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Front matter

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Contents

Chapter. Page.

I. The Arrest and Sentence 5

II. First Days in the School 23

Chapter I. The Arrest And Sentence

It was a rather dreary prospect, and so it seemed to strike the girl who stood on the dirty steps, and looked discontentedly up and down the street — street by courtesy only; for its mud and filth, its mutilated pavements, and dilapidated tenements, made it little worthy the name. Yet it had once set out to be something grand, and many of the buildings, now lop-sided and tumbling to decay, still bore traces of original splendor ; while here and there a tree, having toughly withstood the abuses which had killed off its brethren, gave mute token of the rows of shade which had once made the roadway beautiful.

But of all this cool shade, cleanliness, and even grandeur, nothing now remained but the name — Gem Street — and that had grown to be so entirely associated with poverty, squalor, and sin, that few even thought what it might originally have meant.

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The street, poor as it was, meant home to the girl on the steps, however, and its very familiarity took away most of the disagreeableness in her sight. So her discontented look had nothing to do with her surroundings, after all, for she was only thinking, —

“ Now I’ve got a minute to myself, I want some fun — but what kin I dew? Thar ain’t nobody around, and I can’t think of nothin’ ! ”

She came slowly down the steps, hopping like a bird from one to another, with long pauses between, till, just as she reached the sidewalk, a quick change came over her face, and, with a loud “ Ki yi ! Hello there ! ” she was off, up the street.

“ What’s the row ? ” she asked breathlessly, as she reached the corner, around which two boys had just come with a bound. They stopped, and drew long, laboring breaths, for they had been running hard.

“Made a raise ! ” gasped one, at length. “ And got chased by a cop ! ” added the other, “ but we’ve doubled till we’ve throwed him off the scent, I guess. Here ! take the swag, and hide it — quick ! ” and he thrust into her hand a lady’s handsome shopping-bag, its handle wrenched from the silver fastenings, as if it had been torn asunder by some powerful strain.

“ Did you grab it, Mike ? ” she asked, with wide, admiring eyes, and, as he nodded in answer, she broke into a delighted laugh. “Well, if you ain’t the

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pluckiest ! Won’t this make Ma’am good-natured, though ! Let’s tease fur dumplin’s to-night — will ye, boys ? ”

“ Dumplin’s is good, but steak’s better ; and thar’s plenty fur both in that alligator-hide thing,” said the larger boy, whom she addressed as Mike. “Drat them cops — they most got us, Nick ! ”

“You bet ! and we’d better get inside purty quick, or they may turn up agin,” answered the smaller of the two, hurrying along.

Mike followed at a good pace, but the girl, who was intently examining the bag, delayed a moment, feeling quite secure so near home.

It was a fatal delay, for suddenly a powerful hand gripped her shoulder, whirling her forcibly about, till she faced that symbol of all dread and majesty to her — a policeman.

She gave a yell like a startled wild cat, and wrenched herself free with a sudden jerk, but only for a second. Again came that grip firm as iron, grasping her tender flesh like some dreadful vise, and, hardened as she was to bodily punishment, making her feel deadly sick.

“ None of that, you baggage ! ” muttered the officer fiercely. “ I’ve got you now, and you don’t get away so easy ; come on ! ”

She gave one despairing look around. The boys

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had disappeared ; the street, often a-swarm with its many inmates, now seemed as silent as the dead. She was alone, and helpless, in the grasp of the law ; and this, to her, meant simply prison, and what ever unknown horrors lurked behind its walls. Most children of twelve would have burst into tears and pleadings — some might have fainted ; but, though she turned deathly pale, she made no sound — only her eyes, quick and fiercely bright as a ferret's in a trap, darted here and there, as if looking for some loop-hole of escape.

None came, however, and, with a quickness which took her breath away, she was raced to the nearest police-station, and led in before the blue-coated men who lounged around the open door that mild May morning.

She did not shiver, nor shrink, though a terrible fear gripped her heart, and her glittering, defiant eyes caused one to remark, sotto voce , —

“ A regular limb, evidently ! ”

With a word or two of explanation to the officer in charge, the child and the bag were both delivered over to him, and the man of buttons who had arrested her turned with a relieved air to his friends, and was soon chatting pleasantly over a fresh cigar.

Meanwhile, his little charge was led through an iron gate into a corridor, half filled with wretched

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beings, who greeted the new arrival with a shout of derisive laughter. But, neither looking to the right nor left, she went into the furthest corner, and, seating herself on the stone bench, turned her face to the wall in grim, unchildlike shame and silence.

