The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 19, March 18, 1897 | Page 6

to help them to lead good

lives.
The next, Group B, and also Group C, will be treated in much the same
sort of way as Group A, except that these groups will be disciplined
more severely than the first one.
Little time will be wasted over Group D. The men in it will be treated
in the ordinary way, and the only especial attention they will get will be
to see that they are never mixed with the other groups.
It is hoped that, through these means, many men who are not really
criminals at heart may be brought back to decency and good
citizenship.
New York State is not alone in this desire to reform its criminals.
Last year, two Houses of Reform were established in Kentucky, one for
boys and one for girls. These prisons are situated in healthy parts of the
country, and they are built on what is called the "Cottage Family Plan."
This means that they are divided into cottages, each of which holds
about twenty-six criminals. Locks, bolts, and bars are not used any
more than necessary. Each cottage is in the care of a matron, who has
orders to keep it as much like a home as possible.
The young prisoners are taught to be good citizens, and the result has
been very fine.
* * * * *
We were talking about right whales not very long ago. Now, if we may
believe what we hear, a fine large right whale has been caught off the
Long Island coast, and the fishermen are highly pleased.
It seems that one of the beach patrol caught sight of some whales out at
sea. Hurrying to the telephone, he called up the Life-Saving Station at
Amagansett, and handed on the news.
The whole fishing population of Amagansett immediately turned out,

and in a few minutes five boats were launched, and were quickly in
pursuit of the whales.
A good many of the Amagansett men were old whalers, so they knew
exactly what to do, and soon coming up with a fine young whale, they
succeeded in harpooning him. Three of the five boats reached the scene
in time to harpoon the whale, at the same time, and then the trouble
began.
A harpoon is a sort of a spear, to which a long rope is attached. This
spear is hurled at the whale by a sailor who stands in the bow of the
boat; it has a barbed end, like that of a fish-hook, and if it once gets into
the flesh of a whale it will hold fast, and the struggles of the great fish
cannot pull it out.
The line attached to the harpoon is held fast by the men in the boat, and
as the whale, in his pain and fright, plunges, dives, and swims about to
get away from the spear that is hurting him, the boat and the men in it
are dragged after him wherever he goes.
The men of Amagansett were at first very proud that three boats had
succeeded in getting near enough for their occupants to strike the
whale.
But their pride did not last long. Ere two minutes had passed, each
boat-load was wishing that they had left the whale to the other, and
everybody was as busy as could be blaming his neighbor.
The trouble was that the harpoons had all been well thrown, and all had
stuck fast--too fast, for when the whale gave a mighty plunge, and set
off for the North Pole, at the rate of sixty miles an hour, all the three
boats, which were attached to him by their harpoon ropes, went
bumping along after him, in a terrible confusion of ropes, reproaches,
and bad language.
The whale sped along. The bows of the boats which were flying in his
wake were lifted high in the air, and the spray flew on every side, till it
was like a morning mist.

No one would let go his rope. Each man was sure his harpoon was the
first thrown; so with hearts full of fury and fear, the brave whalers of
Amagansett sped onward till they had made about six miles on their
trip to the North Pole.
Then the whale changed his mind, decided that the South Pole was
nearer than the North, and, veering round, came charging down upon
the boats.
There was consternation among the whalers!
One flip of the monster's great tail would have sent them all to a watery
grave. They could not separate because of their twisted ropes, so, with a
few more compliments to each other, they got ready for the fight.
Before the whale had had time to do any serious harm, an old man, who
had fought many such big fish in his