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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1904)
THE SUNDAY OBEGQjNIAff, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 11, 1904 33 Ben Lindsey, the Street Arab's Best Friend "A y 'twsT A COUNTY COURT Judge to Denver, Colo., -was recently called upon to address a large meeting C boys whose ages ranged from 9 to 14 years. You might expect a Judge under such cir cumstances to pull a solemn, face, call his audience "My dear young friends," and then treat them to a long string of copy-book maxims. Not so this Judge. He joked -with the hoys, used their own slang, told them enough of his own boy hood days to show them that he tmder stor.d and sympathized with them, and then suddenly asked: "Say, kids, how many of you fellows ever swiped things7 Now, everybody who has hold up his hand." Every little hand went Into the air as quick as a wink, although the boys knew that the man speaking to them was the Judge of the Children's Court, and could have thefn haled before him and punished if he chose. The man was Judge Ben B. XIndsey, who presides over the Juvenile Court in Denver, and who has been selected as chairman of the National Committee on Juvenile Courts by the recent National Conference of Charities and Correction held at Portland, Me. Judge Undsey is the best-known and. most distinguished of all the "children's Judges," and the pow er which he wields over naughty boys to make them better is simply marvelous. "Ben" 'Lindsey, as everybody calls him in Denver, remembers that he was a boy himself once, and that he was as apt to "swipe things" as the next boy. There fore, he has changed the old system un der which youngsters were sent to jail for swiping a handful of peanuts from the "glnney" on the street corner. Some Startling Ideas. For a Judge, "Ben" Lindsey has some startling ideas, but they are based on the bedrock of common sense. The cardinal principle on which he administers Justice in his court Is that "a boy who swipes things is not a thief." "In some cases it may be well to let the boys think so; in others I would not," the Judge said. "In reply to my questions, the boys In the public schools of Denver declared that In their opinion at least one-half o'f the boys In school would swipe things. Some boys said nearly all, most of them said two-thirds, practically all said one-half. If this be a fact in Den ver, it is no less a Tact in every other city in this country. Denver boys are the best on earth. "An intelligent understanding from the boys' standpoint will, I think, convince any unbiased mind that such children are not thieves, yet all must admit that it Is such habits persisted in that make thieves, burglars and other criminals. They are persisted in In entirely too many cases, though I believe the majority of such cases are of an isolated or Infrequent nature, and are checked by proper home training, as they should be. before the in CONDITION OF THE' WORKING MEN OF BELGIUM John Mitchell "Writes of a Country Where the Wage Is From 40 to 80 Cents a Day. g- KUSSELS. Aug: 24. (Special corre respondence of the Sunday Oregon Ian, copyrighted, 1904. by John Mitchell. All rights reserved. To the traveller passing through Belgium, the country appears to be one continu ous industrial town. From the car win dow one sees nothing but cities, towns and viilages, and one is rarely out of eight of smoke-stacks. With the excep tion of certain small provinces, the whole' of Belgium resembles nothing but a cluster of mines, workshops and fac tories around which the population of the country is scattered. To the American, accustomed to mag nificent distances and large spaces, it seems quite incomprehensible that the Belgium population manages to exist upon Its small (territory. The whole ' country is not much more than 100 miles each way, not much greater than a quar ter the state of Ohio, and in about three hours one can traverse It in any direction. Upon .this small area there are almost 7,000,000 Inhabitants, and the population increases by leaps and bounds. The birth rate is excessively high, and in spite of the fact that the country is more densely populated than any part of Europe, except Saxony, there seem to be more immigrants than emigrants. Half of the people are Flemish and half are French; but both sections of the population, who, by the way, live In perfect harmony and accord, continue I to increase In population with each year. With such a crowded population it Is natural that Belgium should be a land of cities. For the most part the people gather into cities and towns, and even tho farming population is so dense that there is no isolation in the life. As one pases through this country one can see how carefully the land Is cultivated. The agricultural sections of the country are divided and sub-dlvlded into little minia ture farms, almost two-thirds of the farms being less than two and one-half acres in extent. Such a thing as a largo farm is almost unknown, not one in 300 having the area of the ordinary homestead. The movement from the country to the city is very easy because of the small area and the easy communi cation, and as many of the cultivators of the soil do not own the -land which liey work, the temptation to leave the field for the factory is correspondingly and Dogs Supplant Horses. Everywhere in Belgium one sees evi dences of the utmost thrift and economy and the greatest poslble utilization of every available means of increasing the family income. Nothing seems to be thrown away, and the cheapest means of production seems always to be used. Thus in Belgium, dogs to a large extent take the place of