Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-10-01
Heart-stPfcken Parents.
LEAF FROM THE HISTORY OF A PKSrrBy
rFvm The phitadeipk,a yao.,y,r1


TFrUW the PAitadelpkia IaqaiTer.l
few nights ago pair OF horses were driver
mp FEirmOun avenue at desperate gait, aud
from the carriage, which was stopped at the
gate Of the ca tern penitentisry, there jumped
gentleman who made all haste 10 gain an en-
trance into the gloomy institution. He pres
emily re- apr cared, bearing in his arms wasted
form, which he deposited with tender care In
Il carriage, which was then driven away.
The occupants OF the carriage we're q heart
broken father and his dying son. The att Il
was committed 10 the eastern penitentiary some
two years ago for larceny. His intelligence and
amiability soon made him q general fayorite
He was, at the time of his commitment, about
eighteen years old, tall, we'll formed, hanf-
some young man, without q trace Of the usu Al
characteristics of the criminal. The prison au-
thorities took special interest I'm his case, but
excepting that he had fallen into bad conn any.
About year ago he began to show the signs
OF ths insiduous complaint, consumption, which
nnn b BIS many victims in prison.
He slowly wasted away, unil two or three
weeks Ago the physician in charge, as he went
through the hospital OF the institution, stopped
to him, gravelv, that If he had anything TO say
to any pei son on earth he had better do so with
out delay, as he had but q short time to i've
The remark seemed to impress the poor fellow
deeply, fer he shortly afterwards asked for a
paper and pencil, and, obtaining them wrote
The son whom you have mour ned as dead is In
the Eastern penitentiary, Philadelphia" He
on his couch.
Being asked relative to the destination of the
note be had written, he directed it to be ad-
dressed TO lady in a town OF Massachusetts,,
which was complied with. A few DAYS after
ward gentleman applied to one of the prison
authorities for permission to see the youth, and
when brought into bis presence evinced the
strongest emotion. He stated that he was the
father OF the dying boy, and that the latter's
mother, being at the White Mountains for her
health, which is very delicate, he (the father)
had opened the note sent from this city, and
ia tha do
ton contained in it would surely have killed
her. Their son had been considered dead for
more than two years.
Being wealthy, the parents had given him q
good education, and designed him for profess
sional life, but, when about sixteen years of
age, his mind became affected by the influence
or sensational novels, and he formed an insatia-
bic desire 10 roam through the western Willis
He ran away, with the two sons of the mayor of
the town, but was traced to the place they lad
chosen for temporary stay and brought home.
The two companions remained at home, but he
very soon afterwards again ran off, and his pa
rents had since heard nothing of him, except q
report that he had been killed, which they be-
leved.
The sight OF his boy, stretched upon bed of
death within the fOrbidding walls of q prison,
crushed the fathers heart, but this only made
his opportunities more effective, and he sue
ceeded in securing mis- sons pardon, with which
he sped to the prison, and, doubtless anxious
that, even were it the last hour his son should
live, 1t should be spent in pure, free air. he had
him carried from the Institution, as above re-
lated. 1t was his intention, should the sen live
until he could be conveyed on board a steam
ship, to have taken him home in that way; 9TH
erwise he would let him die at hotel, and then
have the body taken on by rail to the homo of
his innocent and happy boyhood.
The weight OF sorrow that awaited the mother
in either case can easily be conceived. Whether
the dying young man revived sufi GENTLY to
endure the sea trip, or whether he died at the
hotel his father brought him TO, we did not
learn. The narrative is brief but painful one,
and is not without powerful lesson to youth.