No, — hardly shame, either; the dreadful life she had lived had crowded that feeling out of her heart. How could she be ashamed of doing what she had been trained to do for years ?

Her feeling was, rather, disgusted rage at having allowed herself to be caught in this manner, with a deep hatred, and desire for revenge on all and everybody — the officers who had deprived her of liberty, the boys who had left her to her fate, and these beings who had mocked and jeered at her.

But after a little, the very quietude of her body stilled the tumult in her soul, and she began to think more reasonably; to remember, too, in a disjointed way, bits of her life which came like pictures to her mind. She saw the bare, dreary house where she ate and slept, and which was presided over by “ Ma’am,” who furnished an excuse for bed and board, for a sum proportionately small, to the poorest specimens of humanity, keeping this child to help with the work.

At least, this was the way things were explained to outsiders; but she knew well what a nest of

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thieves the house-roof covered, how apt were the lessons taught there, and how frequently spoils were brought in. She could see Ma’am’s fierce, disappointed eyes when her pupils came home emptyhanded, and hear her deep guttural notes of satisfaction when they came well laden.

It had been a hard life, with constant toil and frequent blows, but there had been many half-hours of wild, boisterous fun — of racing through the street, flinging balls of mud or snow, or teasing some drunken wretch, who had tumbled by the sidewalk ; or perhaps chasing a dog who had lost its owner — lawless, hateful fun, all of it. But once — and the memory brought almost a smile to her lips even now — there had been a time which seemed like a slice out of heaven, (only she had never heard of heaven) when she had been knocked down by a runaway horse, and taken to the hospital.

She was not badly hurt, and only stayed three days, but one of those was flower-mission day. Oh ! how plainly she could still see those flowers by her bedside, and smell the delicious fragrance that filled the big, clean room ! They let her take the flowers with her when she went home, and she kept them till they fell to pieces in the broken mug of water, where she placed them.

How beautiful they were ! How willingly she

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would be knocked down again, just to feel once more that clean, sweet bed, and see and smell those exquisite blossoms. She sighed softly to the prison-wall, and her thoughts went further back, to one scene so remote it was like a dream. She saw her mother on a bed, and her face was different from all the faces she had known since : pure and white and shining, and again she heard her say : —

“ Oh, my darling ! I must leave you to God. He will keep you.”

She remembered the words, but they meant very little to her, now. She had never heard of God, except in curses and ribald jests ; and the one she seemed to have been left to was only Ma’am — the dreadful woman whom she served from fear alone, and secretly hated with her whole heart.

But, somehow, these thoughts brought a sense of comfort and quiet, which made her body relax a little from its tense strain, and her head droop more easily against the prison-wall ; then her thoughts grew confused, and melted into quainter fancies — and the poor, little, world-worn soul was fast asleep.

It was a cruel awakening to a lonely cell where she found herself lying on a bare pallet, whither she had been carried by some one in her sleep. For a time, her fears and loneliness quite overcame her, and she burst into a passion of tears, — healthy, childish

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tears, that relieved heart and brain. But it was not yet evening, and the night that followed seemed endless to the child. Occasionally its uneasy quiet was broken by a drunken scuffle, or a ribald bit of song, as some new offender was brought in ; but, being used to these things, she did not mind them very much.

As for her bed, it was as good as, or better than, she had at Ma’am’s, so, despite her anxiety over the morrow, she at last fell asleep about midnight, and did not wake till morning. It was a new experience to be led to a hydrant, and made to wash her face, and she hated the touch of the cold, clear water ; but her breakfast tasted good, and the worst of her dread and terror had worn off, so she was quite composed when told to follow an officer into the court room.

The justice eyed her through his spectacles, as she was led to a seat beneath his desk, with an air of grieved surprise ; the lawyers and reporters stopped talking for a minute to scan her more closely, and two or three even felt a thrill of pity for the poor little waif, used as they were to sin and wrong.

What they saw,, as they looked, was a slight figure in a torn and faded calico, and a small white face, framed in dark, loosely curled and tangled locks, whose features were pinched and thin, while the great brown eyes seemed strangely disproportioned to the rest of the face. A pitiful sight, indeed, in such

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a place, and made still more so by the hard, defiant look, which robbed it of all childishness or grace.

The officer who had arrested her made his complaint, charging her with theft and vagrancy, she meanwhile looking at him as if she could spring upon him like some wild beast; then the justice turned to the little prisoner, —

“ These are grave charges, my child ! ” he said in a gentle tone, which made her turn her brown eyes upon him with a curious stare. “ Do you plead guilty, or not guilty ? ”

“ Not ! ” she said, fiercely. “ I never stealed that bag — ’twas Mike an’ Nick as done it, an’ you’ll find ’em at No. 13 Gem Street, — the villains ! ”

Her voice was so decided and vindictive as she gave this information, that some of the officers smiled, while the justice questioned her more closely.

