It Is Never Too Late to Mend

st. Mr. Meadows expected this contingency, and therefore lent his money. He threatened to foreclose and sell the house under the hammer; to avoid this Mr. Hall said, "Pay yourself the inter

ave my money as soon as you can-" (asi

inclosed within high walls. At the end of the garden was a door which anyb

ere to nowhere. Meadows received by this entrance one or two persons whom he never allowed to desecrate his knocker. At the head of these furtive visitors was Peter Crawl

ramah key int

and looked up at the window in a certain passage. This passage was not ac

, Mr. Mea

down, Mr.

, Mr. Meadows i

Then Meadows would go to his book-shelves, which lined one side of the room, and pressing a hidden spring open a door that nobody ever suspected, for the books came along with it. To provide for every contingency, th

ld be opened from the outside. His visitors or servants must rap with an iron knocker; and while

adjoining county. Pigeon-holes abounded, too, and there was a desk six feet long, chock full of li

nd calculations as a land surveyor, especially those that happened to be at present in operation or under consi

ceptance falls due

, what sh

e is not ready

sir; wh

im with

preciously

t won't trouble him for a month, if it is inconvenie

old to ask what is the gam

w the game-to get

he only one that is in your power in these parts-he! he!" And Crawley chuckled w

s that

oner the better. I have a

on it. I don't employ you to

e so ungrateful as to spoil your admirable pla

d be so silly. For if y

ion such an

een drinkin

, sir, this

. I won't have it. Do you hear what I say? I won't have

They called me into the public-h

elf, Peter Crawley, that is not a public-house to you-it is a hospital, a workhouse, for

orbid, Mr

s basinful

k you, sir. It

head cl

a be

d don't do an atom more or

irm as the rock. You never drink, nor anything else, that I can find. A man out of a thousand! No l

led Meadows roughly,

opening the back door about ten inches, he wriggled

am thanked Crawley for not pressing him, and so compelling him to force a sale of all his hogs, fat or lean. Crawley receiv

m a pocketbook-"put it in this, and keep

ome into use before t

ope

falling deeper and deeper in love, but keeping it more jealously secret than ever; on his guard against Isaac, on his guard against William, on his guard against John Meadows; hoping everything from time and accidents, from the distance between the lovers, from George's incapacity, of which he had a great opinion-"He will never make a thousand pence"-but not trustin

ronicle by the writer. Moreover, the same monotony did not hang over every part of our story. These very four months were eventful enough to one of our characters; and through him, by subtle and positive links, to every man and every woman who fills any considerable position in this matter-of-fact romance. Therefore

dous thick dwarf now no more. There is one dimple to all this gloomy grandeur-a rich little flower-garden, whose frame of emerald turf goes smiling up to the very ankle of the frowning fortress, as some few happy lakes in the world wash the very foot of the mountains that hem them. From this green s

nd-headed nails. A man with keys at his girdle like the ancient housewives opens the huge door to you with slight effort, so well oiled is it. You slip under a porch into an

so narrow that two people cannot pass, and so light and open that it merely ornaments, not obstructs, the view of the aisle. These staircases make two springs; the first takes them to the level of two corridors on the first floo

which is a cap of coarse materials, with a vizor to it, which conceals the features all but the

in the busy world with such uniform urbanity as in this and similar retreats. It arises from two causes. One is that here strangers are welcome from their rarity; anoth

e staples, and so he lies across his abode. A deal table the size of a pocket-handkerchief; also a deal tripod. A waterspout so ingeniously contrived that, turned to the right it sends a small stream into a copper basin, and to the left into a bottomless close stool at some distance. A small gas-pipe tipped with polished brass. In one angle of the wall a sort of commode, or open cupboard; on whose shelves a bright pewter plate, a knife and fork and a wooden spoon. In a drawer of this commode yellow soap and a comb and brush. A grating down low for hot air to come in, if it

d an acquaintance of ours, Tom Robinson. A brief r

ended himself with so much ingenuity and sleight of intellect that the jury could not doubt his sleight of hand and morals, too. He was found guilty, identified as a notorious thie

st visit great changes had begun to take place in the internal econo

ld system prevailed in full force. The two systems vary in their aims. Under the old, the jail was a finishing schoo

wisely allows a discretionary power to the magistrates of the county where the jail is; a

separate and silent system; in others, a mixture of these, i. e., the hardened offenders kept separate, the improving ones allo

r own body, who are called "the visiting justices;" and these visiting justices can

ment, which are supposed to have done their share in opening the nation's eyes to the necessity of regenerating its prisons. But after a while the visiting justices of this particular county became dissatisfied with him; he did not go far enough nor fast

but he had a deputy governor who did. System, when it takes a hold of the mind, takes a strong hol

became at last useless as well as uncomfortable; for these gentlemen were determined to carry out their system, and had a willing agent in the prison. O'Connor was little more than a drag on the wheel he could not hinder from gliding down the hill. At last, it happened that he had over

