--light hair--light
complexion--scar on right instep. ----, Me."

We give the true record, except that we use the fictitious names
employed in this volume, and withhold the names of the towns from whence
they were conveyed to prison.

Five years later to the records of the same prison was added the
following:

"Samuel Drake: 33 years old--blue eyes--sandy hair--light
complexion--second comer. ----, Mass."

By this it appears that Samuel was twice in the State prison by the time
he was thirty-three years of age. What has been his course since that
period is not exactly known, though report said, a few years ago, that
he ended his life on board a pirate-ship.

But the reader is surprised, perhaps, that Benjamin should become the
inmate of a prison; for the last we saw of him was when he was preparing
for the ministry--a converted youth, as he thought, of seventeen years.
We cannot furnish every link that connects his boyhood and manhood; but
the painful story is told, in substance, when it is said that his
religion proved like the morning dew, and his early vicious habits
returned with redoubled power, so that five years after he attended the
prayer-meeting with Frank Martin, he was incarcerated for theft. It is a
startling illustration of the force of boyhood's evil habits, often
lording it over a man to his shame and ruin, even when he has resolved
to lead a better life.

The remainder of this group of boys have proved an honor to their sex,
as the principles and habits of their early lives fairly promised.

Frank Martin stands at the head of a public institution, where great
responsibilities are devolved upon him, as a servant of the
Commonwealth. Strange as it may seem, the institution over which he
presides is the one in which his old associates, Samuel and Benjamin
Drake, were incarcerated; and Frank himself opened the prison records
for the writer to make the foregoing extracts.

Charlie Stone has been connected with manufactures from the beginning,
advancing from one post of responsibility to another, employing his
leisure time to improve his mental faculties; and he is now the honored
agent of one of the wealthiest and most celebrated manufacturing
companies of New England, commanding a salary of THREE THOUSAND AND
FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

Marcus Treat, perhaps influenced by the example of Nat, devoted his
spare moments to self-culture, and made commendable progress before he
resolved to quit his trade,