The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-11-13
A SENTENCE DAY.
nv JOSIAH FLYNr AND FRANCIS WALTON.


co., h~unrIip- an that's what 1t ud be
r. cave YOU what de law says. I'm
roin' to be square with YOU; m
goin' TO give ven q chance TO die out
side. Nou'se good for about two years
vet E YOU take care o YOURSELF: so |
sentence YOU. Hungry. TO eighteen
months to de p~enitcntlary.
""Thank ", yer honor, said hungry,
3owing aWkWardly.
\ faint murmur of approval and ap-
plause arose III the audience.
.'Silence in de court cried lihada-
nanthus. with truculent majesty.
Bring up the next prisoner
He was a bov of eighteen. called
Eddie, who had been convicted, in
of an older companion. OF
burglary.
Kid" the mock judge went on,
"vou'se started out too fast. o Sc
TOO Young to do climbin. Ii | sent
YOU to de p~enitentiary you'd learn a
rood deal. but you'd get your head
turned talkin' with de men. an you'd
tackle too big jobs for your years an
experience when YOU got OUTSIDE
again. If you'se goin' to be an \ NO. |
Gun. Kid. YOU want TO 90 tru your APP
premiership: YOU want to begin at
5hc b~coinnin'. an a good place TO 90
that is in the Retail fly crooks has
been trained in de Ref-so | sentence
YOU TO de Ref till you're t~wenty-one.
But I'll be square With you, too.
| won't consider it any r~efieckshun on
my connection with de case as de
old man nd say, if you run away
fore YOUR times up.
Don't send me to the Ref. Yer
honor: I bin to the Ref. an it's nothin
but a kids joint; ! can't learn nothln
there.
He went through the lines of men
and boys. sometimes the scene being
comical. and sometimes pathetic. The
rehearsal finished, the crowd broke mp
into little groups. Some of them gath
cred around the table. others took
their stand near the iron door. inn
! patient for the sheriff to call them.
Ruderick and | took seats on g bench
in one of the orners and the boy
Eddie" and his pal strolled up and
down the corridor. His pal urged him
TO take advantage of his boyish APP
D~earance and try to get a reform
school sentence. You may run away
either after you'S been tAere a while,
the man said. an then you'se free
seq"
Damn the Ref" The lad replied
I'm ooir' to the pen
know that hind of KIDD" RudericE
asked. nodding in the direction Of the
two. when they had passed out O
earshot. Il al read lis future fol
YOU. Did | ever teil y+u bout the
Michigan Kid? II began way back il
II. when | was t0ir' a bit for the
State. havin' don an, bungled a bi'
'or myself. The jail was over il Penn
~svlvania, an one day the sheriff
brought in a young fellow WHO'D beer
bound over for bitin' off more than
he could chew. which is grand larceny
They caught him red-handed. He wa:
I nice. plucky-lookin' little chap, an
I saw right away t he was new TO thu
business. He didn't have much OF +;
story TO tell at the time; p'raps tina.
was why he wouldn't tell it. | fount
out later. however. that his father wa:
Il swell lawyer over in Michigan. an
his people had sent him to a boardin
school. an he'd mooched. His none,
gave out. an he done the touch. o
tried to do it, to get some dough. HI
was not quite seventeen then-a ten
derfOot as far as YOU could see him
He'd been with the hOboeS a littl,
before he got pinched. an knew som
of their lingo, but JUS the way h
shaped up an asked us all when h
first come in what we was shut up
for. Was enough to put US next.
well. ] liked him Just cause he wa
Il tenderfoOt. Wise kids is interestin
an all that, but You don't always Xix,
EN-, Just as YOU don't always like wis
blokcs. II takes all kinds o peopl'
to make the rocks world, same as t,
make the good peoples world. an
there's been tcnderfeet t I've like
| better'n anybody else. I forget VIVA
the kid told me his name was-prOb1,
didn't remember to give me the RICH
one anyhoW-but [ JUS called i'm tn
kid. [ call him that still. but / CUES
I'm the only n that does it. He's
pretty big stiff today. an everybod,
can't slap i'm ON the back. I sort G
brought i'm up. YOU know. an he ain
one o them that forgets tllings-eN
ceDt his name.
Course I'm proud I he's turned on
Il fly bloke. but things was differen
when | first got TO chewin' tn ia!
with him in that jail. ! tried to per
Suade him to go home. | told him t,
write his gov rnOr IN get the thin!
fixed up. ! can't tell YOU exactly VIII
| done it, but it's Gods truth tina
even now amt no chicken-paSse,
my fortN-eighth birthday last month
YES, sir. even now | hate to see a. Iii
who's been brought up decent hit tn
road. With me t was different. Bot
my old folks was crooks. an I neve
had 4 home, anyhow. Stealin' cam
natural to me. an Chicago. where
was born, made me wise. If a man
rot a bent for sWipin'. Chicagoll te1
him how to get his graft in. Yo
know that as we'll as | do. New 1or
amt no saint. neither-sOme might
good thieves have come from tina
toWn-but if Il kid is lookin' for a plac
to get dead wise. let him railroad fo
dear old Chi. | like the place, Go
knows, but it's crooked-crooked as
fish hook.
well, this Kid t I'm tellin' yo
about, he listened to me all right. bu
ne wouldn't write to his o%ov'rnor. IT
was stuck on himself-secn-an' RICH
too. / wouldn't have the gOv'rno
find me here he says. If 7 had to tax
ten years in the pen Well, | didn'
know anything better'n to tell him t
ask the judge to send him to the Re