ial strata, that has a monopoly of the article. Good faith and
truth grow in unlikely places, as I have found in my career, for I have
looked on life from both sides, and to look on it from the seamy side is
instructive, indeed, for then the mask is off and the true character is
revealed. I have been away down in the depths, and for years have toiled
cheek by jowl, through sunshine and storm, in blinding snows and pelting
rain, with my brother men under conditions too brutal and demoralizing
to be understood if described--conditions where the very worst side of
human character would naturally be thought to come to the front, and I
came out of the fierce struggle in that pit of death with conclusions as
to the human animal that are decidedly favorable, and I am inclined to
the view that man was born almost an angel, and that, in spite of the
fearful temptations of the world into which he has been thrust, much of
the angelic pottery abides.

CHAPTER XLII.

MANY A MAN MORE DANGEROUS WRITES ALDERMAN AFTER HIS NAME.

Foster's experience during his four years' residence in Chicago was
decidedly novel, and it had evidently brightened his wits--that is,
increased his cunning without adding to his honesty. And as I think it
will interest my reader to get a view of life from the actor's own
standpoint, I will relate one of the many stories he told me during the
years we worked together.

Upon Foster's release from his first term of imprisonment he joined the
Christian Aid Society of London, and Mr. Whitely, the secretary,
promptly "sent him to sea," as he has thousands of others. In due time
he arrived in New York, but as he had heard much of Chicago he
determined to go there. He arrived penniless, but within an hour ran
against an old friend in the person of a former partner in the art of
burglary who had been a fellow prisoner with him in London. This man's
name was Turtle, and Mr. Whitely had only "sent him to sea" two brief
years before. It was plain from his magnificent diamond ring, pin and
big bank roll, freely displayed, that the seafaring life of the former
protege of the London Prison Aid Society was a profitable occupation. He
was delighted to meet Foster, and took him to a tailor's at once and
fitted him out liberally, at the same time handing him $250, just for
pocket money. When, on the next day, Foster stated to his friend that
he was ready to undertake a burglary, Turtle was displeased, and said:
"No;