Connecticut western news., 1909-12-23
MANY CRIMINALS.
By EDITH V. ROSS.

kindled in the maiden's breast She was thcn only fifteen, but the image l of the young man remained photo graphed indelibly upon her brain.
 The time soon came when she should be married. But. though she was pretty and attractive. no suitor appeared for her hand The truth is that she gave none of the young men any encouragement. One day her fa- i ther. who was a mathematician, so absorbed in his figures that he took little note of anything else, said to | her:
 "Iaharia. how old are youT
 Nineteen
 What. Nineteen and not married. l What does it mean?"
 There are no suitors, said the girl.
 No suitors. Surely you are come ly."
 "I am your daughter, and you see me through fathers eyes"
 "I wonder if that is so. Perhaps it is. At any rate, you must have q hus band. l will attend to the matter to- i morrow
 | W i by attending to the matter" In Siam i every woman who has reached a cer- tain age without securing a husband may. if she choose, be registered as one of the younger daughters of the king. l This places her under the kings pro 1 lection and compels him to find a hus- band for her. These husbands, how | ever. are all lawbreakei'S. They are | not sent to prison or fined or executed, but are condemned to marry one of ! the kings adopted younger daughters. 1 The condemned men are allowed to i make their own selection, but with certain limitations. Those whose of i lenses are light are permitted to ! choose from among he better grade of women, the most attractive in phys ! ical appearance and suitability, while i the grave offenders must marry the ugiest and worst tempered. i So it was that the poor girl cherish i ing in her memory the youth she had seen in the park. with plenty of young fellows anxious to marry her, was to be given to malefactor. It was her I misfortune 10 have father who, if far penetrating in the problem of mathe- matics, on ordinary matters was in ordinately stupid.
 The registry had scarcely been made when young man who had borne an excellent character-a student in the university caught pilfering. Ev- { erybodyN was astonished. He was tried, but the judge, considering that it . frs off fn therly admonition and let him off. To the surprise of every one, two hours after his discharge he was again ar rested for a similar offense. This time the judge condemned him to marry one of the kings daughters.
 l Within few days there was another case of young man of good reputa- {! tion becoming a lawbreaker. This ! case was the more remarkable be- cause he was of noble family. On ac- ! count of his rank he would not have i been prosecuted had he not repeated l his offense a number of times. He, I too, at last was convicted of crime One morning when the judge went to court he saw in the prisoners dock no less than six young men of the best families-some of them noble-who were to be tried for petty offenses. ''There is an epidemic of crime among our youth" said the judge to himself. q must stamp 1t out" Thereupon he convicted every one of the lawbreak CTS of an offense of the highest grade .and sentenced each to marry one of the ugliest and most irascible of the kings daughters.
 Nevertheless the epidemic spread. Young men of every ~"ade were 1 caught openly committing ohenses, i and all were convicted without mercy. Finally one morning when the judge took his seat on the bench he was as tonished to see ill the prisoners dock the son of the prime minister. The 1 young man, whose name was Karkalo, ! pleaded guilty to stealing the purse of the minister of finance.
 The judge, not daring to sentence so high a parsonage. was about to dis charge the young man, but the latter said that he would prefer to suffer as ] lawbreaker and should be obliged if the judge would give him an oppor- tunity to expiate his offense, where upon he was sentenced as one of the | better grade of malefactors.
 On the day when the criminals were brought forth to select their wives ali these better class young men were among the number. Among the wo- men to be chosen was Jaharia. Twelve of the young men of birth were obliged to select wives from among the home ly and vicious. They were all in de- spair. Little Jaharia stood mute. with downcast eyes, equally Respondent. Presently an attendant told her that she hnd been chosen and led her to the man who had chosen her. When she stood face to face with him she looked up.
 It seemed to her that the people. the walls, the furniture, were swimming about her. all tinged with the colors of the rainbow, while an ecstatic hap piness welled up in her heart. She saw the young man she had several years before met in the public garden.