Barry Pain

“ So on a Saturday afternoon I put a packet of sandwiches in one side-pocket of the jacket of a blue serge suit, and a flask of cold weak tea, flavoured with lemon, in the other side-pocket. I have no objection to drinking intoxicating liquors when I wish to become intoxicated, as from time to time occurs, but for ordinary drinking I have found cold tea to be the most useful. It should be very weak—strong tea affects the nerves, and my nerves are important—and the flavour of lemon blends pleasantly. In the breast-pocket of the same jacket I carried a letter to Miss Hannah Gosforth. ”

“ There is a type of woman that always gets an order cheque-book for safety, and always alters "order" to "bearer" for convenience. She carries fifty pounds in gold through a crowded thoroughfare in a silly hand-bag at the time when a man of observation might be expecting her, and thinks herself secure because the bag has a penny-farthing lock on it. ”

“ II RECLAMATION WORK At one time wives and families of men who were serving their sentences in prison frequently suffered great privation. In sheer desperation they would often be themselves driven to dishonest courses to procure the bare means of existence, and in this way the punishment of crime was in reality the cause of its multiplication. ”

“ Mrs Gimbrell was touchingly grateful
"If ever Alf goes crooked again," she said, "after all you've done, Mr Dix, he ought to be took out and shot, though it's his own wife that says it."
"Ah, Mrs Gimbrell," I said, "why did you not use your influence to check him before he got into this trouble. Time after time you must have known that the money he brought in was not made honestly."
"Well, what was I to do? After all, its for 'im to look after me; it's not for me to look after 'im. It's not for a married woman to set and slave while the man spends the money. He ain't bad many ways. ”

“ Miss Gosforth don't deal here."
It was clear to me that Miss Gosforth had at one time dealt there, and had subsequently transferred her custom; also that the man knew her address perfectly well and had not the remotest intention of giving it; so I thanked him and went out. I then tried a postman with the same story.
"Yes," he said, "I know Miss Hannah Gosforth well enough, but that address is wrong. It's not a street, it's a road—Marley Road. Ivy Cottage, Marley Road, that's where she lives, and it's pretty well the last house." ”

“ It gives me a great satisfaction to note the blunders that lead less intelligent criminals to their destruction, and the way in which I avoid those blunders. Again, though I have a house at a fairly high rental in Bloomsbury, and a smaller house at Brighton, and paid close on five hundred pounds for my motor-car, and live very comfortably, a certain portion of my income is set aside for my work among the criminals and the suffering of the East End of London. ”

“ I am sure the last time that Ikey got into trouble Inspector Measor was almost apologetic about it, though at the same time he told me that he was afraid I should find Ikey a hopeless case. I am known as a thief to myself alone. As the cashier was talking, a little old woman stepped up to the counter and I stood aside for her. She was dressed very neatly in a by-gone fashion, and gave one the idea of a particular and prim person. As soon as the cashier saw her he produced a canvas bag, and as she handed in her cheque, pushed the bag across to her. ”

“ He's out Saturday morning, and then it's just the few weeks before we all goes down to the hop-picking. That always suits him—looks a better man every time when he comes back. If he'd keep straight for them few weeks there might be a chance."
"I will do what I can. On Sunday afternoon I shall be giving a short address in Hyde Park. Bring him to hear me and I will see that what I say is specially suited to his case. Yes, I know that it's a long way, but the walk will do you both good. And when the address is over I will have a few words with him privately." ”

“ I tell you, Gimbrell, you'll have to quit it."
"That's what I was wanting to do. But yer see how it was. I come 'ome and finds the missus very 'aughty and teachin' of my own kids to look on me as if I was a leper. I know she had some money, but there wasn't so much as the price of a pot for me. I could go out and see if I couldn't find a job of work, she said. Nice words those are to use to any man! Then I come on my friend and he got talking. You see, you must have a bit of something in your pocket to be going on with while you're looking for some suitable occupation. ”