The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1886-12-03
SCHOOL FOR THIEVES.
AN ENGLISH CONvlCT'S WAY OF
TEACHING By EXAMPLE.
Showing Them COnclusively that the
Way OF the Transgressor is Hard-A
Vnuu~ IRanrOhntaa

Backhanded MethOd-Tears Shed b!
Young Reprobates.
An English ex-convict tells this story to
reporter concerning school for thieves
which he has the reputation of keeping:
"Oh, it isn't school at all" he replied
with laugh, "and 1t is all nonsense calling
it one. 1t got the name of being one lone
time ago, and it has stuck to it ever since. Il
became known that used to have lads w
here of evenings, and l was waited upor
by police inspector. Il have come to war;
you, says he, that we have information thai
you keep school for the instruction OF
young thieves Ii 1t is SO you will have Il
put stop to it or you will find yourself In
your old quarters. All right says |
you shall come and hear for yourself what
it is teach them.' There would be lot Of
good in that says he; there would be d
rather short attendance il it was known that
| was to be present. Besides, il they did
come, you wouldn't be such fool as to give
'em their Urinary lessons l said, says I
That you should hear for yourself, not that
You should he seen, if you wouldn't mind
passing an hour this evening in that back at
tic; there is only thin partition between il
and this one, and lots of chinks you can peep
through. You can satisfy yourself and no.
body but you and me need be any wiser.
A BACKHANDED WAY.
"And the inspector agreed to the plan, and
came and slipped into the back attic at the
time mentioned, and there he staid till the
entertainment was all over and the boys had
gone. And then he came out, and says he:
I shan't trouble you any further, Jerry. 1t
is rather backhanded way you have got in
getting at them, but it is better than no way
at all And he civilly wished me good
night, and 1 haven't been interfered with by
the police since. And so it is what may be
called backhanded way" continued Mr..
Duff, land it isn't, praps, a respectable way,
and it might be objected that there is under
handedness and artfulness in it; but, what
odds about that so that good comes of it? 1t
isn't reading and writing that teach them.
| am far too ignorant a man for that. | tell
them stories-stories of my life in the differ
ent prisons and of the crimes that got me
there. That was the bait that / held out to
them when first began to put the plan /
had long thought of in practice. They were
too young to know anything about me them
selves, but they had, no doubt, heard all
about me from the older haDds-and there
are plenty of them living about here-and
they were proud of the compliment when
asked them to come up to my room, smoke
pipe and hear me spin a yarn concerning my
life and adventures. And having been in
the crooked way ever since was IS till last
left Portland, when was 80, you may
guess, and having good memory, had
plenty of stories to tell.
But the stirring adventures and the
dare devil deeds, which, of course, they
liked to hear about, was only the sugar the
pill was coated with. What wanted them
to understand without making too much of
it was that for every sixpenn'orth of pleas
ure obtained by crime it always, sooner or
later, meets with pounds worth of pun
ishment. It don't do to press this view of it
too hard OH them, or they will at once think
you are gammoning. The way is to put it so
that they find it out for themselves. They
sometimes make their comments to that effect
when have finished story have been tell
ing them. We'll. after all, .JeyyA Spu didn't
get much of a pull You paid Nretty dear
for what you did get, Jerry TO Which re-
ply: Il never did get the pull, and always
paid dear for what got. l had twenty-six
years of it, and eighteen of these were spent
in prison, and, after all, here l am, making
footstools at two pence ha'penny each, and
working fourteen hours day to earn enough
to buy me bit Of victuals and pay my lotlg-
ing, and tell you never was half as happy
in all my life.'
LESSONS OF EXPERIENCE.
at isn't only of my own experiences tell
tIo Inn
'While l was at Dartmoor something went
wrong with my nsides, and was put in the
as a nurse, and was there eighteen
months l know lots of stories that the
patients, being there sick and brought low,
have told me, some of the men being the most
wicked and desperate; but it was always the
,ame tale with them when it came to the last.
They are the yarns, as they call them, they
ike best to hear, though perhaps you
wouldn't think it. But it is a fact. The
worst young reprobates will 60 to the play,
md shed tears over the affecting parts of a
piece that pleases them, and 60 again and
'gain to see it. I've had them pipe their eye |
lere many time when I've been telling them
# dying prisoner-a young fellow, perhaps
and of the tender messages he sent to his
mother and those at home
"And, what is more to the purpose" said
Jerry Duff, proudly, and with something
,ery like tears glistening in his own eyes,
I've had many one come creeping back !
ere, shy and ashamed like, when the others
we're out of sight, and wanting to know if
new any more stories like the last, and, if
o, would 1 mind telling him all by himself
nd on the quiet. never say nay, you may
epend, sir. They are the fish I am angling
Or in my backhanded way. They are rare,
ut when they do bite they are worth land
n.y." could do no more than agree, and as
have already said, shook hands wit. 1rJerry
buff, and wished him better luck with his
tory telling.-London Telegraph.
Coal Dust and Seaweed.
A couSidara bio fnroinr, industry, hos Snrunn |