The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1877-08-09

Six months, in advance, ce,..................... 0G
THIEVES BY BIRTH,
Persons in Whom the Propensity to steal
Is Natural and Irresistible.
From the chronological Journal.
was invited to Jail in Massachu-
setts by young lawyer. who has since
become United States Senator, to ex-
anime the head of a client of his whom
he had to defend on the charge of
stealing. No information was given
as to his alleged crime, and we de-
Scribed the young man as being abb
formally acquisitive, or selfish in re-
spect to possession that he had very
strong veneration, and would manifest
much religious devotion, and would
be sincere in it /; while with his small
;autiousuess and conscientiousness
and very large acquisitiveness he
would be very likely to trespass upon
the rights OF others in the way of
stealing.
At this point the lawyer told the
young man he might tell me what he
had told him (the lawycr.) He went
on to relate that he had been in the
habit of stealing every thing, whether
ne wanted it or not that he would go
to prayer meeting and take the oppor-
tunity of praying two Or three times
during the evening, and sometimes
on the way home he would be inspir-
ed with a devotional feeling, and
would kneel down in the corner of
the fence and have season of prayer
that was sweet and heavenly to him;
and strange as it may seem, if he saw
a hoe hanging on a farmers fence, or
q whif1letree chain, or pin of cart
neap, or beetle and wedges, or an
old ak, haif-worn, he would steal Il
and afterwards it would occur to him
that he could not use the articles, no.
body would buy them, and his only
way was to conceal them; and he re-
marked that there was a hollow log
| lying in a small piece of woods in
which he had secreted the articles he
| had stolen because he dare not carry
them home nor offer them for sale.
| But it seemed to him that he could not
help stealing them: the impulse came
OH. and though he was sincere in his
religious devotiOns, and exceedingly
happy in their performance, he seemed
10 himself to be left to the temptation
<f hn NH oh
might be stolen was left IN his way.
A man who was minister called
for an examination, and at the end of
long and sharp analysis of his char
acter, in which acqaisitiveness and Sc
cretiveness had been described as
strongly developed and very active,
and also cOnscieHtiousness and eau
tiousness had been estimated as large,
he seemed unwilling to go, but walked
up and down the room for several
minutes. as if he had some burdened
question he wanted to ask, and yet
was afraid to ask. Turning to him I
said: "Do you wish to ask any ques-
tions?" EYES, he said, ''there is one
thing about me which you do not
seem to have described, If you will
t IL me TINT, will believe in phrenoi-
ogy." l instantly replied: You
have an inclination to steal; but prob
ably manage to refrain from it," He
opened his eyes in terrified astonish-
memt, and, giving me such a fierce
gaze as never will be forgotten, re-
marked: "Sir, that is true. That is
my trouble. am a clergyman, sir,
and l hope that 1 am true one; yet
l have all my life long been tempted
to steal, and in my parochial visits Of
ten have an impulse come over me to
take something; and if left alone in
room do take it; and sometimes it
requires half an hour TO find a conven-
lent opportunity TO get the article thus
stolen out of my pocket and back upon
the shelf or table where it belongs. 1t
may be shell which every Sunday
school scholar in the parish knows; it
may be an old hymn-book with
name written on it, and half worn out
things which 1 do not need, and
could not use if l did need them,
without the theft being detccted."-
And he remarked, with tears tumbling
down his face, ''By the help of God,
1 have been able, hitherto, to refrain
from carrying away anything which
had thus, under the impulse, stolen."
Twenty-Five years ago there was
we'll to-do farmers wife in COnnecti-
cut who had an impulse to steal only
one kind of All article. and that was
blue stockings. If she were driving,
in the middle of a bright afternoon,
mile from home, where she and the
horse and wagon were well known,
and she caught sight of q pair Of blue
stockings hanging on line in the
yard with other clothing. she would
stop her team, get out of the wagon,
go into the yard in front of the room
where the family were working, and
jerk those stockings off the line, leav-
ing dozen pairs of other colors, re-
turn to the wagon, whip up the team
aud get out OF the way. If she had
been u stranger, whose popularity was
unknowu; she would have been fol-
lowed and arrested and punished but
everybody knew that she had that
queer monomania for blue stockings.
examined a mans head and de-
scribed him as being very fond of
money, happening, of course, to use
the term money. instead of property,
and it made quite q sensation, because
it was known that he would steal mOn-
ey, and he did not hesitate to talk
a ahnnt it himself. But he Wl uld steal