The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-03-21
RenOrse.
For The Mirror.

RemOrSo Is very transient AFFAIR, IL
comes and goes with our winnings and
losses. No one is ever repentent while on
the high rounds of the ladder of life; it is
only when they begin to fall or have
reached the depths of disgrace that they be-
come remOrseful, and tell of their sorrow for
their careless, aimleSS OF wicked life. Re-
morse is not to be defined by one individual.
Webster puts it something Ike this: "A
gnawing pain of conscience, caused by a
knowledge of guilt" 1 define it this way
and wonder how many will agree with me:
"Remorse. a cowardly pain of conscience,
caused by knowledge of having been found
out, or punished" 1t is the cry of the cow
ard when he finds himself behind the bars.
No such thing as remorse gnaWs his inward
soul while he was prosperous thief.
There is no sting in success. RemOrSe may
apply to men convicted of murder; because
men sometimes kill their fellow men in the
heat of passion and afterward would gladly
give the world. did they but possess it. to
undo the one wrong act of their lives; but
crooks as class work Systematically and
cOolly and know they are about to do a
wrong in the eyes of the masses before they
60 to work. There are many crooks who
do not believe it WRONG to steal. They be-
lieve it is wrong to get caught land the end
generally justites them in this belief, and
when they have been caught, it is not for
having stolen, that they are sorry; but for
having been caught. Thievery is their
trade. their business, their profession. and
a man is never sorry for his business; if he
is, he is fool or he would leave it and try
some other. A crook has the same feeling
for his vocation, that the Wall street gam
bier has for his (And, by the way. the
only difference in the professions that l
can see, is, that one is permitted by law.
the other not.
know of clever thief who from boy
has never been anything else. A clergy
man once asked him, why it was that a
man of his intelligence persisted in a life
that would ultimately ruin him. The young
man replied that it was his profession and
that he ran his chances of loss. the same as
any other business man. and furthermore,
he was just as proud of being good crook
as he (the clergyman was of being a good
preacher. Was this man to be condemned
for his views? |, who know his history,
say no; he was almost raised from the
cradle to croOkedness. What is the chance
of this man becoming remOrSeful? He is a
man of more than ordinary intelligence and
would have become as famous in other vO-
cations as he had become notorious in the
one he is following. Until refOrmers learn
how thieves are made, they will work in
the dark in their attempts to reform them.
RefOrmerS. divide your energies; give one
part to the reformation of criminals if you
will. but nine parts to the suppression of
crime, OF prevention, | should say. But
how 0lr Nrir | nxlf n
reformer. but will tell you that poverty is
the source of crime and if 1 was asked to
bet on the percentage of Chicago or New
York bOOtblacks that will eventually be-
come thieves, would bet on eighty per cent.
becoming thieves and think l had sure
thing to win. You may cite cases like Gar
fields of where men have risen to fame
from poor boys. But they belong to the
twenty per cent. that dc not bet on. They
are the exceptions that prove the rule, or
why do you cite these cases? The very
fact of your bringing them forward as ex-
amples, proves they are exceptional cases.
What ever may have been the cause that
made Garfield president of the United States,
it was not the fact of his having been a
canal boy in early life.
l think l have expressed myself clearly
Oh the starting point whereby to prevent
crime: you will have to find the means your
self, but if you depend OH remorse to help
you in any way--well l will not express my
opinion of how you will succeed. We are
led by custom, and our morals are not what
we make them--many other writer's to the
cOntraIy-but are to a large extent the con-
sequence of cur place of birth and sur
roundings; if l had been born among the
ZuluS, the chances are | would have been
Zulu; if had been born among the boot
blacks the chances are l would have
been bCOtblack, and eventually ''croOk. y
| could have lifted myself from the slough
no doubt, but the chances are l would not
have done so. PHOENIX,
Although its advent is ushered from within the