But, in spite of all his diplomacy, he could elicit nothing against Ma’am herself; nor, indeed, any of the members of her household, except these two. They were the ones who had betrayed and deserted her, and punish them she would, if possible ; but she had no present grudge against the others — let them go !

The end of it was that she was declared a vagrant, and receiver of stolen property, and the justice, feeling that he was doing it for her own good,

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sentenced her to the Reform School at A for

three years.

Those of us who only see the brighter side of life can scarcely understand what feelings came over the poor, unlovely child as she heard this sentence There were but two things in life she really cared for

— her liberty, and plenty to eat ; but two things she really feared — Ma’am’s wrath, and the terrors of the law. Yet Ma’am’s whippings could not last long, if they did come often, and she was generally a trifle kinder after them for a day or two — but what would it be in a Reform School ?

She looked from face to face — there was no relenting ! The justice was already occupied with another case ; each man was busy with his own affairs

— what was this child to them ? And now, the officer touched her shoulder.

“ Come,” he said, and mechanically she went with him, her soul in a tempest of despairing rage, but her face was as non-committal as ever.

She could get no comfort anywhere, except in one dreadful thought : she hoped that her information against Mike and Nick would send them, too, to prison — if not, she would do them a worse injury, some day ; and this wicked thirst for revenge really helped her to be brave under her own heavy trial !

Do you think her almost too bad for me to make a

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heroine of ? Yet would you be any better if you had been brought up with thieves for companions, and absolutely no knowledge of good; and if, above all, you had never known what love meant? I think not.

It was about two o’clock that afternoon, when the sheriff and his charge boarded the train for an hour’s

ride to A and the latter, who had never been in a

railway car before, was quite taken out of herself by the novelty of all she saw. Sitting next a window she was soon absorbed by the view outside. The sight of the wide, open country was utterly new to her, and she now saw it at its loveliest ; not a great

expanse, to be sure, for A was but a suburb of

the larger place, but enough to see broad fields of sprouting wheat and timothy, their tender green contrasting with the rich fresh loam just upturned by the plow, — enough to see orchards just bursting into bloom, whose wonderful beauty made her give a delighted exclamation, and turn to the sheriff with a smile on her face which quite transfigured it. He dropped the paper he had been reading, and looked at her with an answering smile. He was a man of kindly nature, but he had not been attracted by the sullen, hard-faced child, and had scarcely spoken to her before — now he said, pleasantly, —

“ You like the country ? ”

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“ Is this country ? ” she asked, wonderingly.

“ Of course ; haven’t you ever been out of town before ? ”

She shook her head, and turned back to the window, unwilling to lose one instant’s sight of the loveliness without. By and by, however, she was aware of a certain fresh, sweet odor which brought the hospital powerfully to mind, and, turning quickly, saw a boy coming down the aisle of the car with a basket of flowers on his arm. She leaned forward, watching him with intent eagerness, while the sheriff also watched her furtively, from behind his paper. The boy passed by, and an intensely disappointed look came into the little face, as she caught the sheriff’s eye.

“ Pretty, aren’t they ? ” he remarked in a careless tone. “ Do you like flowers ? ”

“Oh, yes ! Won’t they give us any ? They did to the hospital ! ” she answered, naively.

He laughed with good-natured amusement, and called out, —

“ Here, boy ! Come back ! How much for a bunch of pansies ? ”

“ A dime, sir.”

“ All right — give us one ! ” and selecting a fine bunch, the officer handed it to the amazed child.

“ They’re for you, my girl,” he said kindly. “ I’m glad you like flowers ; it’s a good sign ! ”

THE ARREST AND SENTENCE.

IT

It was the first time in her life that she had been made the recipient of a gift, and nothing could have so greatly surprised her. The words “ Thank you ! ” were strange to her tongue, but the strong feeling of gratitude which, for the first time, filled her heart, must have some expression. She looked from the flowers to the man, and a softened light came into her brown eyes, which made them seem beautiful, as she said, earnestly, —

“ I like you ! ”

Her tone and manner made the words mean a great deal, and the man of law plainly showed the pleasure they gave him. When they left the car, her hand rested quietly in his, while the other tenderly grasped the precious flowers — and so the first ray of light and love entered the child’s heart on the very day she was deprived of her liberty, and consigned to what had seemed, in anticipation, a dreadful prisonhouse.

