ARTICLE XCV. The Old Man's Tale. BY AMICA. I ALWAYS reverence the hoary head, for it reminds me of the lessons I have gleaned from age; they have been lasting, for they were stamped upon the plastic brain of youth, at that waxen period when an impress is made forever. I was once upon a visit to a friend. It was a cold, December evening and the creaking wheels told of frost and pinching want. The armchair was placed for the aged sire, and a happy group snrrounded the cheerful fireside. "Now, grandfather, if you will tell us a story," said a chubby child, "I will promise to sit as still as a mouse." "And mice, sometimes, dear Betty, are amazing noisy little folks. This very minute I should think a young regiment had turned out to drill. However I know not what you meant; but I am not in a funny mood to-night; I have been dreaming." "Oh! a dream, do tell it," continued the eager petitioner; "do,” said another and another. "Well, well, my dears, sit down, and I will try to rub up my mem ory. "Many years ago, before steamboats were thought of, and a voyage across the Atlantic, was a long journey, I went one day to the wharf to inspect an invoice of goods. There were many passengers and though bumpology was not talked about then, still physiognomy was a study which interested me very much. I watched the heart-greeting of some and the hand-welcome of others, and read carefully the page of life before me. At length there remained but one couple on board. They were Scotch people, and appeared to be entire strangers They were not poor, for independence was written on their faces; they were not rich, for they bore marks of severe struggles. But the very gods would have sworn to their honesty. I speak warmly, children; for if there is that on earth before which my soul bows down, it is an upright man or woman. In such there is no chicanery; no honied, patronizing look; but a straight-forward expression which speaks truth and truth only. They spoke very broken English, and it was with difficulty I could understand them. They had left their native country to seek their fortune where freedom's banner wayed. I was enabled to give them much information, and succeeded in procuring work for the husband, and the wife with woman's tact found employment for herself. They lived on simply but comfortably, and as they needed nothing I seldom saw them. Several years after I wandered into a church and before me sat the very people, with the same 'good look.' The box was handed round and I observed that both put in their mite. Time rolled on, and I was appointed to bear a small sum of money to a family who had never before asked charity. I felt great delicacy 256 The Old Man's Tale. [Feb. in offering it, knowing how generous natures recoil at the first receipt of alms. When I entered what was my astonishment to find my old friends. No blush of hame suffused their cheeks; in a few words they acquainted me with their situation. The husband was out of employ from the suspension of the business in which he had been engaged; the wife could do but little, and necessity had compelled them to ask assistance. Though fortune had turned against them; they were wealthy in trust; they knew that they had labored faithfully and expended wisely, and e'en now blessed the Father for all his mercies. I realized then, as I had never done before, that He who casts his bread upon the waters, shall find it after many days.' I received even more than I gave. Their beautiful simplicity and touching faith could not be bought, but its influence was given. Another period passed and in company with one whose steps are ever directed to the hovels of the poor, I entered a low dwelling, and stretched upon a bed lay the lifeless form of an aged man. I started, for in its peaceful calm I recognized the Scotch stranger. He had just died, and his faithful companion was also stricken with her last illness. No complaint escaped her, but she thanked Almighty Goodness that they had been permitted to journey thus far together, and blessed Him that she was so soon to follow her companion. Most touchingly did she allude to the friend whose hand had so often lent its aid to sustain them, and invoked upon him her last blessing. A sweet smile o'erspread her features; death wrapped his mantle about her, closed her eyes in peace, and sealed her lips forever. I left them in their quiet room and the messenger of mercy remained to perform the last sad offices. Their funeral was respectable, and a last resting place was chosen in Auburn's wild haunt so dear to us all, and particularly to those far removed from country and kindred. Last night I was dozing here, and I seemed transported to Elysian fields. A bower was hung most gracefully with vines and creeping flowers, which perfumed the air with their myriad sweets. Statesmen, warriors, the very top-lord of society, on whose visage was written, 'I wonder who 'tis for,' stepped aside awe-struck. Presently afar off I descried a venerable couple conducted by celestial spirits. As they approached, kings and queens, dukes and emperors saluted them. So bright was the tiara upon their heads that none dared to look at it save with shaded eyes, and on their golden bands were these jewel-words, Honesty, Faithfulness.' No longer was the whisper heard for whom is the banquet-seat prepared. Instinct solved the riddle and straight to the flowery bench the angels led the twain. They raised their eyes, and, lo! before me stood my old Scotch friends. The key-note of heaven was struck, and blessed are the meek' rang through the eternal arches. When I awoke I found myself in your midst as now; but dost wonder, dear Betty that I could not forget that dream? I see by your tearful eyes and breathless silence that it will long abide with each of you. Take it as an old man's legacy, and you shall find in it the true philosopher's stone."" Whoever keeps an open ear ON Thursday, the 7th of December, the new State Reform School at Westboro', Mass., was formally dedicated. About three hundred persons were present, from different parts of the State, by invitation of the Trustees, to take part in the exercises of the day. At about twelve o'clock, this company, consisting of members of the State Government, and the Board of Education, the officers of different charitable institutions; and other gentleman distinguished for their interest in philanthropic movements, was assembled in the large workshop. The boys who had been sent there since the School was opened, numbering about thirty, were present, presenting to the eye of the philanthropic an unusually interesting appearance. They sung the following beautiful hymn, which was written by CHARLES THURBER, of Wor cester: In this delightful, rural home, Where kindness bids the wanderer come, We sing your welcome, friends, to-day, While roving round in idle sport, Through noisy street and crowded court, When wandering from our cheerless shed, ⚫ When driven from home by brutal blows, When poorly clad, and bare our feet, When roving round, oppressed with grief, When want and wo were all we saw, And now, within this fair