The Worthington advance., 1879-05-15
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ItitUI AuO eager ~ ScA AcI SIcat "HuSo
eaQh one Of which was small
:fortufS Xnddl. the family plate, the &C
1cumdiati6h Of generations, that had used
to delight the children with its great ring
ing vibrations before the butler put it
away after any more stately banquet than
usual. What she wonlds ltaye5 parted
with everything aad have gone to live in
3 gatret ut ~fiafd labor, there is no
need of saying, if that would have given
her back her bov again. She knew
ywhat i was to live in u garret, too, for in
the beginning she had gone with her hns-
band. 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, it made her shudder 50;
there was IN old cronc with sinister
laugh, smoking the stump Of pipe there;
there were some children asleep in u hud
die Of rags on the tloor;- the officer rs had
shaken ,them,' tone and all, but they were
none OF hers. The place was not more
filthy and squalid, not more loathsomc to
the senses and oppressive to the soul,
than others she had seen; but it seemed
~ IIiNkC UCT ct0llS SLall oAO SA~
tered, and she had not spoken Il dozen
words with the old hag before she tainted.
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
dwcilcrs Of that den. The day "the prct-
ty lady came with the cop" was day in
the calendar OF those children, who,
doubtless, were all thieves after their
kind. They Remembered it, perhaps, the
more particularly, too, because, when the
callers had been gone little while, old
Hannah, the crone aforesaid, 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 which; most Of
! them had slept, and to which fresh AIR
came from chimney hue, and then there
had been Il smothcrcd outcry, for it look
Ct, as though Sam was dead. But it
| turned out that Sam was still alive, after
all; he was only sounder asleep than
usual. lie slept almost all the time, as
they used to wish they might instead OF
tie creature, with closely shaved head
and with vacant stare in his stupid eyes
Whenever he opened tlem. Sam had
'bccn whipped two or three times by old
Hannah Icca,lsc he didn't answer to his
name when he was awake. lie answered
to it now. But. or the whole, they hadn't
seen SO much of Sam since he came, for
they were out, each on his own lay, most
of the time, ut different hours of the day
and night. ,..
Perhaps nothing could sooner blot the
past for II child, stunt the growth, and
produce degradation Of the moral tissue
is one may use the phrase, than Il system
OF drowning out the brain with narcotic
| drugs. 1t was the system used in old
Hahna's school. EACH one of her little
pupils woke ut last read y to receive the
impressions she prepared-the impress
sions OF finished crimc-and graduated
complete rascals, some fit for one work
and some for another Sans small size
if nothing else, would have settled his
calling: he WAS set apart to creep into
houses through small spaces where a large
one could not enter, and to open the door!
for his masters. He was first, made tt
bc more afraid Of them than anything OF
earth; and then, the work of lrnggin5
being over, his intelligence was allowed
to play with baskctful Of old locks ant
keys. In-a years time he was almost Al
expert, and those locks were some Of til,
few things on which he showed any Sign
Of intelligence. His mind appeared to b.
a blank of all but fear; sometimes, if con
fused memories came to him, and he Mt
tered IL loud word, it was only to cove
ut the sight OF old Hanna's lash, and it
stronger and more recent memories;
little fellow still: he had not grown tw,
inches in two years.
One twilight, basket of crusts on hi
am-out Of which do all they could, h
would nibble-he was told to follow Bur
into the street, an old man with sack OF
his shoulders. and not to lose sight of him
And when tile experiment had been trict
often enough, Burt went some way far
ther into the country than usual and littl
Sam was showed through cellar gratin:
to go up and open the way for Burt an,
those who had been awaiting him; an,
that night little Sam began his career o
house-breaking.
But all of little Sans share in IL,
transaction was sort OF 1nchoatc tcrro
OF what would happen to him if he di'
not do as he was tod. And as tor wha
the men did after he .ct them in, he ha
not SO much idea as the mouse III til
wainscot had; nor, if he had known
would he have been able to see an
wrong in it. If they wanted pleasan
things, why shouldn't they have them
Being satisfied, and in good humor, the
would give him the fewer blows.
But only few months after that he
ginning Burt and Bobbins were in thei
. prison cells, old Hannah's den was broke
; up, and Sam and the other little outcast
were homeless; or rather they would hav
, been had not Sam's proficiency with lock
, been known in the craft, and lie ut lcas
claimed as a possession worth having
and thus the series of the most unaccoun1
5 able and daring burglaries ever known i
this part Of the country went on uninte1
ruptcdly.
1t was bright moonlight night whe
the three confedcratcs pushed and shove
little Sam up the great ropes Of wistari
, and woodbine that hc> might crav
through the open cracked "a small wiz
dow, with his customary Instructions I
l find door and open it. for them Ono
within, he could see his way tolerabl
, we'll about the place, and he noiselessl
traverscd one room and another, and ha
reached the great upper hall, when h
Z fears Of the mcn..outside suddenly ga,
! way to more horrible fear; for a ere:
, beast rose and was beside him with on
leap-a huge mastiff taller than himsel
I For moment little Sam was paralyzeC
4 the next thing would be those whit
tangsrin-his flesh; he knew he should |
4 devoured. But lie, could not scream. H
e dared not; And then the great creatu,
S had put his two forc-paws OH Sans sllou
Il der, and was licking his face and hant
D and head As il he coall not have cnoug
Of him, till the chila sank on tile rob
e wl'eh he subsidized, and lay beside hin
z fwith Ibis nose ~letween, his DAVIS. viii
Y Sam looked down Tie long length of Il
hall below, and saw. the swinging silv,
vi lamps, the white statue in it's niche: II