The Red Cloud chief., 1879-07-31

sNsA 'h"~ w oA4'ofa 10 XIV w q
the hands Il those vile enough to nj
duct him. No reason for the stealth
had ever appeared; no message or mes
senger from the wretches had ever mad
any overture 70 the father for q ransom
They began to hope that the dear chil,
had died. Sometimes his mother feare'
that she could no longer control her rea
son; her health was breaking down
and she could hardly allow the othe
children out of her sight. She knew
well that it would be better for her il sh'
could 90 about among people; il sh'
could visit the poor; il she could los
her own SORROWS in trying TO assuag'
those Of others. But it seemed To he
that the sight Of the trouble Of other
would hut aggrayatc her own trouble
Nor had she any thing TO give in char
ity; she felt that every dollar must b.
saved for spending in the search for hel
little one; she was ready and eagel
10 sell her great white diamonds, each
one of which was a small fortune,
and all the family plate, the sccumula.
ton Of generations, that had used &
delight the children with its great ring,
ing vibrations before the butler put II
away after any more stately banquet
than usual. That she would have part.
ed with every thing and have gone %
live in a garnet at hard labor, there il
no need of saying, if that would have
given her back her boy again. She
knew what il was To live in a garnet,
too. for in the beginning she had gone
with her husband and certain members
Of the police though scores and scores
of garrets and cellars in the black heart
Of the city. Only one Of them all,
though, she remembered in particular,
il had made her shudder so; there wa
an old crOne with a sinister laugh,
smoking the stump Of Il pipe there;
there were some children asleep in a
huddle Of rags On the floor; the officers
had shaken them, one and all, but they
were none of hers. The place vas not
more filthy and squalid, not more loath-
some TO the senses and oppressive Ia the
soul, than others she had seem; but it
seemed TO make her heart stand still As
she entered, and she had not spoken a
dozen words with the old bag before she
tainted. And after hat 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. TIE 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
little while, old Hannah, the crone afore-
said, Knocked the ashes out of her pipe.
lifted the loose board in the floor, and
took Sam out of his bed there-a bed in
most Of them had slept, and to
which fresh air came from a chimney
ilue; and then there had been a smoth-
cred cutlery, fori looked as though Sam
was dead. But it turned out that Sam
was alive, after all; he was only sound
asleep than usual. He slept almost
all the time, as they used 10 wish they
instead of being seGt out on their
.eats-a dark little creature, with close
Iy-shaved head, and with a vacant stare
in his stupid eyes whenever he opened
hem. Sam had been whipped two or
three times by old Hannah because he
lidn't answer to his name when he was
awake. He answered 10 it now. But,
IN 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,
1t different hours of the day and night.
Perhaps nothing could sooner blot
he past for a child, stunt the growth,
and produce a degradation of the moral
if one may use the phrase, than
system of drowning out the brain with
narcotic drugs. II was the system used
in old Hannah's school. Each one of
her little pupils woke at last, ready to
the impressions she prepared
The Impressions Of finished crime-and
complete r~aScals, some fit for
one work and some for another. Sans
small size, if nothing else, would have
his calling: he was set apart to
creep into houses through small spaces
where a larger one could not enter, and
10 open the doors for his masters. He
first made to be more afraid of
hem than of any thing else on earth;
and then, the work of dragging being
over, his intelligence was allowed to
play with a basketful of old locks and
keys. In 4 years time he was almost
IN expert, and those locks were some Of
he few things on which ne showed any
signs of intelligence. His mind appear
to be a blank of all but fear; some
if confused memories came to
him, and he uttered a loud word, it was
only To AT the sight of old Han
lash, and its stronger and more
recent Memories little fellow still:
had not grown two inches in two
years.
One twilight, a basket of crusts on
his arm-out of which, do ali they could,
would nibble-he was told to follow
Burt into the street IAN old man with q
'ack on his s~hou'derS), and not to lose
sight of him. And when the experiment
lad been tried often enough, Burt went
some way farther into the countr than
usual, and little Sam was showed through
/ cellar-grating TO go up and open the
way for Burt and those who had been
waiting him; and that night little Sam
his career of house-breakiug.
But all of little Sans share in the
"sS SUN VI lilNtlDsiit lGTTOT I
# what would happen to him if he did
lot do As he was told. And as for what
he men did after he let them in, he had
lot so much idea as the mouse in the
had; nor, if he had known,
would he have been able 10 see any
wrong in it. If they wanted pleasant
hings, why shouldn't they have Them?
Being satisfied, and in good humor,
hey would give him the fewer blows.
But only 4 few months after that be-
Burt and Bobbins were in their
prison cells, old Hannah's den was
broken up, and Sam and the other little
were homeless; or rather they
would have been had not Sans pro-
with locks been known in the
and he ST least claimed as a DOS
worth having; and thus the
of the most unaccountable and
burglaries ever known in this
'art Of the country went on uninter-
uptedly.
1t was a bright moonlight night when
he three confederates pushed and
hoved little Sam up the great D of
vistaria and woodbine that he might
through the open crack of a small
window, with his customary instructions
o find a door and open it for them.
)nce within, he could see his way toll