From the train they stepped into the Eeform School wagon, which was awaiting them, driven by an old negro, who showed his teeth in a broad grin at sight of the sheriff and his charge.

Turning from the town — to her great content — they made for the open country where, after a mile ride, they came in sight of a cluster of pretty, Queen Anne shaped buildings of red brick, scattered here

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and there in a large, park-like inclosure, with handsome drive-ways, and the greenest of lawns, sloping gently to the road.

They turned in at the gate, and drove to the central, and largest building which faced the main drive, stopping before its door. The little girl, who had been thinking it was a very fine place, looked at her new friend, questioningly.

“Yes, this is the school,’’ he said, answering her look, and lifting her out as he spoke : “ You’ll find

lots of flowers, too ! ” he added, kindly.

They went inside the broad doors, through a tiled hall, into a large, handsome room, where a lady of fine presence met them, her white hair waving back from a strong, clear-cut face, and her rich, black dress fitting well her compact figure.

She shook hands with the sheriff, then looked down at the child.

“ So young ! ” she said, in a pitying tone ; then, more briskly : “Well, we’ll try and make a woman of her ! ”

Then they passed into a smaller private office, and, seating herself at a desk, the lady superintendent opened a large book, took up a pen, and asked, —

“ What is the name ? ”

“ Jack Silsby,” said the sheriff.

The lady stopped, her pen suspended in mid-air.

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“ J ack ! ” she said, a little sharply, “ that’s no name for a girl ! What’s your real name, child — don’t you know ? ”

The girl slowly shook her head, struggling with some memory, which eluded her like a dream.

“ It’s Jack ;_that’s what ’tis,” she said perplexedly, but with an air of truth which made the lady look at her closely. “Jack — Jack — ’’she mused; “there are names — let me see! Jacquette, Jacqueline — could it be ” —

But the brown eyes looked up eagerly.

“ I know — it’s that — she said it — mamma did ! ” and the struggle for the elusive memory, with the strange sound of “mamma” on her lips, brought a little flush to her cheeks.

“ Which ? ” asked the lady, watching her intently.

“Jack — leen,” she said, stammering over the Frenchy syllable ; “ it’s that, sure ! ”

So she was booked with the pretentious name of Jacqueline Silsby, her age guessed at as twelve years, eyes and hair dark, health generally good, etc., etc.

“You will have to begin in cottage F,” said the superintendent, in her business tone, “ and work your way up. A is our Honor Cottage, and when you get there, you’ll have especial privileges. You will be treated well, so long as you behave yourself, and obey the rules, and I hope soon to see you promoted.”

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As the lady began, she had touched an electric button in the wall, and. now a girl appeared at the door, and waited her will with a respectful air.

She was tall and sallow, with mild gray eyes, and was dressed in a plain, dark -blue calico, with a white neckerchief of spotless purity folded across her bosom.

“Take this girl to F,” said the superintendent, designating Jacqueline, who started to follow, then stopped, and turned to the sheriff.

He had already made a move toward her, and now held out his hand. Jacqueline put hers within it, and looked up into the rugged, fatherly face. Something struggled in her soul for utterance — something of the new and better feelings which his kindness had awakened in her, but she had no words for these, so she fell back on the old sentence.

“ I like you ! ” she repeated, with her wistful eyes looking into his. “ Good-by ! ”

“ Good-by, my dear ! ” he said, almost tenderly, giving her hand a warm pressure, and his eyes followed her, as she reluctantly left the room.

He had children of his own, and something like moisture came into his eyes now, as he turned again to the lady.

“ That’s twice she’s said that, to-day, Mrs. Hungerford; the poor child’s got good in her somewhere,

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I’m sure, for she is so easily impressed by kindness — and you never saw anybody so crazy over flowers ! Well, she’ll be better off here ! ” — and the two were soon deep in official talk.

Meanwhile, Jacqueline followed her guide through a back corridor, down a flight of outside steps, and along a winding path, to that one of the Queen Anne cottages furthest from the road. Across its front was a broad piazza, with a door in the center, and long, double windows on either side.

Over the door, which was ajar, was a big gilded F, and, as they stepped under it a bell rang sharply in some inner room. Then a door opened upon the right of the hall, and a lady stepped forward.

She was plump and fair, but had an anxious line between her eyes, which made her look rather stern. Jacqueline’s conductress bowed, saying, —

“The new inmate, ma’am,” and turning, disappeared at once, while Jacqueline followed the lady into a parlor, which she thought the prettiest place she had ever seen.