horses. The milkman, the baker, the coaldealer, the seller of petroleum and the vendor of small ar ticles, who cannot afford to feed a horse, generally goes about town with a little cart drawn by one of these strong native dogs. One sees a dog har nessed , to the wagon either in front or below the , truck, and sometimes these dogs draw as much as half a ton, or even a ton of coal. The dogs work willingly, dragging their heavy loads from early in the morning until late at night, and on the whole they are well treated. But the sight Is not a pleasant one, for they are often taxed beyond their strength and their tongues hang out and their bodies droop from exhaustion. - - v. Next to the dogs, women are the hard est worked creatures in Belgium. Often a woman is harnessed with a dog. Women, in fact, are employed almost everywhere. Until within a few years many of them worked underground in the mines; and even now there are many thousands who do the hard work of picking slate upon the surface. In Liege we saw a troop of women with little twig brushes cleaning the street in an energetic but highly effective manner. There were fully a score of them, and although they were paid only 30 cents a day, it is probable that the work was not only worse done, but was dearer than it would have been in an American city where higher wages would have been paid and more modern methods used. Wages 40 to 80 Cents a Day. The Belgians appear to be not only extremely thrifty but to work quite con Ttinuously. They, do, not .work as hard tervention of the court becomes neces sary. "Every case against a child must be judged more from the standard of the child than from that of the man. No one can seriously expect a street boy of 12 to respect the law Intended for the protec tion of the fruit-vendor in the same way that we have a right to expect the adult to respect a law of no higher sanctity or binding effect for the protection of the banker or. the merchant." Criminals Converted Into Officers. These are the principles on which the Judge conducts his court, ils methods are no less original. He alms to make every little "criminal" who -Is brought before him an officer of the court. Nearly all the cases are dealt with by putting the boys on probation for periods from two weeks to-two years.. The Judge thus keeps in touch with them without punishing them. Every other "Saturday they report to him, some 200 or 300 of them; and he usually talks to them on some subject that immediately gains a boy's heart and attention. His favorite topic is "snitching" when It is right and when it is- wrong. "Snitching," as most "boys know, means, telling tales, "peach ing." fiNow, look here, kids," the Judge will say. "Of course, it's mean to be a dirty little . snitch. If you saw a pal swipe thlngs,you wouldn't call the cop. Quite right. But you know by this time that It's a mistake to swipe things. It's wrong, and, besides, it gets you in trouble; it gets the whole gang in trouble. "Now, you must all agree, that, if a fellow won't leave off swiping things, you can give him fair warning to stop, and then be at liberty to snitch on him if he doesn't It'll bo the best thing in the world to have him brought to the court before he becomes a regular crook, be cause you know we don't want to soak it in to him. "We only want to help him." This reasoning, impressed on the young sters again and again, appeals to their sense of justice and shows them the way to help, their friend, the Judge, without violating their code of boyish honor or subjecting themselves to outlawry in the boy world. Thus it is that the graduates of the court enforce the law among their "pals" far more thoroughly than all the policemen and probation officers in Den ver could do. Four boys were brought before the Judge for swiping thlng3 from back porches. They were not criminals; they simply had a craving for excitement and adventure. The Judge talked to them in a way they could understand, put them on probation, and made them promise that if any one of their "gang" should offend against the law they would warn him, and then, if he persisted, "snitch." Those four boys did not offend again, but In less than a year they brought to the court no fewer than 40 recalcitrant youngsters who refused to leave off swi ping. Those boys also were dealt with by Judge Lilndsey and sent away sworn friends of law and order. "I generally find that one case leads to as does the American workman, and they accomplish very much less; but their work extends through long hours and the pay for it is extremely small. Recently tho government took a census of the working people of 'Belgium and printed a large report about the rates of wages, tho hours of labor and the condition of tho workers .generally. From this report it appears that the great majority of tho laboring popula tion work from ten to eleven and a half hours, and that only about one in ten work less than ten hours. Tho wages are extremely low. Of all the working people of the country (Including women and children) engaged in private indus tries, about a quarter earn less than 40 cents a day, another quarter earn from 40 to 60 cents, and another quarter from GO to SO cents. Less than one in six earn over 80 cents a day, and less than one in a hundred of the whole working population earn over $1.30 a day. Even if wo take only the adult male workers, jj the wages are very low. Only about one man in ten ejirns over 90 cents a day," and only one in twenty earns over 51.20. The wages of women are naturally much less. Almost a quarter of all the people engaged in industrial enterprises are women, and .of these women about two-K fifths earn less than 