St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1891-05-23

Done Tor you to make you be teri" 'sVT ell :"
said the lad, ''the hrst tim =. I was brou rh,
up before the judge he % d, You on gh,
TO 10 ashamed or yourself And tlen
committed crime again, and I was
brought up before the same Judge, a ID b.
said, You rascal! And after while |
comTitt>d some other crime, and wa,
brought before the same judge, and b.
| said, You ought to be hanged" That is
all they had done for him in the way of
reformation and salvation. ooh" YOU
| say, these people are incorrigible' |
suppose there are hundreds of people this
DAY lying in the prison hunks who would
leap up at the prospect of reformation, if
society would only allow them a way into
decency and responsibility. "Oh," you
say. ~ have no patience with these
| rogues."
There is vat underground New York
and BROOKLYN life that is appalling and
shameful. 1t wallows and steams with
putrefs ction. You 90 down the stairs,
which are wet and decsyed with filth, and
at the bottom you find the poor victims on
the floor. cold sick, three. fo1 rths dead,
| Sinking into a still darker corner under
the CLEAN OF the lantern of the police
| There has not been breath of fresh all
in that room for tive years, literally. TIL.
broken sewer empties its contents upol
them, and they lie at ght in the SWIM
ming filth. There they are. men, women
children; blacks, whites; Mary Msgdalel
| without her enhance, and Lazarus with
out his God These are the dives" into
which the pick pockets and the thieves
60. as we'll as great many who woulC
like different life but cannot get it
These places are the sores of the city
which bleed perpetual corruption. They
are the underlying volcano that threaten
US with u Caracas earthquake. 1t roll
and toars and surges and heaves and rock,
and blasphemes and dies And there ar.
only two outlets fer it: the police cour
and the Potto1's Field. In other words
they must either 60 to prison or to hel
Oh, you never saw it. you say. Yol
never will See it until on the day whel
these staggering wretches shall c,me
up in the light of the iucgmen
throne. and while all hearts arr beint
revealed. God will ask you what you dc
to help them. They will not work Time
and again, in the country districts, the,
have wanted hundreds of laborers. These
men will not 60 They do not want |,
work. have tried them. l have Sc
them to saving wood in my cellar to Sc.
whether they wanted to work | Offered
TO pay them well for it. | have hesri til,
saw going for about three minutes. ant
then l went down, and 10, the w cd bu
no sawl They are the pest of society
and they stand In the way of the Lord
poor who ought TO be helped, and mus
be helped, and will be helped. Will,
there are Thousands of industrious mel
who cannot get any work, these men wht
do not want any work come in and make
that plea. am in favor of the restora.
ton of the old fashioned whipping pos
for lust this one class of men who will
not cork; sleeping at night al public ex
pense i'll the station house; during tn
day, getting their food at your doorstep
Imprisonment does not scare them. The.
would like it. Black~ells Island o
for them. They would have no objection
If they cannot get mock turtle. propoe
this for them: on one side of them pu
some healthy work; on the o'her side pu
a raw. hide, and let them take their ch'lc
like for that class of people :h- scant I'll
of fare that Paul wrote out for the Thes
sa,onian loafefs: If any work not, Meth
should he eat" By what law of God o
man is it rig bit that you and should tot
day in and day out, until our hands ar
bli.tered and our arms ache and our brai
gets numb, and then be called upon to sup
sport what in the United Stats are abou
two million loatars! They are very dar
gerous class Let the public authorize
keep their eyes on them.