THE BOY
Same story, practically.
He plays on the tenement staircase--cuffed off the staircase.
He plays ball in the street--cuffed, if caught by the policeman.
He swings on the area railing, trying to exercise his stunted
muscles--cuffed again.
In burning July, with shirt and trousers on, he goes swimming in
the park fountain--caught and cuffed and handed over to "the
society."
A few months in a sort of semi-decent imprisonment, treated in a
fashion about equivalent to that endured by the sea turtle turned
over on its back in the market.
He escapes to begin the same life once more.
He tries for work.
"What do you know?"
"I don't know anything; nobody ever taught me."
He cannot even endure the discipline of ten hours' daily
shovelling--it takes education to instil discipline, if only the
education of the early pick and shovel.
He has not been taught anything. He has been turned loose in a
city full of temptation. He had no real start to begin with, and
no effort was ever made to repair his evil beginning. ----
"What's the charge, officer?"
"Attempted burglary; pleads guilty."
"Three years in prison, since it is his first offence."
In prison he gets an education. They teach him how to be a good
burglar and not get caught.
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