New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-09-17

the lines about the death-song Of the
swan FwoatiHg down by he'se'f to /
die; she remembered the absorbed
way In which he would look up, de-
claring, 81 buzhy now;" the i,ssossciance
with which, when she demonstrated
upon his naughtiness, he babe her to
take it eazhy;" his :. yolerble pa.
pers;" in short, all the things in which
he had been just one trifle more charm-
ing than the other children-the other
children who would not put one Of that
child's playthings out of sight, and
would not even suffer the little un-
couth characters upon the blackboard
TO be wiped out.
But one year followed another, and
another followed that, and although
Mr.. Dean had agents everywhere
throughout the country, end was con-
stantly on the alert himself, no word
came Of his little son. Yet anything
seemed better than that he should be
growing up in the hands of those vile
! enough to abduct him. No reason for
the stealing had ever appeared; no
message or messenger from the wretch
es had.ever made any overture to the
father for ransom. They began to
hope that the dear child had died.
SO metimes his mother feared that she
could no longer control her reason;
her health was breaking down; and
she could hardly allow the other chill
dren out Of her sight. She knew well
that it would be better for her il she
could 60 about among people; if she
could visit the poor; if she could lose
Vyva Ssak 90
those Of others. But it seemed to her
that sight Of the trouble of others
would but aggravate her own trouble.
Nor had she anything to give in chart.
~; she felt that every dollar must be
saved for spending in the search for
her little one; she was ready and eager
to sell her great white diamonds, each
one OF which was small fortune, and
all the family plate, the accumulation
OF generations, that had used to delight
the children with its great ringing vi
brations before the butler put it away
after any more stately banquet than
usual. That she would have parted
with everything and have gone to live
in q garnet at hard labor, there is no
need Of saying, if that would have civ.
en- her back her boy again. She knew
what it was to live in q garrett. too. for
In the beginning she had gone with her
husband and certain members of the
police through scores and scores of
garrets and cellars in the black heart
OF the city. Only one of them all,
though, she remembered in partic-
ular, it had made her shudder so:
there was an old crone with sinister
laugh, smoking the stump of pipe
there; there were some children asleep
in . huddle of rags on the floor; the Of
ticers had shaken them, one and all,
but they were none of hers. The place
was not more filthy and squalid, not
more loathsome to the senses and OBJ
pressive to the soul, than others she
had seen; but it seemed to make her
heart stand still as she entered, and
she had not spoken q dozen words with
the old bag before she tainted. And
after that her husband was reluctant to
have her continue such visits.
But the visit made, perhaps, no more
impression on her than it made on the
jewellers of that den. The day "the
pretty lady came with the cop'' was a
day in the calendar of those children,
who, doubtless, were all thieves after
their kind. They remembered it, per-
haps, the more particularly, too, be-
cause, when the callers had been gone
q little while. old Hannah, the old
crone aforesaid, knocked the ashes out
of her pipe, lifted the loose board in
the floor, and took Sam out of his bed
ehere-a bed in which most of them
had slept, and to which fresh air came
from chimney fue; and then there
had been smothered cutlery, for it
looked as though Sam was dead. But
it turned out that Sam was alive, after
all; he was sounder asleep than usual.
He slept almost all the time, as they
used to wish they might, instead of be.
ing sent out on their beats "a dark lit.
tie creature, with closely.shaved head.
and with vacant stare in his stupid
eyes whenever he opened them. Sam
had been whipped two or three times
by old Hannah because he didn't an
swer to his name when he was awake.
He answered to it now. But, on the
whole, they hadn't seen much of Sam
since he came, for they were out, each
on his own lay, most of the time, at
different hours of the day and night.
Perhaps nothing could sooner blot
the past for child, stunt the growth,
and produce degradation of the moral
tissue. it one may use the phrase, than
q system OF drowning out the brain
with narcotic drugs. 1t was the sys-
tenn used in old Hannah's school. Each
one of her little pupils woke at last,
ready to receive the Impressions she
prepared-the impressions of finished
crime and 81 aduated complete rascals,
some fit for one work, and some for an.
other. Sans small size, if nothing
else. would have settled his calling; he
was set apart to creep into houses
through small spaces where larger
one could not enter, and to open the
doors for his masters. He was first
made to be more afraid Of them than
Of anything on earth; and then, the
work of dragging being over, his INTEL
ligence was allowed to play with
basketful of old locks and keys. In .
years time he was almost an expert,
and those locks were some Of the few
things on which he showed any signs
Of intelligence. His mind appeared to
be blank Of all but fear; sometimes,
if confused memories came to him, and
he uttered q loud word, it was only to
cover at the sight Of old Hannah's lash,
and it's stronger and more recent MEM
ories-a little fellow still; he had not
grown two inches in two years.
One twilight. . basket Of crusts on
his arm-out Of which, do all they
could, he would nibble-he was told to
follow Burt into the street Gan old man
with 9 sack on his shoulders), and not
to lose sight Of him. And when the
experiment had been tried often enough,
Burt went some way farther into the
country than usual, and little Sam was
showed through cellar grating to 60
up and open the way for Burt and
those who had been waiting him; and
that night little Sam began his career
Of house-breaking.
But al Of little Sans share IN the
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