put Hawes into his place. There was something melancholy in such a close to O'Connor's public career. Fortune used him hardly. He had been one of the first to improve prisons, yet he was dismissed on this or that pretense, but really because he could not k

tice done him-that an important experiment w

separate and silent syst

e mind. They had been working together about

sed the reports, examined, as in duty bound, the surgeon, the officers an

the reports they had to make to the Home Office from time to time. In the

iendly pressure of seven or eight felonious hands, he was ushered into a cell white as driven snow, and his housewifely duties explained to him, under a heavy penalty if a speck of dirt should ever be discovered on his little wall, his little floor,

under-turnkey, "how long am I to

ed out of hours,"

ns, looked at him with a doubtful air, as much as

ving the door open; but the next moment he returned and p

don't see what I shall gain by that." And Mr. Robinson seated himself, and turni

e black hole for refractory conduct, No.

vishly; it shut with a spring, and no mortal pow

mes are so hard. Box at the opera costs no end. What have we got here? A Bible! my eye! invisible print! Oh! I see; '

AFTER

auce-you may leave the water-gruel till I ring for it. If I am to say grace let me feel it

ered the following in an imperious key, all in one note and without any rests: "Prisoner to open and shake bedding, wash face, hands and nec

ck in the center of his door, but outside; the effect of this was to open a small trap in the door, through this aperture a turnkey shoved in the man's breakfast without a word, "like one flinging guts to a bear" (Scott); and on the sociable Tom attempting to say a civil word to him, drew the

that he admired the Liturgy, but he said to himself,

e other male prisoners were mustered in the corridor, he found them all like himself, vizor down, eyes glittering like basilisks' or

n pageant

game so far? Well, I must wait till we are in chapel and pick

there only from the prisoner's third button upward. Warders stood on raised platforms and pointed out his sentry-box to each prisoner with very long slender wands; the prisoner went into it and pulled the door (it shut

ere behind a thick vei

of which had determined the governor in working his wheel), drew the peak of his cap over his face, and went out and waited in the lobby. When all the sentry-boxes were thus emptied, dead march of the whole

as a number of passages radiating from a common center; the sides of passage were thick walls; entrance to passage an iron gate locked be

ll out of doors,"

swiftly withdrew it. Three more monotonous hours, and then supper-one pint of gruel, and eight ounces of bread. He ate it as slowly as he could to eke out a few minutes in the heavy day. Quarter before eight a bell to go to bed. At eight the warders came round and saw that all the prisoners were in bed. The next day the same thing, and the next ditto, with this exception, that one of the warders came into his cell and minutely examined it in dead

Robinson several questions, which he answered with great affability; th

r, if yo

my man," said the g

ted to ask you when my hard labor is to begin,

you than the judge

I am not natura

work would amus

t would; I am very much

orse before yo

on't give me something to do I s

romise you, but not when it suits you. We'll choose the time."

e leaden waves, seemed to rise and rise, and roll over his head and

vice he scratched the door of his sentry-box, and whispered, "Mate, whisper me a word, for pity's sake." He received no answer; but even to have spoken himself rel

to attract in chapel had told to curry fav

in which the outlines of objects are more or less visible; it was the frightful darkness

angerous and distressing to those who have imagination and excitability. Now Robinson was a man of this class, a man of rare capacity, full of ta

ntly all over, and in this state at the word of command he crept back all the way to his cell, his hand to his eyes, that were daz

the rails as Robinson passed him. He said to him, with a victor

f, in a low, gentle

the surgeon came his rounds. He found him in a co

went up to him and shook him rather roughly. Robin

nspected that organ fully. He then felt his pulse; this done, he went out wi

9 is s

ng to a warder), "what

bor since he came. Blackhole yeste

he matter

ays he is

l do you mean

, with a sort of dry deference,

ere, Fry, take No. 19 out into the garden, and set h

e let talk

ph!

d within walls of great height, and to us would have seemed a cheerless place for horticulture, but to Robinson

t let me s

friendly tone, "and if you have time cut the edges of this grass path square." The words were scarcely out of his mouth bef

him pull down his vizor, for there was o

nt work with an intelligent eye, and soon discovered traces of a white line on one side of the path, that served as a guide to the knippers. "Oh! I must draw a straight line," said Robinson out loud, indulging himself with the sound of a human voice. "But how? can you tell me that," he inquired of a gooseberry bush that grew near. The words were hardly out of his mouth before, peering about in every direction, he discovered an iron spike with some cord wrapped round it and, not far off, a piece of chalk. He pounced on them, and fastening the spike at the edge of the path attempted to draw a line with the chalk, using the string as a ruler. Not succeeding, he reflected a little, and the result was that he chalked several

if I was to come every day for a week, I think I could master it. I did not know there was a garde

the sound of your own voic

den to speak to th

proper

ll-door 19, and

e door Robinson said, "G

lenly, as one shamed again

the next morning rather feverish and stiff, b

ivation of all employment. That little bit of labor and wholesome thought, whose paltry and childish details I half blush to have given you, were

gain, and the next the trades'-master was sent into his cell to teach him how to make scrubbing-

