The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-06-16
SARGE PLUNKETT.
A Word to the People That Pose as
Performers"
atlanta Consultation.

At(uNlu CONSTITUTION.
The world is full Of Performers"
but when we look around US and see
the inconsistency Of their work VIC are
constrained to conclude that there is
more of hypocrisy than of the desire
to do good.
/ started out last week, myself, to
try and reform a man that l think a
great deal of from drinking. I ap-
preached &c poor fellow on the corner,
for he is out Of work and loafng, and
at once began my lecture on the folly
of drink. Myfricnd listened patiently
and agreed to everything "but,"
said he, eff / were to start right now
and never touch another drop Of whis-
Ky, it would be ten years before any
one would believe me-"
l knew this to be so true that it
silenccd me. There arc thousands Of
"%reformers'' who seem to take a delight
in forcverrcminding that "he drinks"
and the poor victim, nine times out Of
ten, knows that these same Performers"
are forever watching to clinch this
stigma upon him. Ibelieve that many
a man has quit drinking in good faith
and then fell from the good resolution
because he was not believed or because
of the distressing delay in those who
should find it out and believe it at
once.
But it il upon another line than
"drinking' hat I propose to show
the inconsistency of ''reformers," not
to be captious nor to abuse, but in the
hope that I may do good and check
the speed that we are travelling down
ward to everlasting ruin.
A deep impression vas made upon
my mind by watching a pooro old mother
that passed every day for weeks to
spend her time in the neighborhood Of
where the county changing was at
work. A very feeble little son of this
old mother had been convicted of some
petty theft and was serving a term on
the changing. So it was, every
morning before the sun had risen this
old woman was on her way to the
works. She stuck to her task so per-
sistently that I became curious to
know how she spent her time through
all these days and I took it upon my
self to watch and find out.
The boy was not strong enough to
do more than carry water for the rest
of the criminals, and to this work
they had put him. The old mother
would repair there every day-and take
her seat at the root Of a tree near the
spring. Here the little son would
come with his bucket, a heavy chain
rafting upon one of his legs. He had
no sooner arrived at the spring than
the old mother would drop her knit
ting, bid the boy sit down, and she
herself would dip the water. When
the bucket wa full she gathered it
and carried it away up the hill and to
nearly in sight of the "bosses.' Day
after day, while this boy served his
term, this old woman performed this
labor of love, and in all that time the
only consolation that she received was
that her boy should not have been a
thief, and since then, even to-day,
people tell her that her boy is a thief
and they cannot trust him. Poor boy,
and poor mother; they will both die
before they have outlived the odium
Of this petty larceny, and yet there
are worse criminals than he was ever
competent to be who have escaped the
penalty of the courts and went free
through the schemes of a shrewd law
yer's work. The "reformers' will
take time to watch this boy-time,
more time-while they will meet the
other with a warm shake of the hand
and a hearty congratulation upon his
"vindication." Then the angels weep.
There has been a man in u county
jail for some seven months. He has
recently been convicted of stealing a
bale of cotton and has now gone to
the coal mines to serve a sentence.
There is no defense for this man, but
through all the time that he has been
in Jail there has come a woman two
and three times a week from the
country to see him. She was his
wife.
This was a good OPP ortunity for the
"reformers'' to gush a little, for sure
ly there was never a more pitable
object looked upon than this Borrowing
woman, but they failed to gush, and
the man went on to the %penitentiary,
while the woman returned to the home
Of her father, broken down in health,
branded in character and with a three
months-old baby to raise and care for.
This wife did all she knew how, but
she didn't know much. She is litter
ate and poor, and all the consolation
that she has received was the reminder
that her husband ought not to have
stolen cotton. And yet, there are
ten-thousand-dollar thieves all over
the land who pass in the chest soci.
ETY." and even pose as "reformers"'
themselves. God save the mark.
l have watched the return Of several
poor men from the prison pens Of the
Georgia p~enitentiary. A short time
ago I witnessed the return OF a man
who had been shut up there for fifteen
wears. It was pathetic. When he