The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-09-29
spool for Drinks" and Home Amuse-
ments.

The cell-door in the police station was
closed upon thief who had given his
age as seventeen years, and who looked
even younger. He did not look much
like a criminal. His clothing and per-
son were clean and his features were of
type indicating intelligence. The
brutal expression often noticed in the
features of law-breakers was lacking en-
tirely in his. A Tribune reporter, who
saw him locked up, noticed tears in the
youths blue eyes. The detective who
had made the arrest had served many
years in the Police Department and was
familiar with the history of many
thieves. "That boy ought not to be a
thief he said. His father is dead,
and he has respectable, Woodworking
mother, to whom he might be comfort
instead of a curse. He has been on the
island twice already, and now he will
go up for burglary"
"What kind of boys become burg
lars?' the reporter asked.
"All kinds"
EDO good boys ever get to be
thieves?"
eyes, when they fall in bad COM
pany.'
"What influence do you consider the
most powerful in leading boys on to
crime?''
Rum"
Has not natural depravity much to
do with their fall?'
&c l do not believe that human deprav-
ity is natural" the detective said. cit
is unnatural. The lives of the worst
criminals in the city prove as much.
much less of what you call natural de-
pravity in country places than in the
city? People get to be bad because
their surroundings are bad, because
they can not resist temptation. because
their better instincts are taken away by
evil influences. This boy here lives in
tenement-house. His mother is
poor, and there is not much pleasure
for him in the house. So he
runs about in the street. If he
lived in the country, as l did when l
was boy, he couldn't find much mis-
chief away from home Here he asso-
ciates with all kinds of boys, and there
is not much wickedness which New
York gamin does not know about Eve
ry grog-shop which bears the sign pool
for drinks is a training school for
young thieves. The boys get heated
with beer, and are fascinated with the
game. They must have money to en-
joy the sport, and drink leads them to
steal it. This lad began stealing from
his poor mother first. She would not
have him punished. Then he stole
from his employer and was discharged.
| caught him picking pockets and sent
him to the penitentiary. When he got
out he robbed money-drawer in a
grocery. Last night he and his pals
broke the shutters of cigar store and
carried oft small amount of the
stock. After he gets out of prison
again he may become a more expert
burglar, but his mother will die of a
broken heart"
A sob within the cell sounded like an
expression of assent. The officer no
ticed it, and turing away from the
door, he added in lower tone: cit is
the fault of the parents sometimes. If
his home life had been made little
better and pleasanter he might have
been a steady boy. His mother was al
ways complaining and fretting in the
house before he began to steal, and
since then she has tried to shield him
from the police, while she kept nagging
him when they were alone. Boys are
growing up to be sober, honest men in
the worst tenement houses in the city
You will find, as rule, that they have
been taught by their parents to expect
punishment for evil-doing, and that they
have amusement at home. ~ y
Tribune.