palu,
which they do not need, and which they mIght
with case and honesty acquire If they did need
them. Moll Flanders is sometimes found,
not in the stews and slums, the mistress o1
thief or burglar, but in au Avenue
numerically respectable, with lawful nus
band TO whom his good name Is infinitely
prcciOus and with half dozen chlldren-per-
hans with doting father whose irascibiity
becomes white hot. when told that his
darling. like the Artful Dodgers twin
brother. has "unawfully taken to prlg-
"ging." Perhaps it is a great consolation TO
+. husband or father, however little to the
exasperated shopkeeper, to be told tnat
fine Greek name has been IN
vented for this kind of appropriation; that IT
il now mentioned in the medical books as
Kleptomania, all sorts of sins being now
'Manias; that it is just as much "a disease as
dyspepsia, with which, indeed, 1t is not seldom
complicated; that Madame OF Miss steals be-
cause she cannot help it and that the Doctor,
not the Policeman. is the proper person to be
called in. Matters are often adjusted upon
the basis of this psychological theory.
Husband or papa pays for tho stolen hnery
The shopkeeper prudently holds his tongue
and keeps or acquires good customer; and
the policeman goes away winking with spas
modic righteousness aud preternatural intelli-
eence. Sometimes the affair gets into the
newspapers, and sometimes it does not; but If
it should. what matterf kleptomania
is very impressive word. The real,
perfectly sane Moll Flanders goes
down to the Island. greatly to the
grief because greatly to the pecuniary loss of
her "man :" the amateur Moll, being q KEEP
tOmaniac, returns to the bosom of society,
which is very ample and full of the milk OF
iudicious forgiveness. So much for word
derived from the Greeks SO much for soft
hearted etymology aud considerate psychology
icsl science
Perbaps the disease above alluded to becomes
more unmana geable as it becomes chronic,
but it il wonderful to notice how virulently
it sometimes attacks little girls. either in the
nursery or only lately out of it. What buds
in the jam closet frequently blooms IN
the jewelers. shop. We have before
us an account of a case In point
In Chelsea, Mass, Neptomania has
broken out epidemically in girls school
Several misses, it is discovered, have become
not Jack Shepherds. for that metamorphOsis
their sex forbade but shall we say Gill Shep-
herdsf Four of them have been arrested,
charged with foraging among the haberdashers
and small ware dealers of lively Chelsea.
and with carrying away jewelry not
for their own adornment, toys not for
their hours of recreation, Cologne water not
for perfuming their own persons. Here is
where the kleptOmania comes in. 1t agltates
us to write it, but all this stealing was done
for the benefit of the Young Mems Christian
Association of Chelsea That respectable
body was about to hold Fair. The young
ladies were to have tables. They naturally
wanted these tables to appear as beau
tiful ~ possible. Perhaps they were
tho victims of conscientious casuistry.
Perhaps they thought that stealing for
the Young Mems Christian Association was no
thievery-the bewildered little devotees! AT
any rate they carried away the property, and,
being detected in this labor Of love, are now
sustaining peculiar relations to the Police
Court, greatly to the grief of the respectable
"parepts., We suppose that the Rhadamanthus
of Chelsea is not believer in kleptomaniacal
theories for he required bail just as il the
doctors had never described the disease
We know that it is hard to draw the line
and TO fix the point at which moral RESPONSE
bility ceases. We believe that there are
few persons who cannot help stealing but
even these, in majority OF instances mish'
have arrested this alteration ut time wneh
self-control was possible. 1t Is with steaIing
"A with hard drinking. Inc oino.nan'ac
had ample opportunity of avoiding ms tate
through little wholesome self discipline and
he has become irresponsible simply because
no was untrue to himself at time when he
was perfectly responsible. We admit that
when tho question of penalties is to be de-
cidcd. in tho cases of confirmed wrong
doors, The Whole matter bocomes exceed