30 cents a day, and nine-tenths less than 50 cents a day. To find a woman engaged in any pri vate industry earning over $1 a day is like looking for a needle In a haystack, the census showing that only one in 10,000 earn this magnificent salary. The boys and girls under 16 are paid In proportion, one-quarter of them earn ing 10 cents a day or less, and only one-sixth earning as much as 30 cents a day. High Cost of Food. Of course, one cannot straightway com pare Belgian, or. In fact, any Continental wages with those paid in America, The conditions are different, the standard of living is different, and the cost of the ar ticles that the workmen consume is also different. It is not true, however, that the condition of the workmen In Belgium, or, in fact, in any Continental country, is at all comparable with that of workmen in the United -States. The Belgians say that they earn less but that it costs them less to live, but the truth is that they live for less because they live on less. In the mining districts the workmen live in well built little brick houses, but they have only a few rooms to a family. The cloth ing is much cheaper, though also much poorer in quality, and articles of which labor forms a large part of the cost are also generally cheaper. The ordinary ar ticles, however, which tho worklngman must use are almost as dear, and in some cases considerably dearer, than In the United States. At Liege, for Instance, wheat bread costs only from 2l,fe'to 3 cents a pound, but on the other hand fresh eggs cost (In October) 3 cents apiece, fresh butter 2S to, 30 cents a pound; beef 23 to 26 cents a pound; pork chops from 1C to 17 cents a pound, and lard from 9 to 18 cents, according to whether It Is American or Belgian. Other prices are equally, com parable with those In America. Sugar costs from 5 to 6 oents a pound, rice from 3 to 8 cents a pound, and petroleum from 12 to 14 cents a gallon. In other words, unprepared food Is upon the whole as ex pensive, and in the case of meat, butter and eggs, more expensive, than in the United States. In many parts of Belgium the workingmen rarely obtain meat, and then only the Inferior cuts, and much of the lassitude and lack of energy of the worker is perhaps accountable to the fact that he Is under-nourished. In the Coal Mines. There are many articles which Belgium is able to produce much more cheaply than the United States, but In other In dustries the cost of production ia greater than with us. To some extent this, may be due to the low wages of the workman and the consequent Ineffectiveness of his work. Low wages usually mean high cost of pro duction, because the work done by cheap laborers Is usually of a low grade. To some extent, however, the low wages are due to the smaller natural resources of the country. Near Liege we visited a number of coal mines and were surprised to find that the veins of coal which were exploited were so thin, so superimposed upon each other, and at such a pitch, that they eould not have been worked at all in the United States. In our soft-coal mines the average output per man is from three to four tons per day, but in Belgium the average output per man per day Is V BEX. B. T.TNDSEY, JUDGE OF THE CHILDREN'S COURT IN DENYEBf AXD, NEXT TO HIS MOTHER, THE AMERICAN BOY'S BEST FRIEND. many. If a boy has committed an of fense, it is a pretty sure thing that some body else is to blame as well as himself," said the Judge. "Take the case of one little fellow of 10, who had held up another boy In an alley and robbed him of 53. I ilnd that he has read dime novels since he was 7, and is particularly Interested in Jesse James, about whom he knows much more than he does about George Washington. His mother has had knowledge of bis course of reading. She must be brought in for contributing to the delinquency of her child. I believe this cannot be done un der the law of any other state except Col orado. "I find tha the mothers of two other only about two-thirds of a ton. The Bel gian miners earn only $250 a year, which is less than one-half of what the Amer ican miner receives, "but despite this fact the cost of producing coal at the Belgian mines is over $2.50 per ton, while in the United States It is not far from $1 per ton. Upon the whole, tho conditions of the miners appear to be slightly better than those of most workmen In Belgium. The wages are quite low. averaging only about 85 cents per day, but the work Is more regular than in American mines. In the mines which we saw considerable provision had been made for the comfort of the men. They went to their work In their ordinary clothes and washrooms were provided for changing garments and for cleaning whatever was necessary. Provision was also made for the health of the miner while underground, so that the mines could be kept in a sanitary condition and the men rendered immiine as far as possible from disease. This is especially necessary in the Continental mines, as many of tho, workers suffer from the worm disease which Is prevalent In these regions. The mines which we saw had small hospitals and men who were Injured were paid from a fund to which both mlneowners and miners con tributed. To a considerable extent the workmen What Gvic Improvement Did for St Johns Continued From Page 30. house the color should be white or kin dred tints, the roof can be green or brown, or even a shade of red. In a coun try where green is a natural background the man who would paint his house pea green or sky blue must be color-blind, and yet you will find such colors used. If it Is necesasry to have a fence, paint It white, and If you can't afford paint, use whitewash." And in regard to