Connecticut western news., 1879-11-12
The Prison Van.
TOUCHING SKETCH OF LIFE IN LONDON

A TOUCHING SKETCH OF LIFE IN LONDON.
 Charles Dickens in one of his touch- tug stories of real life as it exists in Lon don gives us this little tale of prison van. Who can read it without realizing It's truthfulness and dropping 8 tear over it's terrible reality: The door of the van opened, and the first two prison CTS appeared. They were 8 couple of girls, of whom the elder could not be more than sixteen, and the younger of whom had certainly not attained her fourteenth year. That they were sisters, was evident, from the resemblance which still subsisted between them, though two additional years of depravity had fixed their brand upon the elder girls features, as legibly as if red-hot iron had scared them They were both gaud- fly dressed, the younger one especially; and, although there was strong simi- larlty between them in both respects, which was rendered the more obvious by their being handcufed together, it IS impossible to conceive greater con- trast than the demeanor of the two pre- sented. The younger girl was weeping bitterly-not for display, or in the hope of producing effect, but for very shame; her face was buried in her handkerchief, and her whole manner was but too ex- pressive of bitter and unavailing sorrow.
 How long are you for, Emily ?' screamed 0 red-faced woman in the crowd. "Six weeks and labor," replied the elder girl, with Haunting laugh "and that's better than the stone jug anyhow; the mills deal better than the Sessions, and here's Bella a-going too for the first time. Hold up your head, you chicken" she continued, boisterously, tearing the other girls handkerchief away; " hold up your head, and show 'em your face, ant jealous, but I'm blessed if ant game!" s'That's right, old gal!' exclaimed man in 8 paper cap, who, in common with the greater part Of the crowd, had been in- expressibly delighted with this little in- cident. "Right!' replied the girl |; "ah, to be sure {; what's the odds, eh ?' "Come :! In with you," interrupted the driver. "Don't you be in hurry, coachman," replied the girl, "and recol- lect want to be set down in Gold Bath Fields-large house with high garden wall ln front; you can't mistake it. Halo! Bella, where are you going to you'll pull my precious arm Off ?" This was addressed to the younger girl, who, in her anxiety to hide herself in the caravan, had ascended the steps first, and forgotten the strain upon the handcuff. "Come down, and let's show you the way" And after jerking the miserable girl down with force which made her stagger on the pavement, she got into the vehicle, and was followed by her wretched companion.
 These two girls had been thrown upon London streots, their vices and de- bauchery, by sordid and rapacious mother. What the younger girl was then, the elder had been once; and what the elder then was, the younger must soon become. A melancholy prospect, but how surely to be realized :; tragic drama, but how often acted Turn to the prisons and police-offices Of London-nay, look into the very streets themselves. These things pass before our eyes, day after day, and hour after hour-they had become such matters of course, that they are utterly d1sregarded. The progress of these girls in crime will be as rapid as the flight of a pestllence, resembling it too in its baneful influence and wide-spread- ing infection. Step by step, how many wretched females, within the sphere of every mans observation, have become involved in career of vice, frightful to contemplate; hopeless at it's commence. ment, loathsome and repulsive in it's course; friendless, forlorn, and un- pltied, at it's miserable conclusion
 There were other prisoners boys of ten, as hardened in vice as men of fifty Q houseless vagrant, going joyfully to prison as place of food and shelter, handcuffed to man whose prospects were ruined, character lost, and family rendered destitute, by his first offense. Our curiosity, however, was satisfied. 4'he first group had left an impression on our mind we would gladly have avoided, and would willingly have efaced.
 The crowd dispersed the vehicle rolled away with it's load of guilt and | YniefOTt1nns and WA uoxr ,,o 1,o,,a oe xV. a Prisoners Van.