Wheeling Register

A Sad Sight

It is an exceedingly sad spectacle to look through the bars of the county jail and see, among rougher and older criminals, at least a half dozen young boys. And these are mere lads, some not more than ten or twelve years of age, and yet they skirmish carelessly about, as if in a school playground, or sit around and listen with absorbing interest to sensational stories of reminiscences told by their associates. It is an old principle that all punishment with the exception of the death penalty should be reformatory and for the protection of society, but in looking at cases like these, the question naturally arises: Will this punishment have either result.

Will confinement under these circumstances reform these boys and protect society? After the schooling they will receive from the associations of prison life, will the fear of the law, solely, prevent a repetition of the offences for which they are now undergoing punishment? Or will they go again into the world, hardened to disgrace and nerved to deeds of a more desperate and daring nature?

These are problems which might puzzle wise heads and are well worth the consideration of the philanthropist.