trees, he appropriate ly remarked: T want to impress upon you the necessity of preserving every ono that it is possible to. You have many beautiful natural parks, many beautiful trees scattered around your city, every ono of which is worth its weight in gold. It Is your duty to weave around each of them such a wall of sentiment that the man who would dare to lay violent hands upon them would do so at his peril. . In my opinion there Is nothing that would justify lynch law so much as the destruc tion or mutilation of beautiful shade trees. The franchise that you grant to erect telegraph or telephone poles and to string wires for commercial purposes does not carry with it the right to de stroy or mutilate shade trees. If tho trees are in the way, move the poles. "Remember that what it has taken God Almighty a century to brine to a state of beautiful perfection some, fool with an ax, endowed with less sentiment than a toad, can destroy in 15 minutes. Man, with all the talents which Nature has bestowed upon him, has never been able to build a tree. Let your motto be save the trees. "I do not believe there is a city In the world that has had the foresight to pre serve the parks which Nature gave her, and as a result millions have been spent correcting the errors which an exercise of common sense would have prevented. Even here you have been too lavish with tho ax, but It is hoped that your eyes have been opened to the beauties which Nature bestowed upon you, and that at least one city can boast of natural parks. "The organization in Portland which I have the honor to represent take some little pride in the fact that Portland is said by tourists to be one of the most beautiful cities in the country. This is also my opinion, after having seen many of the large cities of the East, and I talk It all the time. That Is what you want to do with St Johns. Talk It all the time; no matter what you say about it. so long as it Is something good, and like the man who told about wonderful ad ventures that he had experienced merely to have something to say, after a time he came to believe they were really true, and then told them for facts. It will be the same .with you. Tou will believe all you tell to bo true, and If you do a little work with it it will be true. That's what makes California, next t& Oregon, the greatest state In the Union. Her citi zens, no matter what they think, are al ways praising her. It3 a good thing, and I admire them for It and wish we could become inoculated with some of the virus." Tho league has much work mapped out boys brought before me are in the habit of drinking beer and sending them to the saloon. One of the boys has already ac quired a liking for liquor. He led a raid on a bottled goods wagon and swiped a lot of beer for the rest of his gang, none of whom was over 13. His mother must also be brought in. I have known boys who did this very thing to wind up in tapping tills. "The drug store man on the corner, not withstanding the rigid enforcement in Denver of the law against selling tobacco to minors, has persistently sold cigarettes to some of the boys who appear In my court. He must be brought In. J'One boy lives near the railroad tracks, and habitually wanders in "the yards. He of Belgium aro united Into trades-unions. For a long time they have been organ ized politically, forming a part of the powerful Socialistic party in that coun try, and the co-operative societies have also formed a nucleus about which the Belgian workingmen have grouped them selves. The co-operative movement Is very succeesfu,l In Belgium, and a consid erable part of the profits from co-operation have been, devoted to the' education L of tho working classes and to Improving their conditions generally. The trade union movement Itself is rapidly gaining ground. In 1902 there were over lOO.OCO unionists, who were represented In a con gress of workingmen, and this number did not include 40 organizations which failed entirely to put in an appearance. Many of these unions are socialistic in politics, but others belong to the Catholic party, others to the liberal party, whilst still others are neutral politically. The gain In membership during the year 1902 was over 10,000, or more than 10 per cent of the membership of tho year preced ing. Despite the large number of women workers, the organization among them appears to be retarded. In 1902 there were only 3600 women organized and represent ed at the congress, the percentage of women unionists being smaller for Bel glum than for most other countries. Or ganization, however, has begun to take root throughout tho whole working class, and a steady growth in the numbers and In the power of the unions Is expected by the leaders in this movement JOHN MITCHELL, In collaboration with Walter E. Weyl. waste the Winter months, but work while the rain falls just as hard as when the sun shines. A public library is an am bition which it will make an eanjest en deavor to satisfy, and"when an organiza tion of energetic and determined women make up their minds they are going to have or do, there are generally good re sults. Another campaign they propose to conduct is for the use of paint in well selected colors on all buildings. The town has grown with such rapidity the past two years that In the majority of cases people moved into their houses before they were painted, and they still remain ' that way. Civic beauty does not favor weatner-oeaten Doarus, out fresh, clean paints of tones that harmonize with Na ture. It is also thought that "the passing of a stock ordinance will be given close attention this Winter, so that by Spring the residents will be free to plant young