The Delta independent., 1902-05-30
Not a Bad Boy


"Well, there" exclaimed Aunt Kez
zy, that's jest what I've been expect
ing. Nat Jones has finally gone to
jail"
you don't mean it, said her sis
ter, Mrs. Edwards, as she quickly
turned from the window where she sat
mending her boys trousers. What
does the paper say?"
why, here's quite piece about it, -
replied Aunt Kezzy, telling how he
never would mind in school and got to
be truant. and then lazy, and wasn't
willing to work for his living, and
now he's been arrested"
Read it," said Mrs Edwards. THAT
will just about kill his mother and
should think it would. She'll wish
she'd never had any children l guess"
Aunt Kezzy readjusted her specta-
cles, drew her chair little nearer to
the window and read the account.
Nat Jones, from Emmaville, near
Batavia, and three other young fellows
with him, who have been burglariZing
homes in Buffalo and Rochester, were
caught last night in the dining room
of Samuel Rossiter's residence just as
they had gathered together a lot of
solid silver and were about to decamp
with it. The police have been on their
scent for some weeks and succeeded
last night in securing all four. They
are now safely lodged in the Jail at
Auburn and will have abundant time
to mediate on their experiences. Nat
,,;,
good family, but was ungovernable
from boyhood and has been a vagrant
many years. The community will re-
joice that he and his associates have
at last fallen into the clutches of the
law"
ut makes my blood run cold to
think Of it," said Mrs. Edwards. Il
hope l shall die before ever hear any
thing like that about Charley! I'm
terribly sorry for Mats mother l
haven't seen her for twenty-five ye ars.
but she was such pretty young wom-
an then and SO happy in her new home
and with her baby. She'll wish now
that he'd never been born!"
Aunt Kezzy assented to all Mrs. Ed
wards calculations, winding up by
saying, "I'm not sure but we old maids
have the best of it after all. We are
free from good many responsibilities
and disappointments which distress a
good many mothers"
That evening Mr.. Hudson. who was
at the head of great manufacturing
company. drove over from his home
two miles away to talk with Mr.. Ed
wards about buying some OF his fine
oak and maple lumber which he want
ed to purchase.
AS he sat before the open fire chat
ting with the family after his business
lad been transacted, Mr.. Edwards
asked him II he had seen the notice
about the arrest Of Nat Jones, and as
he had not she got the paper and read
1t, remarking. Il suppose he always
was bad boy and this is what every
one expected he would come to-"
Mr.. Hudson quite bristled at this
statement. You're wrong, there" he
said most emphatically. II knew Nat
when he was boy full OF life and
mischief and investigation when he
wanted something to do and could not
find it. II had had my factory then he
might have had work and become a
strong man. He wasn't at all a bad
boy. I tell you, half the men in our
penitentiaries are there because when
they were young no scope was given
to them to air their ideas and their
energies, and SO many of them ran
away from their homes and became
criminals. There's Bob Little, who
was sent up few months ago for
breaking open safe. You remember
him, don't you? They expelled him
from school because he was continual
ly up to all sorts of deviltry. when
really all the boy wanted was work
instead Of books. And he wasn't q
bad boy, not bit of it. But what did
he do when they turned him out of
school? Why of course he wandered
down to the railway station and
lounged about there, talked with the
brakemen and others as they came
and went on the freight trains and
then because his folks found fault with
him and treated him shabbily he went
off one day on freight to the mex,
town. He begged his meals there, took
'hand-me-outs' as the tramps call
them, from some kind farmers wives,
and came back at night and crept into
the house to his room and bed and
was on again the next morning. No
work was offered him, in fact. there
was none in that little village for
him to do. and the fellow was SO
brow-beaten and discouraged he had
no ambition, no energy, and a don't
care spirit possessed him. So he went
on freights to other towns farther
away. and he stayed at some low
tavern or boarding house, heard the
talk of all sorts OF men who claimed
they had had no chances in life and
this world wasn't worth much except
to the rich and the favored few. Some
of them were desperate characters:
some were determined to gamble and
NnlyA ri fv,l~~