| Show I CONVICTS AND PETS I As AI a Warder at Dartmoor one said to the writer writerS You get all kinds up here hert Convicts are arc not all ll the abandoned aban which thc they aro art so 50 o often dc to b be And AutI on one of the b best proofs of this is the tho widespread lo love e of animals which exists amon among then them It is no uncommon thin thing to find during severe sc weather that prisoners are saying say sav ing crumbs from their bread to feed teed tho the birds with And Aud such an act is is real sef- sef self denial enia for a big burly bud man who has been beon hard IlIr at work worl all alt da day in in a Portland quarry or upon a Dartmoor farm does docs oes not Dot Ibid find his rations ration any more than he be can comfortably consume You will always tIn tind a few fow convicts in in every ery bi bin bin- prison who appear to possess possess pos pos pos- sess a peculiar power over animals There was a man at Parkhurst a fow few years ago who seemed able to charm bir birds s Sparrows would como conlo into his bis ce cell at an any time perch on his bus head tea and feed out of his hands lauds And Anti yet ct thi thin thu man was in serving a R. year fifteen sentence for fora a crimo crime so brutal that ono can not here o oven on n mention its naturel Talking laiking alkin of bir birds s in prison cells a prett pretty story comes from S Stockholm A convict serving a lon long In in the state prison at nt Stockholm mana managed ed to tame ame a pair of robins so completely that ho the confiding confiding- little redbreasts not on only canie in and out of his cell constantly but ut actually built there When ho saw what was happening the convict asked to o sec ace the governor an and implored him to order that the birds should bo ho 10 left alone The governor go granted the request and ho he 10 certainly never had reason to rc regret his lis action The convict previously sulon sub sul lou Jon on an and dangerous became the most tractable in ill the prison Ho ito took tonic tho the keenest delight in watching hi his visitors hatch out four lour young olm ones and in inurn in turn urn he ho tamed till they would conic come to him lim at a whistle Gr Gradually dually the tho con con- convicts convict's character chaD changed entire entirely and last August two years carR after the first visit of the thc robins he was as released on OD tirl of ticket c There was an amusing scene ono one day in n January 1903 in an I Isle of Wight train rain Four Pour grown rown men were so seen en on their heir hands and knees in a third-class third carria carriage arriage e. e apparently hunting yi vigorous vigorous- orous I 13 y for something Inquiring what was vas the matter the Juar guard found foun that the object of their search was waR a mouse Tho The m men nen n were released prisoners from Parkhurst tho the mouse tad had escaped from the tIme custody of one of them Fortu- Fortu its owner managed e to recapture it t unhurt and ami when ho lie had dono done so 50 ho carefully replaced it inside his cap Ho Ito said that the tho little ittle creature creaturo ha had been hi his his' constant friend and companion for two years past st and that it had bad become so tame that it would sit in his open hand band and ind cat eat the crumbs with which he fed it He lie could not bear to leave lea his pet behind chind in tho the prison aud and so was taking it it with him An Au elderly lifer at ot Dartmoor a farmer b by profession has an amazing way with anima animals is a lar large e llo k of sheep belonging to tho prison nn and these are the old fellows fellow's special care aro When Whon lambs Iambs are aro loft motherless lie ho feeds feed them so carefully that he lie rarely rare- rare 13 ly loses one and it is a pretty sight light to watch tho the lambs lamb following him about almost as though tho they considered him bim their mother The Tho farm collies are arc also strongly lr attached to this prisoner and the man mau himself loves his hi charges charos so sowell sowell well that tha t he has lost all nil wish for liberty Tit |