trees in front of their residences, set out rose bushes on the curb and keep the streets in good condition. Keep your eye on this Civic Improve ment League. It has started out with the right spirit and has already proven, In its infancy, that it Is an association which does things instead of spending its time In useless pow-wows. MARION MAC RAE. A Phantasmagoria. "William J. Lampton. , All night a. sky-blue elephant Sat roosting on my bed. That is to say all of the night Between the hour of 3 A. M. And when the pink sun rose To paint Its glories on fhe dawn. And when the morning came The huge, cerulean brute was gone But oh, my head! It felt as if the Infinite Could not circumference It, -And when I looked upon the hat That I had worn the night before, I wondered much If human head Could bo so small That It should find a fitness there. Betimes, a friend came in To ask mo to the matin meal with him, And to his sympathizing ear I whispered what a night N Of blue and elephantine woe Had compassed me about. He listened kjndly, rang the he'll And 6aid I needed something stiff . To splint my nerves. I shuddered at the thought Of splints upon the raw. And told him o'er again L About my awful head And of the sky-blue elephant. "You say the elephant has gone7" he asked. "It has; but, oh, my head!" I cried. And clasped It In my trembling hands. "Where has It gone?" he asked. "I only know that it has gone." I cried. "I know," he laughed. "It's In your head; That's why it bulges so And feels so oversized." The bellboy came "With glasses and a Jug. I looked and shuddered at the sight. "Oh. that's all right," My blithe and breezy friend broke in; "The'hugo amphibian, within your brain Is soro In need of something wt." v ily friend was right has already barely escaped serious acci dent, and has committed one -theft of a brass appliance on a freight car, which he sold to the ragman for 50 cents. So the ragman and the mother who permitted the boy to go on the railroad tracks, which of itself made . him a delinquent, are brought in." Lindsey's Personal Influence. The Judge has a wonderful influence over aU the boys with whom .he comes In contact. This was shown some time ago when crap shooting became' a nuisance In one of the principal streets of Denver. The storekeepers complained that the street boys swore viciously and obscene- i ly when engaged in this game, to ..the annoyance of their customers. ) One of the leaders of the boys heard of these complaints and went straight to the Judge about them. He had graduated from the" Juvenile Court. "Say. Judge. I'll set do kids together an' you can give dem a talk," he pro posed. "If you want dem to stop shootln' craps, I gues's dey'll do It. Th' cops won't never stop It. You see, Judge, Its this way. If dem cops tink dey're goin to stop it, dey mustn t come behlnt us." The Judge attended a meeting got up by his young friend at a newspaper office that night, and the result was the forma tion of an Anti-Crap-Shooters Union by the boys themselves. Now they are en forcing the law, and crap-shooting Js no longer a public nuisance. In the Winter of 1902-03. Judge Lindsey fought a hard battle until he persuaded the Colora'do" Legislature to pass a law that no children under 14 should be sent to jail. In the worst cases they are sent to a special "detention home." His most ardent supporters In that fight were the street boys of his acquaintance who had been the victims of the jail aystem. They collected evidence for him and tristlfied before the Governor, the Legislature, the Police Board and other authorities. Chief among these boys was one named Mickey. Later on he was threatened with arrest by a policeman, and he went to the Judge about It. A "Sporty" Arab. "Judge, de cop says he's goin' to shag me," said he. "Didn't I help you get this law through?" "You did, Mickey; you rendered noble service." "Well, where does I come In? Didn't I tell you some time back dat I was IB?" "Ye3, Mickey, you did." "Say, Jurge, forget it! - I'm t'rteen from now on. I've been oinched so much when I haven't done nothin' dat I 'ain't goin ter take no more chances. If dU "ere Legislatur' will keep kids out o' jail under 14, you can set me back two years Charley is another street arab who la an intimate friend of the Judge's. He told him that "he never told de trut' to de cop, because It wouldn't do a ting but git you inter -trouble. " But ho always tells the Judge the truth, " 'cause I never been able ter keep out o' trouble until 1 ran un against you." Charley Is a "sport." He went to the Judge once in deep distress. A Denver IGNORANT MOUNTAINEERS " Origin, Manner of Living and Characteristics of an THAT the Crackers are a people sul generis no one who knows them will deny. Their faults are patent and decided; likewise their, virtues, says Zital la Cocke in the, Boston Transcript. Not many months ago an Intelligent and re spected clergyman stood in the presence of a missionary society and .pronounced in unqualified terms his opinion of these mountaineers. He characterized them as degraded beyond the condition of the low est foreigners who come to our shores, and to this pronouncement added the statement that they were also of the purest English descent. His utterances provoked an Immediate contradiction from a . person who knew these people and their belongings, and when afterward he was interrogated con cerning his authority for such wholesale denunciation, he calmly replied that in fact he knew nothing about these people, which candor certainly commends itself to our admiration. Who, then, are the Crackers? In the first place, they are by no means of pure English descent. To a large