The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-11-13

Refs t a nervv kid need stop III IL ne ;
got a hankerin' for the open. w y
they had me in a Ref when l was
twelve wears old. an | didn't stay there
! week. They got me back after a
while. but mooched again. an they re
lookin' for me yet.
well the Judge gave the kid what
| told him to ask for. I'd explained 70
the kid how he wanted to put his plea
when the Judge asked him if lie had
ANYTHING TO say why the court
shouldn't pronounce sentence on nm.
an he got off his song and dance all
RIGHT. can hear the kid now when
he came back to jail. lie came up 10
me- an said. 'Ruderick. if | can beat
that school I'm going home to the
Dov'rnor. You've lone me a good turn.
DO Won know it, Course | iollied him
along a little an told him not to get
TOO Sunday schoOlly all of a sudden
when he got home. an the next day
he sheriff took him away. An Tor
the next three years Huderlck Me
KIowd used to pat himself on the back
ev'ry now an hen when he thought
O. the kid. | pictured him at home,
YOU know. liyin' with his gov rho
coin' to school,. fallin' in love with
nice girls. an gettin to be one o the
towns promisin' young men. | had
to 90 Il Dit i'll iIe pen dDout ClSlitN0h
months after the kid was sent to the
Ref. am whenever I'd get real down
in the mouth like, about the latter
end O. things, an what's what, / used
to say to myself. We'll. Ruderick, you
did that kid q good turn. anyway an
I'd brace up. ! remember once wakin'
M in the middle o the night out of
a dream. I'd been up III heaven, an
Peter he wouldn't let me pass the
gates. You're a. bad lot. Ruderick,'
he says: L couldn't let you pass t you
was me own SON. | remember t l said
to him as we'll as if I'd said the words
out loud. Peter | says. amt you for
gettin' that good mark t | got for
bein' square with that KIDD an then
[ woke up. I'm just tellin' you this.
you know. SOS you can understand
how things was
There was a pause in Ruder1ck s
narrative. and the bolts of the iron
door of a place quite other than heaven
; were shot back to remind US how far
from heaven we We're. Every one
thought that the judge had sent for
the men to be sentenced. but it was q
:. false alarm. The turnkey had a let
! ter to deliver to one of the court pris-
oners. and we separated into groups
again; and Ruderick knitted the
| broken thread Of his "reminiscences.
Are you hstenin'?' he said
: "Sure." | replied. \ man cOoped up
is interested in everything. If he
wasn't he'd 90 off his head"
He continued:
about three wears after meetin' the
kid | got settled in the pen across the
river from this town where we are
now. The same judge had hold o me
: once before. an he was hOrstile. an
nroI-n ,,pn, Il yn DOR o1nCc III a9Inn
/ it,. The place began to- get crowded
! after Id been there about a year, an
: we had to double up; an who do you
i think they gave me for a cell com
9 panion? That kid. There he was
: with his hair cropped an the stripes
:, on i'm: ! knew him the minute they
! showed him into the cell.
Il Kid. | says. this amt reglar
l How'd this happens Did the govrnoI
cut up rough?
$ ".Ruderick.' he says. T never went
back to the gOv'rnOr. | done as You
old me On mooched from the Ref
q mooched the second week. But they
got me again. \ farmer t | went tC
u for breakfast in the mOrnin' after, he
:. sent Tor the Upper at the Ief, an
they tOok me back. The super gave
me a lickin' for fair. an told me I
) [ gave him the slip again he'd stick
| me in the dungeon. Well. | seen kids
: bigger'n me come out o the dungeon
| amt a baby. but | couldn't stand fo1
it. / amt got to lie about it. I stayed
: there a year. an got to be one O tho
{ boss kids O the shop. An YOU know
{ what that means. Ruderick.' he says:
t. the kids that amt bosses look up tt
, You an think you're a dead fly bOke
They keep craclin' you up as a per
: fessional, an after a while YOU begin
I to think yourself that you're hot stuff
That's the way it Wen with me. any
: how. and at the end Of q year | didn'1
{ think any more bout gOin' back to the
{. govrnOr. I'd made up my mind t
! would be hot stuff and a Professional
q an Il night another boss kid IN me
We jumped out one O the windows an
y got away. He knew of a place where
there was simoleons lynn loose. an
e we went up an got 'em, an l beer
, hlttln 1t up that way ever since. He's
d in here, too. We got pinched for goin
on the dip. an the Judge gave us boil
, three years. / thought they'd put u.
together. but they didn't. He's in tn
cigar factory. an I'm over in thu
foundry. Gosh, it's hard work in tha
foundry. Ruderick. The guards 90
1t ut in for me. He does me every tim,
e he gets a chance. I've been in tn,
dungeon twice already
0 well. | don't need to tell you how
g ] felt-that kid t I'd been bankin' on
y ] suppose | ought to "a braced hin
mp again an talked to the wardel
q about him. an got his g%ov'rnor on hi
. track. but a fellow like me amt goot
q for two stabs at reformin', an I don,
Ie just the opposite; a mans skill ache.
a in him till he gifts it out. jus like til,
r right words for a thing. an I trainet
~ HIN, 70 n ,Nnrf,1~.l L IIs
l right away. For near six months
$ kept squeezin' my brains to figure on
what | ought to do. but it's a tempta
U ton to a fellow ike me to have
K chance to make a good thief out Of
y smart Kid. / don,t know if you've eve
1t been in the same fix yourself. but t,
e me sometimes the temptation is grea
'r to hand on what you knows worse
~ whlskey. You see. We always been
{. crook an can't holm tiU1rip, -,