&c., and still had some remaining, I found it advisable to see the mother, and to my astonishment found it all a fiction, for she had not given him any, and we were both at a loss to conceive how he obtained it.  The child told me his mother gave it to him; and he told his mother that it was given to him at school; but when he was confronted with us both, not a word would he say.  It was evident, therefore, that he had obtained it by some unfair means, and we both determined to suspend our judgment, and to keep a strict eye on him in future.  Nothing, however, transpired for some time;—­I followed him home several times, but saw nothing amiss.  At length I received notice from the mother, that she had detected taking money out of the till, in her little shop.  It then came out that there was some boy in the neighbourhood who acted as banker to him, and for every two pence which he received, he was allowed one penny for taking care of it.  It seems that the child was afraid to bring any more money to school, on account of being so closely questioned as to where he obtained it, and this, probably, induced him to give more to the boy than he otherwise would have done.  Suffice it, however, to say, that both children at length were found out, and the mother declared that the child conducted her to some old boards in the wash-house, and underneath them there was upwards of a shilling, which he had pilfered at various times.

The reader may remember too, that during the autumn of 1833, a boy of fourteen committed suicide, and that another of the same age was convicted of the dreadful crime of murder.

It appears he knew a boy a little younger than himself, who was going to a distance with some money, and having taken a pocket-knife with him, he way-laid him and threatened to murder him.  The poor little victim kneeled down,—­offered him his money, his knife, and all he had, and said he would love him all the days of his life if he would spare him, and never tell what had happened; but the pathetic and forcible appeal, which would have melted many a ruffian-heart, was vain:—­the little monster stabbed him in the throat, and then robbed him.  On his trial he discovered no feeling, and he even heard his sentence with the utmost indifference, and without a tear.

It would have been easy to multiply cases of juvenile delinquency, both those which have been brought under the cognizance of the law, and those which have come to my own knowledge, but I think enough has been related to shew how early children may, and do become depraved.  I have purposely given most of them with as few remarks of my own as possible, that they may plead their own cause with the reader, and excite a desire in his bosom to enter with me, in the next chapter, on an inquiry into the causes of such early depravity.