“‘Well, thieving is the only legitimate occupation I have. A few weeks’ dissipation serves to render me forgetful of my prison experience, hard and bitter as it may have been.
“‘My trade is a precarious one—from day to day, from hand to mouth. If the hardships, the danger, the necessary and never-ceasing anxiety of a life of pillage could be presented to the infant mind, I think there would be no thieves.
“‘It is terrible, and yet, to one who has been initiated into the wicked mysteries, there is a fascination which cannot be resisted.
“‘It is all luck—I may run a day, a week, a month, a year; but, sooner or later, I am sure to feel the cop’s accusing grip upon my shoulders—and the eternal dread of this is what gives the wandering glitter which you may have noticed in the thief’s eye, and which renders his life a torment of restlessness and fear.
“‘Well, after a while, I find myself here again, and immediately pitch in to drown my wretchedness in hard work.
“‘The magistrates know me, and treat me as an old customer; and here, in the prison, they regard me as an erratic boarder (permanent enough now!) who will be sure to return again.
“‘This is the routine of my own life, and may answer for that of many of my class.
“‘I will relate to you the circumstances of my last arrest—and my final one, for I firmly believe that I shall never again quit these prison walls alive.
“‘I had just finished a term of four years, and, after praying to God very sincerely, and reasoning with myself very strongly, and come to the determination to lead an honest life, if within the scope of possibility. Fortune favoured me, and I obtained a subordinate position in the office of a prominent lawyer.
“‘He knew my history. I told it all to him, and threw myself upon his generosity. He extended his hand nobly to me. For a long time I did not repay his kindness with ingratitude. I suffered more than he thought in my endeavours to be honest.