degree the Celtic element is con spicuous among them. Scotch-Irish, with an occasional admixture of Welsh, and yet another strain prevails widely and unmistakably, as their patronymics would imply: so much so that Teutonic faces and names are seen and heard among them everywhere, and not Infrequently mark entire settlements. This fact goes far In substantiating the tradition that a large proportion of these peculiar people owe their origin to the Hessians employed In the army of King George. These hired soldiers were naturally un acceptable to the successful colonists, and" speedily retired to the mountain fast nesses, taking on the tastes and habits of life, and dialect as well, which such habi tation would naturally engender. To this day Teutonic words and Idioms are cur rent in these mountain hamlets, and many localities are distinguished by such names as Dutch Fork and Dutch Gap, the word Dutch being misapplied, as often happens In this country, for the word German. The superstitions and imagina tions which characterize the Teutonic mind, and express themselves in the folk lore of German nations, have given a distinct coloring" to the traditions and nursery legends of this simple-hearted and Illiterate people. Illiterate 'Nomenclature. The wood, the air and the water are to hem Inhabited by beautiful and uncanny beings who reveal themselves only to those favored few who have eyes to see what the ordinary man can never' per ceive; and whatever may be the ancestral origin oTthe Cracker, there is In his very Ignorance and Illiteracy a certain plc turesqueness which Is palpably evident In word as well as In idea. Many travelers who have been blessed with superior ad vantages to these humble folk are them selves too superficial of thought and feel ing to detect this quality, and hence find nothing in their faith or speech but mat ter for ridicule. For Instance, the com mon expression among these people of "short sweet'nin' " for sugar, and "long sweefnln' " for molasses. Is an exhaust less source of amusement to a class who evidently have not the wit to perceive its metaphorical significance. Surely there Is In this illiterate nomenclature an element of picturesqueness which ought 'to appeal to the dullest Imagination. The very name Cracker is also remotely traceable to a love of the picturesque, however crude, which seems Inherent among these mountaineers; for the man who drives his team of oxen over the difficult mountain ways guides his "beast-Ises"- or "critters," as he calls them, by the continuous crack of his whip, wielding it with such wonderful and unfailing dex terity as to play a tune which echoes through the mountains, and fills the air with Its rhythm and resonance. The stolid oxen move In time to this rustic music without fear of blows, for the Cracker cherishes his beast with an affection sec ond only to that which he feels for his family. High Ideals in Morality. In his domestic life the Cracker is amenable to all the laws and traditions which govern citizens of the highest civ ilization, and the women especially, whether from the 'example of the class In the South, known to them as the "re stercrats," or from their own Innate love of integrity, are generally strictly moral newspaper bad printed a story about him which he contended was a gross libel. H didn't mind that so much. What hurt I him was that "theys done gone an' put it In de sportin page, where all me fren's from Cheyenne to Albuquerquo'llread it before night." Judge 'Lindsey says his one great in terest in life is working to make fine men out of the street boys who are brought before him for trial. No trouble Is too great for him. Sympathetic Relations. In the evening, at the end of a busy session in the Civil Court, the other Judges go home. "Ben" Lindsey stays behind. Ho finds - eight or a dozen boys , waiting for him. They may hate been arrested, or they may merely have come for advice. Anyway, he usually gets home late for dinner; and before he is through with the meal there is a boy to see him. If he knows there are any boys fconfincd at the police station he pays a surprise visit to see that they are being properly treated. He has organized a football team,, a baseball team and three boys' clubs out of the little rascals brought, be fore him In court. There is not a moment of the day he can really call his own. Even his noon recess, when ho is sitting in the Civil Court, Is spent in dealing with a batch of juvenile offenders brought in by his probation officers. "Above all things, get the truth," said the Judge, when discussing ,his methods of handling the boys. "Never let a boy get away from you with a successful lie on his soul. You have lostthe battle if you do." He has got his system down to such & fine point that it is now quite common for street arabs to come and tell him when uicy nave swipea imng3 or commiueu other offenses. Here Is a typical case, told In Judge Lindsey's own words: "Four boys came to my chambers late one night to 'snitch up' to tell on them selves. They had never been in court, never been detected. They came to me through the influence of a boy who had been nf court and whom I had befriend ed. "This boy would never 'snitch. I would ask him to. Yet he learned the lessons of the Juvenile Court. He had induced these boys, without my knowledge, to come to me and 'snitch up.' They told me they knew it would not be long before the cops got them if th'sy went on swip ing things, and they had decided to re form on our probation system. This happened two years ago. Every one of those four boys is a promising fellow to day. "The lads confessed 13 burglaries and thefts. Including a number of bicycles. Curiosity directed me to the police depart ment to see just how many of their con fessions would tally with the complaints there. I found every bicycle stolen listed at headquarters. "The officer in charge did not care at first to enter Into my plan of getting" at these boys, because it did not involve tho recovery of any of the property. I knew this was hopeless. 