The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-07-16
SAFE GUARDING
BOYS FROM PRISON
A "Long Termer" Gives Advice Regarding
the Proper Manner to Train the Rising
Generation so as to Insure Character
and Right Living.
SCHOOLS SHOULD AID
By a Prison Graduate

By q Prison Graduate
One dull grey morning during the
closing days of September. 1912, /
sat porting over the records Of the
State Prison at a desk in the
administrative Offices where | was
employed, when the shrill voice of
a woman rang out on the street d.
rectly outside my barred window,
attracting the attention of the prison
clerk, the doorkeeper and myself.
They rushed into the room past me
and raised the sash. And what a
sight met our eyes! There, beneath
the stone ledge. a poor wild-eyed
Slav woman. tying a stout rope
from behind both wrists of her son,
lad CT about twelve years, punctu-
ating each knot with cuffs on his
ears and wild gesticulations and ad-
monitions in her native tongue and
in broken English.
Now you 90 to school, huh?" the
woman cried when she had tied the
last knot behind the lads back. But
the the little fellow seemed as un-
moved and logged as she was ex-
cited and persistent. With another
cuff behind his ear she sent him
sprawling along the sidewalk. But
never a whimper from the lad. The
doorkeeper, accustomed as he is to
the hardest of characters that pass
in and out the grey prison doors, and
to pathetic scenes on visiting days,
melted at the sight.
mot You Business
What are you doing to that
boy?" he shouted at the woman from
the prison window. She turned
quickly, and eyes ablaze, retorted:
Dots not you business!'' and then
gave her attention to the boy, cutting
and pushing him on ahead of her.
You'll get arrested, if you don't
stop treating your boy that way!'
the doorkeeper warned her. But
the woman kept on cutting and push
ing the little fellow while shouting
back over her shoulder as she moved
away: Dots not you businessP'
The doorkeeper and clerk shook
their heads. looked at each other
and left the Office in silence. We
we're stunned by what we had seen,
and marvelled that such a thing
could happen in the capital city of
one of our foremost states in this
civilized century which boasts its
wonderful advancement in every
branch of life.
Is that mother right?'' l asked
myself. Will her boy bend and
become dutiful son and worthy
citizen? Or will he mistake his
mothers good intentions, admins
tered so cruelty. run away from
home and finally land here in pris-
on?''
From whatever side l viewed it,
the situation was pathetic. The
poor mother, no doubt, had hopes
for her boy through giving him an
education which perhaps. she and
her laboring husband were denied.
But what boy, with his misdi-
rected faculties ahunger for adven-
ture and mischief, can see things
with the mature eyes of an ambi-
tious parent? Would that the Slav
woman might have known how much
of the rod in this case the rope) to
administer and how much to spare
in her boys case! But what parent
knows?
The Same Beginning
| kept thinking of that Slav moth
er dragging her child along the
street on the end of rope; thinking
of the stubbornness of a boy, so
tender in years. yet so Indifferent to
such barbarous treatment. thought
also of how much good so self-willed
lad was capable, if properly guided;
how much harm, if nourished by
evil influences. My mind travelled
into the interior of the prison,
whittier so many men and women
have drifted and are still drifting,
from just such start as that truant
boys. Not that their parents had
tried to put their good intentions
into execution 40 barbarously, but
the fatal misunderstanding between
parent and child was there just the
same. have seen men come in,
serve their time, go out and come
back again and again for similar Of
lenses. And yet they were once
good innocent boys, born of good,
industrious and well-meaning pa
rents. who had great hopes for their