64 PRISON TEACHING, AND 



" Why," said he, " my father was what 

 they call a jockey-man, and jobbed about 

 with things, hay and straw, and sometimes 

 poultry, which my mother reared. He'd a 

 good many pigeons, too, which the farmers 

 sometimes complained about. One day the 

 steward's two sons, who were home for a 

 holiday, were going by with their guns, and 

 none the more out of spirits for stopping a 

 little while at an ale-house just by, when 

 they let fly amongst the pigeons on our 

 barn-top, for a wager who'd kill the most. 

 My mother saw ? em, and they saw her ; but 

 they cut off like the wind, though not so 

 fast but my father caught 'em ; when they 

 denied it altogether, and wouldn't pay; so 

 he had 'em up, and then they had to pay 

 the dearer; and this made the steward 

 mighty angry. When I was caught, my 

 father was away ; but my mother went and 

 offered to pay for the fowl, as they'd done 

 for the pigeons; but the justices wouldn't 

 hear any thing she had to say about that, 

 and so to Bridewell I was sent. Well, the 

 same day a fellow was sent there for a 

 vagrant, and he soon showed me how to get 

 a living without bird-keeping ; and instead 