'I was met with a and withal exhibit a propriety and de corum In their relations with tho opposite sex which. Is not characteristic of other illiterate peoples. The Cracker girl whoso deportment Is, as they say, "too free," soon loses caste among her neighbors; and Cracker men, like, all others, aro wont to prize her who is the most difficult to win. " Their social games and dances, simple and rustic though they be, are never t coarse. There is a chivalry among these men as exalted in its nature and demand as among gentlemen, notwith standing the lack of refinement and courtliness In Its expression. In Cracker parlance the escort "hang3 his girl" when she accepts his proffered arm, but his gal lantry and appreciation are as unques tionable as, that of many a knight of the carpet who Is vastly his better in social rank. Many of their phrases have tho flavor and quality of English which Is long obso lete, and some of their songs In high favor on festal occasions smack strangely of the Elizabethan age. A suitor who is rejected Is said to have "got the sack," and the selection of partners for a dance or a game is often proceeded by the chorus, In which both sexes Join: There's a flower In the garden for you, young man. There's a flower In the garden for you; Come and pluck It while you can. There's a flower In the garden for you." Nor are these untutored and unsophisti cated minds wantinz in seriousness of conviction, either in religion or politics. Many of them, In the war between the States, fought on the Union side, and as many on the Confederate; and there are no more inveterate and uncompromising Philistines of opinion when once they are "minded," as they say, to accept any course of action. Previous to the war a large proportion were old line Whigs, and it Is a notable fact that after the extinc tion of the Whig party the Crackers In the mountainous region of Alabama ob stinately refused to vote at all until a prominent Whig among the "restercrats" instructed them concerning the new is sues, when they voted to a man accord ing to his instructions; and equally per sistent are they In what they call their religious "persuasion." " Religious Convictions. In a recent mission held by the Epis copal Church in this region, a man ap plied to the , bishop for baptism, and In sisted on being Immersed. "Certainly,'' replied the bishop, "the prayer book plain ly says Immersion, aspersion or effusion," and as early as practicable the bishop and candidate went to a stream nearby, where a multitude awaited them. The bap tismal service was read and explained to the company, and the bishop proceeded to administer the rite, and In the name of the trinity to submerge the candidate three times. After the first submersion the Cracker escaped from the bishop's hands and was walking toward the bank of the stream when the bishop grabbed him and sub jected him to a second Immersion, where upon the man exclaimed: "The Baptists don't do it but once." "This Is the church baptism." replied the bishop, as he put the refractory convert under the water for the third time, nor did the beautiful and apostolic ceremonial of baptism by Immersion lose aught of Its solemnity, notwithstanding the obstinacy of the can didate. That the Cracker woman has also the courage of her convictions is evident from the Incident of a marriage ceremony per formed by the same bishop. On this oc casion the young woman was a convert to the church, awhile the gawky young bride groom was Ignorant of the requirements of response, and when the bishop put the question. "Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife?" he stood absolutely mute. In fear and trembling. Five times the bishop put the question without elicit ing an answer, when the brides, seizing the terrified groom by the collar, gave him a robust shakmg as she uttered the words In tones not to be misunderstood. "I will." Upon another occasion it was the bride groom who was master of the situation, and in response to the" same question said with Imperturbable coolness: "Why, bish op, that's what I'm here for!" The "Moonshiner.'' The "moonshiner" among these people, although under the ban of the law, es teems his logic unanswerable when he ar gues that the corn, apples and peaches from which the contraband article Is dis tilled are his own, and as he can sell them rather stern and determined, argument that citizens who- had lost their property In this way would Insist on having It re turned. -1 even stood in the way of be jlng convinced that I was about to com pound'a felony. "It did not take me long; however, to convince the officer a well-meaning man that those four boys and their redemp tion were more important to the State of Colorado than the recovery of a few bicycles and small trinkets even to the unfortunate citizens." Judge Lindsey does not despair cf tsveii the worst boys. Once he was Importuned by the police to send two youngsters U the reformatory. They had a bad rec ord, having been imprisoned several times before. The Judge figured it out that each boy had cost the state about a thousand dollars in actual cash, not al lowing for their share of the cost in the. upkeep of the jails. "I knew the police department would laugh at me If I let these boys out of jail and they did not return to report