, and watch me try to do

art," said the

nt out he said to one of the turnkeys, "There is a chap in th

pulled his eye open again, felt his pulse, and wrote something down in his memorandum-book. He le

hes, and every day put some of them to the t

rd a single voice shouting: that did not last long; then a dead silence; then several voices, among which his quick ear recognized Fry's and the governor's. He could see nothing; the sounds came from one of the hard-labor

d in an exulting chuckle of several persons, among whom he caught the tones of a turnkey called Hodges and of the governor himself. Robinson puzzled and puzzled himself, but could not understand these curious sounds, and he could see nothing except a quantity of water running out of one of the labor cells, and coursing

two such cheerful events as water splashing and creatures laughing h

whom he treated with unusual and marked respect. This gentleman was the chairman of the quart

received for answer that most of them were well, but that there were some exceptions; this appeared to satisfy him. He went into the labor-yard, loo

r four cells, and asked the prisone

ous answer

overnor-and drove home to

brother magistrate, "I inspected

to Robinson's cell with a more cheerful c

on the cran

! a

hard labor, wasn't it? I don't know wh

f this sort-there springs out of a vertical post an iron handle, which the workman, taking it by both hands, works round and round, as in some country places you may have seen the villagers draw a bucket up from a well. The iron

-lb. crank. 10

aid Mr. Fry, in his voice of routine, and

no taskmaster, as in Egypt, nor whipper-up of declining sable energy, as in Old Kentucky. So that if I am so fortunate as to have a reader aged ten, he is wondering why the fool did not confine his exertions to saying he had made the turns. My dear, it would not do. Though no mortal oversaw the thief at his task, the eye of science was in that cell and watched

exhausted. He leaned upon the iron handle and sadly regretted his garden and his brushes; but fear and dire necessity were upon him; he set to his task and to wor

ly to his idle toil again. He was now so fatigued that his head seemed to have come loose, he could not hold it up, and it went ro

specting him with a discontented air. "I'm done," thought Robinson

the said Fry looked not only ill-used but a little unhapp

erienced a feeble complacency when

mmediately. Four ounces of meat instead of three; two ounces less bread

m a faint moaning. His first impulse was to run out of his cell and see what was the matter, but Hodges and Fry were both in the yard, and he knew that they wou

w the governor himself as well as Hodges and Fry. All three were standing close

t hastily to the pump with buckets, which they filled, and then came back to the governor; the next minute Robinson heard water dashed repea

message came to himself, on which he went hastily out, and the yard was left empty. Robinson's curiosity had reached such a pitch that notwithstanding the risk he ran-for he knew the governor would send back to the yard the very first disengaged officer he met-h

waistcoat fastened with straps behind, and those straps drawn with the utmost severity. But this was not all. A high leathern collar a quarter of an inch thick squeezed his throat in its iron grasp. His hair and his clot

ry and larceny do not extinguish humanity in a thinking rascal

d Robinson, "what are th

those glazing eyes, the only part of his body he could turn, toward

rror, "Let me alone! let me alone! They'll give it

ie, boy. Look a

ntly and wildly. "Thank you for speaking kind to me. Who are yo

on, No. 19,

n't forget you. Hark, the

o betray himself; only when Fry passed on he drew a long breath. What he had seen surprised as well as alarmed him, for he had always been told the new system discouraged personal violence of all sorts; and in all his experience of the old jails he had never seen a prisoner abused so savagely as the young martyr in t

t the yard again with his subordinates, and Josephs was left alone with his great torture for two hours more; then Hodges came in and began to loose him, swearing at him all the time for a little rebellious monkey th

efractory." It happened, however, one day, just after breakfast, that he was taken with a headache and shivering; and not getting better after chapel, but rather worse, he rang his bell and begged to see the surgeon. The surgeon ought to have been in the jail at this hour

ty for that, before I listen to it

n the jail, or y

e ought

d for him, and you'll see he will tell you I am n

crank or the jacket, or else the bla

h a groan of pain

have got to say to it, and they are

vely grasped in his hands. Fry's first glance was at this figure, that a painter might have taken for a picture of labor overtasked; but this was neither new nor interesting to Fry. He went eagerly to examine the meter

he next day the surgeon happened by some accident to be at his post, and prescr

aid the

re

is," and he pointed to a revolving cylinder in the window constructed for that purpose. "You

quiesced accor

or neglect it, according to his convenience, i. e., to come three or four

hat the governor saw Hodges

ing at?" said he,

It would make a cat laugh," said Hodges apologetically. He knew

a motion with his hand, and Hodges o

s to paper. I feel my weakness and the strength of others who in my day have shown a singular power of fixing on paper the volatile particles of frenzy; however, in a word, the poor thie

m, he suddenly fixed his eyes on some imaginary figure on the opposite wall and began to cry out loudly, "Take him down. Don't you see you are killing him? The collar is chok

Fry answered the look. "He must

s well!" and, shaking his fist at the suffer