retreat, N. S. VOL. I. NO. VI. 0. S. VOL. III. NO. XLI. 258 State Reform School. While Wisdom here her aid imparts, And when ye cheerful sit at home, [Feb. After prayer by the venerable Dr. Pierce, of Brooklyn, Hon. Emory Washburn, of Lowell, delivered a dedicatory address to the assembly. The following notice of the address is copied from the Boston Daily Advertiser: He spoke of the institution as one where the State appeared in the duty of a parent. He congratulated them that Massachusetts should have been the first State in this country to enter on this charitable duty. It seemed signally appropriate to the character which the State has gained in beginning different enterprises of char ity and education. And, no less, was it an honor to that secret benefactor, who has assisted in this work, whose left hand does not know what his right hand has done. On him, Judge Washburn passed a high and generous eulogy, He passed on to speak of the remarkable changes constantly introduced into the administration of criminal law. He traced down these changes from the early tortures of the middle ages, through the horrors of the prison system as exposed by Howard, and Mrs. Fry, down to our own day. The arrangements for punishment seem to have kept always behind the spirit of the age This position he illustrated by alluding to the wager of battle, remaining in the English law to the present generation, and to a terrible case in our own history, when at Salem, an old man of eighty, arraigned for witchcraft, who was crushed to death for his silence, by the peine forte et dure. Tracing down the improvement in criminal jurisprudence to the point, where, in prison discipline, the necessity of discriminating between different classes of offenders was observed, first, Mr. Washburn alluded to the necessity, so evident, in discriminating between the ages of offenders. Stating the law in England, this country and the European continent on this point, he congratulated the audience that the necessity of a special discipline for the young was now, at length, perceived through the civilized world. The first establishment specially arrayed for juvenile offenders was made in 1833, and there are now nearly 20 in France, 33 in Wertemberg, 19 in Russia, 3 in Hanover, and 3 in Baden, while a beginning had been made in England. Of these establishments, he could only stop to name that of Hamburg; of Metteraye iu France; and of Parkhurst in the Isle of Wight in England, as the most successful. From this introduction he passed to examine the question of the right of Society to punish. On the one hand it was urged that punishment is meant simply to strike dread into other offenders; and, on the other, that crime is a moral disease, which we have only a right to deal with in attempting to cure it. He considered the truth as lying between these two extremes, and quoted Puffendorf and Beccaria to these points. The origin of crime was not to be sought simply in native moral dispositions-nor in physical conformations-nor in the state of social institutions, but rather in all these causes; and, on all the external causes which act upon crime, Society is bound to act for their removal. Tracing the means for removing these causes, he concluded that the State must have the right to take the place of a parent to those children whose parents could not discharge the trust imposed upon them. Certainly this power would not be questioned in the present case, where none but convicts should be admitted. And yet, no effort would be made, even here, to give the atmosphere or the association of the prison, but the hope of the institution rested on its availing itself of the parental discipline of home and of school. The necessity for such an institution was made evident from statistics, which showed that 300 boys were in the year 1846 sentenced to jails and other places of punishment. In this connection, Judge W. expressed the hope that the result of the school might be such as to justify a release of the boys who should be trained here from the infamy hanging over other discharged convicts on their return to life, and imposed on them under our law. The address closed by eloquently commending the institution to the community, and exhibiting the high hopes to be entertained for its success. At 2 o'clock the company were invited to partake of a collation, which had been provided in one of the halls of the Institution. Hon. George Denny, one of the Trustees, presided over the entertainment, in the course of which, addresses were delivered by Mr. Denny, Governor Briggs, Alderman Rogers, of Boston, Ex-Governor Lincoln and Henry Colman. After partaking of the bountiful collation the company dispersed, and examined the different parts of the building. It is built around a square, being three stories high in front, with wings about twenty-five feet high on the sides, and closing up the square behind. The building is now wholly finished. It contains permanent arrangements for two hundred boys, which can be enlarged, by more temporary arrangements, so as to accommodate three hundred. Around large halls and passages, as high as the wings, are arranged, in three corridors above each other, cells or rooms, about seven feet by five, each containing a bed and the other furniture for one sleeping place, an effort being made to ventilate these sleeping apartments. The chapel, school-rooms, work-rooms, with the kitchen and other offices, are nicely arranged on a large and airy plan. The farin attached to the School contains 200 acres immediately connected with the buildings, and 50 acres of outland. It is beautifully located on the borders of Chauncy Pond, about two miles f.om Westboro' village. The land cost $12,500, and was generously paid for by an unknown individual, who gave to the State for the purposes of the institution, ten thousand dollaas in addition to the cost of the land. This new enterprise is designed to substitute healthful employment, careful instruction, and moral suasion, for the punishments, which have hitherto been inflicted upon juvenile offenders in prisons and houses of correction. It truly promises to be a most benificent institution. I look upon it with the deepest interest. To my mind it is one of the most encouraging signs of the times. My heart leaped for joy when the following lines were sung by the boys: When want and wo were all we saw, Instead then of sending boys to the gloomy prisons and bloody scaffolds as we have heretofore done, we now send them to "this sweet home." God bless Massachusetts for this institution! She will not stop here. Already the Grand Jury of Suffolk County, has reccommended the establishment of a Reform School for girls. It will not pass unheeded. This institution is a Reform School for boys under sixteen. We must have a Reform School also for boys who are over sixteen. We shall in a future age abandon the idea of inflicting evil for evil. We shall learn that the devil has no power to cast out satan-that good, and good alone, can overcome evil. Say no ill of the year till it be past. Search others for their virtues, thyself for their faults. |