The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-06-26
"A QUEER PATRON.
lBelgravia-1

NOiAu OulcluC Was saying oDOuO hAA' AAAI
fingers were busy with the piece of old
rope he was making into oakum, but his
mind was full of an imaginary report oil
! his own case at the police court. He even
hoped some of the papers might have de-
voted short leader to him, for his ofense
was strange one.
Arrayed in a tattered gown of the cut
/ peculiar to Camford bachelors of arts,
with battered cap upon his head, he had
in broad daylight walked down Regent-st.
| breaking the lamps with long stick. Pro-
ceeding calmly and without hurry, and
| followed by rapidly increasing crowd, he
! had smashed some half-dozen before po-
liceman appeared and took him into GUS
tody. At the police court he told the
magistrate that he had once been an as
| sistant-master in a school, but had lately
cot his living on the turf, on tramp, and
| in other more or less disreputable ways.
| He was willing enough to work, but could
not get employment, so had broken the
| lamps by way of advertisement. He had
one little complaint to make against the
| police. He gave his name-Charles Mick
| lereed-to the inspector, and that officer
| refused to further embellish the charge
| sheet with his proper ption-Bach-
/ elor of Arts, st. Boniface college, Cam
| ford. Sentence, twenty-one days i'm
| prisonment with hard labor.
No. ll9 was quite right in his surmises.
! His case was making a good deal of sensa-
| ton outside the prison walls. 1t was a
slack time, and editors were rather short
3 IL
| lereed's exploit a good source OF cheap
| copy, and they were not wrong, for letters
about it poured in freely. Some of his
old college friends even proposed to do
something for him when he came out, and,
as three weeks is not long, there was just
a chance they might not have forgotten
him by the time he was released.
As the prisoner was musing, his cell-door
was thrown open, and Warden Smith, IN
official tones, announced:
mo. l19, the chaplain to see you
The warder was not, however, quite ac-
curate in his assertion, for the clergyman
who entered the cell was not the regular
chaplain of the Jail, but the curate of a
neighboriug church, who was visiting the
prisoners while their usual pastor re-
cruited himself at the seaside.
The prisoner stood up and faced his Wis
itor. who shut the cell-door behind him.
As soon as the sheep got fair look at the
shepherd he exclaimed
"Why, Josh, old fellow, how are you ?'
at the same time holding out his hand, in
evident expectation OF friendly grasp.
The Rev. Joshua Bamlett recoiled a little.
81 don't know, prisoner" began he,
"whether you mean this as a joke. Let me
tell you it is hardly the way to"
"Ohl stow it, Josh" interrupted the
,unabashed reprobate. "Do you mean to
say you don't know me. It's my beard,
suppose. Pity didn't get spell long
enough to have it shaved off, I'm Char
ley Micklereed."
''What! Micklereed, my old Camford
friend? Yes, now | see it is But, oh,
Charley, Charley, what has brought you
to this? %
"Proximately the government omnibus
known as Black Maria ultimately that
common complaint-want Unemployment.
Don't you know why was sent up? You
don't mean to say it isn't in the papers"
said Mr.. Micklereed, seriously alarmed for
the success of his scheme
al have been too busy to look at paper
these three days." replied the clergyman.
''They ought TO tell me what each prisoner
has done and the length of his sentence,
sometimes"
"Ah! that accounts for it," said the
prisoner, apparently immensely relieved.
"Well, took leaf from the Irishman's
book and committed an outrage to call at
tention to my distress. Smashed some
lamps in Regent-st. Shouldn't wonder ii
they made a music-hall song out of it.
Charley Micklereed smashed the lamps to
find himself provender,' with an accent
on the EN- has as good lit about it as
that thing on the other Charley and the
milk at Chelsea, anyhow. Just look in
the papers when YOU 60 home and tell me
what they say when you call again"
"My dear Micklereed, it's against all
rules TO tell prisoner what is in the pa
pers. But don't, pray don't, look at this
serious thing in that light way. You
shock me terribly. You seem as hard
AS"
IAN old horseshoe NAIL" interrupted
the prisoner; "and let me tell you, it's a
good nail that gets harder by much lem
mering Only the bad ones break"
Il can stay no longer now" said the
clergyman, as the warder WIS heard COM
ing along the corridor; 81 will come again
tomorrow. But do try, my old friend, to
look at this matter in its true light"
"Well, don't you forget about the pa
pers, them, was the prisoners parting
shot.
The Rev. Joshua Bamlett went straight
to his lodgings and tried to compose his
mind. He sat down in his easy chair, lit
a pipe, and fell into reverie. How we'll
he remembered the old Camford DAYS
when he and Charley Micklereed had
lodged in the same house and belonged to
the same set. 1t was not in any way
distinguished set, and Micklereed had
been kind OF honorary member of it.
That eccentric young man always seemed
to regard the university as monk did the
world-he was in it, but not of it. He
was an orphan and had gone 10 Camford
against his own will, but in accordance
with that of his father. His father had
had a belief-founded, it is needless to
say, on ignOrance-in the value of Cam
ford degree, which had induced him to
make his sons inheritance of his little
property depend upon the attainment of
that academical distinction. Charley full
filled this condition as easily as he could,
and spent the money as quickly as posi-
bic. Then he took a situation, but, as he
could not bring himself to look upon the
unwillingness of John Bull, IT,, to ac-
quire useless knowledge as a serious
crime, he soon lost it. From that time
Mr.. Bamlett had lost sight of his friend,
though he had often wondered what had
become of him.
II happened that the wife and family of
Warder Smith were members of Mr.. Bam-
let's congregation. The warder himself