Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIV, May 1852, Vol. IVVarious
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIV, May 1852, Vol. IV
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
Very humbly all this has been done. In behalf of each outcast in turn,
Mr. Wright has pleaded with his own employer, or with others, in a
plain, manly way. Many now work under himself, in his own place of
occupation; his word and guarantees having been sufficient
recommendation. Elsewhere, he has, when rebuffed, persevered from place
to place, offering and laying down his own earnings as guarantee;
clothing and assisting the repentant unemployed convict out of his own
means, as far as possible; speaking words, or writing letters, with a
patient zeal, to reconcile to him his honest relatives, or to restore
lost friends. Bare sustenance for his own body by day, that he might
screw out of himself little funds in aid of his good deeds--and four
hours' sleep at night, after his hard work, that he might screw out of
his bed more time for his devoted labor--these tell their tale upon the
body of the man, who still works daily twelve hours for his family, and
six or eight hours for his race. He is now sixty-three years old, and
working forward on his course worn, but unwearied.
No plaudits have been in his ear, and he has sought none. Of his labor,
the success was the reward. Some ladies joined; and working quietly, as
he does, in an under-current of society, after a while, he had from them
the aid of a small charitable fund, to draw upon occasionally in the
interest of the poor friends for whom he struggled. Prison Inspectors
found him out, and praised him in reports. At first there were a few
words, and a note told of "this benevolent individual. His simple,
unostentatious, but earnest and successful labors on behalf of
discharged prisoners are above all praise." After a few years, the
reports grew in their enthusiasm, and strung together illustrations of
the work that has been done so quietly. Let us quote from this source
one or two examples:
"Five years ago I was," owns a certain G.J., "in the New Bailey,
convicted of felony, and sentenced to four months' imprisonment. When I
was discharged from prison, I could get no employment. I went to my old
employer, to ask him to take me again. He said, I need not apply to him,
for if he could get me transported he would; so I could get no work
until I met with Mr. Wright, who got me employed in a place, where I
remained some time, and have been in employment ever since. I am now
engaged as a screw-cutter--a business I was obliged to learn--and am
earning nineteen shillings and twopence a week. I have a wife and four
children, and but for Mr. Wright, I should have been a lost man."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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