The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-06-06
THE BETTER SIDE OF LIFE
SCENES IN GOTHAM POLICE COURTS.
Talmagc, Julian Hawthorne and Father
Ducey Essay the Role of Police Report
ers-What They saw and Heard Mt
the Tombs and jefferson Market.

cesslOn, the police courts IN lldt
city. Dewitt Talmage. Julian Hawthorne,
Father Ducey, a prominent catholic priest,
are among those who have essayed the
role of police reporter for the World, and
their work is striking and interesting.
DR.. Talmage makes lively sketch, and
philosophers very wisely upon what lac
saw and heard at the Tombs. lie con-
cludes his report" thus: / came away
from the police court thinking, as | still
think, of the mighty contrasts in city life.
Oh men and women OF yirtuous aud COM
Portable homes, considerl AS they passed
along thought Of their miserable HON es
or the fact that they had no homes at oil,
and all this within short walk OF home
steads filed with luxury and peace.
Scene the First-Mother putting the lit
tle children to bed, trying to hush the
risky and giggling group for the evening
prayer. Their forcheads against the coun-
tcrpane, they are trying to say ther even
ing prayer. Their tongues are so crooked
that none but God and the mother can
understand them. Then the children are
lifted into bed and they are covered up to
the chin. Then the mother gives them a
goodnight kiss and leaves them Co the
guardian angels, who spread their wings
as q canopy over the trundle-bed.
Scene the Sccond.-A boy kcnncllcd
for the night underneath the stairway in q
hall through which the wind sweeps, or
lying on the cold ground. He had no
parents He was pitched In the world by
u merciless incognito. lie does not 60 to
bed; he has no bed. His cold fingers
thrust through his matted hair his only
pillow, He did not sup last night lac Will
not breakfast tomorrow. An outcast;
ragamuiiin lie did not say his prayers
when he retired; he knows no PRAYER; he
never heard the Word OF God except as
something TO swear 10y. The wings over
him are not the wings OF angels, but the
dark, bat-like wings OF pcnury and want
Scene First-Family gathered around
tho argand burner Father, feet ON otto
man; mother sewing picturesque pattern.
Two children pretending TO study, but
chiefly watching other children who are
in unrcstrained r0mp. So many balls OF
fun and frolic in full bounce from room 10
room. Background OF pictures and up
holstery and musical instrument, from
which jeweled fingers sweep Home,
Sweet Home"
Scene Second-A groupintoxicated and
wrangling, cprsing God, cursing each
other The past all shame, the future all
suffering. Children fleeing from the
missile flung by fathers hand. Frag-
ments of a chair propped against the wall
Fragments OF pitcher standing on the
mantel. 4 pile of refuse food brought in
from the Kitchen, torn by the human
swine plunging into the trough.
Scene First--A Christian daughter has
just died. Carriages rolling up TO the
door in sympathy. Flowers in crowns
and anchors and harps covering the beau
tiful caslet. The silver plate marked
Aged lS' Funeral services intoned amid
the richly-shawled and gold-braceleted.
Long professions going out this way TO
unparalleled Greenwood in the beautiful
family plot where the sculptor will raise
the monument of FURNISHED Aberdeen
with the inscription, she Is not dead, but
sleepeth. Oh! blessed is that home
which has a consecrated Christian
daughter, whether on earth or in heaven.
Scene Second-A poor waif on the
street has just expired. Did she have
doctor? No. Did she have any medi-
cine? No. Did she have any friends to
close her eyes and fold her hands in
death? No. Are there any garments in
the house fit to wrap her in for the tomb?
None. Those worn-out shoes will not do
for these feet in their last journey. Where
are all the good Christians2 Oh! some of
them are rocking-chaired in tears over
Bulwer Lytton's account of "Ihe Last
DAYS of Pompeii." They are so sorry for
the girl who was petrifled.
Come, call in the coroner call in the
charity commissioner. The carpenter un-
rolls the measuring-tape, and decides she
will need box five ieet, and half long;
two men lift her into tho box, lift the box
into the wagon, and it starts for POtter's
field. The excavation is not large enough
Tor the box, and the men are in hurry,
and one OF them gets on the lid and forces
it down to its place In the ground. Stop!
Wait for the city missionary until he can
come and read chapter, or say "Ashes to
ashes. dust TO dust" "No," say the men
of the spade. Eve have three or four more
cases Just like this to bury before night"
"Well, | say, chow, them is the grave
to be filled up?" Christ suggests a way.
Perhaps it had better be filled up with
stones. LET those who are without sin
come and cast q stone at her" until the
excavation is filled. Then the wagon
rolls off and | see form coming slowly
across potters field. He walks very slow
lv and his feet hurt He comes to that
grave and he stands all day and all
night and j come out and l accost him
and j say, "WhO art thou?" and he says
81 am the Christ of Mary Magdalenl" And
then thought that perhaps there might
have been dying prayer and there might
have been penitential tears, and around
that miserable spot at the last there may
be more resurrection pomp than when
Queen Elizabeth gets out of her mausol-
cum at Westminster Abbey.
Julian Hawthorne was impressed by
many things at Jefferson market, and par
ticularly by the impotency of the present
methods OF justice for the reformation of
cOnvicts. He writes: ''As soon as l begin
to contemplate reform (either with or
without a capital letter., l find myself
going back to the origin OF civilization.
Nothing OF large importance in contem-
porary procedure can be changed without
beginning the change at the tap-root
saw this morning. for example, great
variety of sinners come To judgment, each
particular one of whom-had abstract
Justice been done-would have been melted
out special penalty precisely
adapted, neither more nor less, to his or
her particular case. AS matter of fact
nothing OF the sort was done. There were
cases OF DRINKS, simple and complex, and
for all these there was printed form, de-
signed TO cover the average of such Of
lenses But the average is not the reality
The culprit is fined 50 or $40, or is sent up
for one month in default OF bail to main