if, us the policeman expressed it, I 'patted them on the back and let them go.' Of course. I never did such a foolish thing in the case of any boy. "After spending 26 hours In personal work with those two boy3 on Sundays and evenings behind the bars. I allowed them to go. They met faithfully every en gagement they had made with me. "Of course, I had difficulty getting them to keep employment, but I also bad. pa tience, and today one of them, after IS months, is absplutely redeemed, as steady a workman as any average boy. Neither has returned to his evil ways. I hav hopes for the others, though I am, not so sure of success. "From the police standpoint the ex periment has more than succeeded. They have neither been in Jail nor pursued by the police. Before, this was constantly the case. I have had the help and sym- N pathy of the police department In this experiment, though they regarded it sus piciously at first." These are only two out of hundreds of boys who have been reclaimed from what bid fair to be a life of crime and made over Into good citizens by "Ben" Llndssy. He is the best friend of the street boys -of Denver, and is more popular among them than even the local baseball cham pions and pugilists. His work, more i,han that of any other Judge in the country, has Justified tho experiment of the "Chil dren's Court." "The Criminal Court method of han dling juvenile offenders used to post our county an average of $42 for each caso handled in court." said the Judge. "It now costs about $10. The Criminal Court convicted and sentenced nearly all for crime, and sentenced 75 per-cent, to jaila or reformatories. The Juvenile Court convicts no child for crime, and Is com pelled to send only about 5 per cent of probationers to the Industrial school. It sends none to jalL In my own experience It really Is wiser and less expensive to save children than to punish criminals." (Copyright 1904.) WILLIAM THORP. DOWN SOUTH'' Illiterate People. when and where he pleases the right to sell his whisky is equally unimpeachable; nor does he hide-behind logs or trees to shoot officers when the chances are equal. Only when overwhelming numbers, ren der personal contest impossible does he resort to such protection. He is willing, as he declares, "to come out and fight like a man If he has a living chance." A traveler passing through the moun tainous or hill country of Alabama would, at different stations or points where the great iron horse halts for provender see a Cracker woman enter the car, clad In a homespun dress and bonnet of similar ma terial, unless successful ambition had pro vided a headgear of more pretentious quality. Her home. In all probability, lies behind the echoes awakened by the Im petuous neighing of the iron steed, and she has trudged miles with her burden of nuts or fruit eager to turn an honest penny by tempting the appetite of the tourist The Cracker woman Is not ordinarily a beauty. Milkmaids have ceased, to be divine since the gods deserted Olympus. And yet one may sometimes see, de scending a mountain path, a bright-eyed lass as lithe of limb and fleet of foot as Diana herself. But hard work and scanty living write their sad history on faces as well as hearts, and the sun is no re spector of persons. The Cracker man, al though not an Apollo, Is as strong and hardy as the trees among which he makes his home. He is also a vendor of small wares, as chickens, eggs and berries and apples, which. In size and flavor surpass any apples of the world, together with home-knit hosiery and counterpanes. In his home he is nothing if not hospitable, rejecting proffer of payment tor a meal with an indignation which betrays a sense of injury. Willie Winkio. "William Miller. Wee Willie Winkle rlns through the town. Up stairs and doon stairs, In his nlch-gown, Tlrlln at the window, cryln at the lock, "Are the weans la their bed? for lt'a now ten o'clock." Hey, Willie Winkle! are ye comln ben? The cat's slngln gay thrums to the sleepln hen. The doug's spcldered on the floor, and dlsna gle a cheep; But hero's a waukrlfe laddie, that winna fa asleep. Ony thing but sleep, ye rogue: glowin'rin like the moon, Itattlln' in an aim jug wl an aim spoon. Kumblln", tumblin' roun' about, crawln' like a cock, Sklrlln' like a kenna-what wauknln' sleep In folk! Hey. Willie Winkle! the wean's In a creel! Waumblln' aft a bodle's knee like a vera eel, Kuggln at the cat's lug. and ravelin a her thrums : Hey Wlllio Winkle ! See,' there he comes! Wearle Is the mlther that has a storle wean. A wee stumple stoussle, that canna rln his lane. That has a battle aye wl sleep, before he'll close an ee; But a kiss frae aft his rosy lips gles strength anew to me. A Pretty Good World. Answers. It's a pretty .good sort of a world, old man, A pretty good world, I say. In spite of what people arc growling about. And kicking against every day. There's plenty of sunshine. And plenty of blue. Away In the skies, Beaming down upon you. It's a pretty good sort of a world, old man, A pretty good world, I say. It's a pretty good kind of a world, old man, A pretty good world, I say, ln spite of the tears and In spite of the fears That harass us on the way, There's glory enough In the green of the hills. The blossoms that bloom Near the mose-covered rlllsL ' lt'a a pretty bright sort of a world, old man, A pretty bright world, I say. It's a pretty good sort of a world, old man, A pretty good world, I say. And better and better It grows If we speed Love's message along the way; And brighter and brighter It grows all "the while. If lightened with songs And a glad, cheery smile. It's a pretty good sort of a world, old man. A pretty good v&xhK X sav