“What is your name ? ” asked the manager.

“ Jack-leen Silsby,” answered the child, and took the seat assigned her. The lady smiled.

“ Something of a mouthful ! You will be known here as No. 27 ” — and stepping to an inner door, she called : “ Mrs. Kenneth ! ”

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A comfortable-looking woman appeared, to whom she said, briskly, —

“New inmate — Jacqueline Silsby — No. 27 — I give her into your hands/ 7 and again the poor child, now utterly weary, obediently followed.

They crossed the hall, and went up a broad, slippery flight of waxed stairs, then down another corridor, and turned into a large and well-equipped bath-room. Here, poor Jacqueline was put through such a scrubbing as she had never even dreamed of, and then, exhausted, yet strangely enough half rested as well, was seated in a chair, and her heavy locks shingled tight to her round little head.

This operation finished, she was clothed in a garb exactly like that of the girl whom she had lately seen, and conducted back to the manager’s room.

All this had made Jacqueline look so pale and weary that the lady noticed it, and said, more kindly than she had yet spoken, —

“ It is half an hour to supper. Lie down on that sofa, and rest.”

Nothing loath, the child did as bidden, and, in five minutes, was sound asleep.

Chapter II. First Days In The School

When she woke, the room was in shadow, but a light shone in from the hall, and there came to her ears the sound of singing, somewhere beyond.

Such singing was entirely new to her. The words “ Jesus, lover of my soul,” conveyed actually no meaning to her brain, but the sweet air made the tears rush swiftly to her eyes. She raised herself on her elbow, and looked all about her — at the pretty, bright room, now but dimly lighted through the open doorway, — at the clean, trim dress she wore, — then she felt of her smooth, cropped head, and lying back again with a certain sense of luxurious content, let the music float through her brain, while it began to dawn upon her that this might not be the awful place she had imagined it — that there might, perhaps, be ways of living better than she had known, — and something like a dim hope stirred in her heart.

She heard brisk steps in the hall then, and Mrs. Kenneth’s voice said, —

“But she hasn’t had her supper, Miss Amhurst.”

“I know,” was answered in the manager’s voice, 23

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“ but she was so evidently worn out, I wouldn’t waken her. We’d better, now, though; Mrs. Granger has saved her some supper, I believe. Poor child ! I feel sorry for her,” which words were a new surprise to the listening girl.

Then Miss Amhurst, entering, lighted the gas, and seeing her charge was awake, said quietly, —

“ You may get up now, and have your supper ; Mrs. Kenneth will show you the way.”

So Jacqueline ate her big bowl of bread and milk, alone in a great dining-room, where plates were laid for forty at least, and thought in her sharp hunger, she had never tasted any thing so good ; after which she followed the matron upstairs to a door in a side corridor, upon which, in black letters, was painted her own new number — 27.

“ Here is your room,” said the matron, briefly ; “ good-night ! ” and Jacqueline was gently thrust in, while the door shut with a snap that locked it fast.

She stood, and looked about her a moment, for a dim light from the corridor shone in through the grated transom above the door, and disclosed a very small, cell-like room, with bare, polished floor, narrow iron bedstead, draped in spotless white, one small table and chair, and a grated window opposite the door. Across the bed lay a coarse white nightdress, whose use she had learned at the hospital, and

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now, with a strange mixture of feelings — a certain sense of injury at being kept here against her will, struggling with the conviction that it was a better home than she had ever known before — she prepared herself for the night, and, creeping in between the cool sheets, lay for a little time broad awake, but strangely quiet, and free from hateful thoughts, till gentle sleep closed the brown eyes over a softer, more satisfied expression, than they had worn for a long time.

Jacqueline woke to one of those mornings which, dawn upon us, now and then, to revive our hopes of heaven. The air was balm ; the sky, one broad, blue smile ; the trees, a bouquet of bloom ; the birds, riotous with delight — but in her spotless cell she could get only a glimpse of it all. A great bell, booming somewhere, had awakened her, and she hastened to dress, with that same odd mixture of expectation and angry rebellion with which she had gone to sleep.

Indeed, her soul had unconsciously entered upon a new era — the waters of life were stirring from their long, ice-bound sleep ; if the sunshine of love should fall upon them, they would sparkle into life and beauty, and rise in mists to heaven ; but if the freezing breath of indifference, injustice, and wrong were to touch them, they would congeal again into hard, cold inaction and despair.

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She dressed, and waited with angry impatience, scowling fiercely at the locked door, and when it flew open at the matron’s touch, she sprang out, much like a rat from a trap.