HA 'PENN"Y

Of the s5.x hundY'ec.l boys at the refor" ~'latO l'Y, about 0 e

hundred 'tiere from t en to f ou r·t.een years of age. My Depar t e' t had

from time t t l.me expr6 ss ed t h t, · n t e r lt · n ot t.al ine t 16 1 e.. ·f , and

f Bst bl i s r in g a spec i al in"' t. t ut i n f X' t b ,n, mo re l i k e an dU8-

t r · ..... 1 s choo t.ha a refo ma t o:r:·;)'. is '\ au l d r.lo.v e been a good. t h in ,

f or tr..eir of f 'n ee s e '(: v ry t -"' i ia , o.nd th jr ' [ u ld hsve 'b een b ~ tt e '
by t hems Iv B. Had such a sh 0 1 estab i .... h , ., I shou l d ha v e

fred t.o rJav be n rin cipaJ o:f it IT.(YS I f, for It 'NO lId. l av e been
a l e~ si r job; ~ bib~rs t 1m in .... t· c t. :i.vely t o r ds uff ee t io , &na.

on c on tro Is tl1"rn by it, I1El. t u r ul ruld €aE i y.

ome 0 t L.e , , I C>A< e n ea r t. he.m, e i t ~ er on p rude or in

scl' 00 1 or c.:.t f o'I,'ball, vould ob s I'Ve, ill ", wa tch \ 11;><, not dire c tly or

f 'l l l ly, bu t. ob lig"uely and se cretly; s OHletime Q

I wou ld surprise them

t it , and make some srna1: sign of r'ecognJtJon, w'nich wouL sat.isfy

t.bem s o that. they woul d c ease to observ'e me, and would give tlLit '

.full utt en ',i on t o t h even t of t he Or ent. But I k n '{ that .llY

u tIlori ty wns thu co stre let 'ned.

These secret r:el&t l DS wi tl1 th nl were ~ s ouree of' continu -

ou s pleasure to me. Had they 'be n my ow childr n I would no doubt
have gj,yen a great rkxpres-' " n to tt. But o!fte n I would move through

t.he s ilent and. orc1eI'ly parad.e, and stand by one of the,m~ He Quld
J ook s tra :i.ght j,n front of h i m .1t1'1 a l i tt lE:: f rcH..'Tl of eorlcentrat i o1'l

t bat/expr essed bot.h chil .1 h awarer: e ss of and man1y lndifferenc:e to

my n earnes E',. Sometimes I auld t .ea...i.c h 18 e ar , and fi B would g 1ve lbe
', .
 2.

a "br i ef 8 i le of acknowle gment, or fr o m with still gl'euter c cm c en-

tra-tio'. . It was natural I suppose to confixle these outward expres-
sio 6 to the v e ry small est, but they were taken as symbolic, and
some older b oys would observe th em nel take themselves to be i rJC lu-

de d . It ms a l" e ief, wh en til e r e f ormatory . B pas in(.:r

'-'
through

t ime s of t 1.l1'b len ce nd trou"bl , and rh en ther e was danger of es-

tran gement b etwe en au t l r ity and boys, t mak e these simple and

natur a l ges tu r es, hieh we r e rea s s urances bo th to me n d th em that

n oth i.n i rnpo t ant had c g ed.
On Sunday af'ter oons when I Vias on du toy, I vou 10. take my
c r to the refo rmato ry and wa tch the free boys being signed out at
the gate. This simple ope-I'ation was also watcheJ. by ny boys not
free, wh o would tell eac h other "in so many weeks I'll be signed
out myself". Amon gst the watchers were always some of t11 e small
boy s, and thes e I would. t a.1.ce by turns in the cs. r . e would go out
to the Potchefstr'o OIo Road with i t8 ceaseless strean' of truf£' ~C! , and
to t:lle Barae;wanath crossroads, and come back by the Van Wyksrlls road
to the reformatory. I would talk to th em ab out their f lies,
their parents, their Sister's and brothers, and. I would pretend to
know nothing of Durban, Port ..... lizabeth, PotcIl.efstrooJn, and Glocolan,
and ask t.hem if these places were bigger "than Johannesbur'g.
One of the small boys was Ha 'penny, and :he vIas about twelve
years old. He came from Blo mf on t ein and was the biggest talker of

them all. £iismother \'lorkeel in a white p r s on '8 house, ano. he had

wa brothers and two s ist ers. His brothers were Richarc1 and Dickie
 3.

and his sisters Anna and I i na .

"Richard and Dicki e " I asked.
"Yes, meneer."
" In English, tI I s ai , "Richard and. Dickie are the same
name . II
.Vben we returned t o th e r efor'raat ory, I sent fot' Ha 'penny' 8
papers ; there it ',vas plainly set do\'m, Hs. 'penny was a wai.f, with no
relatives at all. He had been ta~ en in fr om one h ome to an other,
but h'e was n augh ty and uncon tr ollable , and eventually had taken to
i lfering at the mark t.
I then sent f or the Letter Book, and found that Ha'penny
wrot e re gular ly, or rather t ha t others wr te for him till he could
wr i te hims elf, t o ~r s. Betty !claarman, of 48 VIal: Street, Bloemf on-
tein. But W S. .aarrnan had never once replied to him. ~ ~hen ques-
tioned, h e had said, perhap s she i s sick. I sat down and wrote at
-,
once to the Social Welfare Off ic er at Bloemfontein, asking him to
investIgate.
The next t ime I had Ha 'penny out in the car, I questioned
h im again about his fr ily. And he told me the s ame as before, his
mother, Richard and Dick 'e, Anna and Mina. But he softened the liD"
of "DiCkie", so that it. sounded now like rr'ickle.
" I t !ought you said Dickie, " I said.
"I sald 'llickie," he said..
He watch e d me with concealed allprehension , and I came to

the conclusion tha 't thi s wa i f of Bloernfont e ',n was a clever' boy, wh.o

had told n, a story that wa s a l l imagina t i on , a n d had changec" one

 4.

single letter of it to ruake it safe froIP any question. And I thought

I understood it all too, that he was ashamed of being without a
family, and had invented them all, so that no one might discover that
he was fatherless an d mothe r les s , n d that no one in the world cax'ed.
whether he was l i ve or dead. This gave me a strong feelin g for him,
and I went out of my way toruanifest towards him that fatherly care
that the state, though not in th os e wor d , had enj oined upon rue by
giving me this job.
Then the letter c a;ne from the Soc ial ~Velfare Officer in
Bloemfont ein , saylng that Mrs. Betty Maarman of 48 Vlak street was
a real person, and that she had four children, Richard and Dickie,
Anna and lVlina, bu t that Ha 'penny was no chlld of hers, and she knew
h:tm only as a derelict of the stl'eets. She had never answered his
letters, because he wrote to her as mother, and she waS no mother of
h i s, nor did she wi sh to play any such role. she was a decent woman ,
a faithful member of th e church, and she had no thought of eorruptine
her f amily by letting them have anything to do with such a child.
But Ha 'penIlY seemed to me anything but the usual delinquent;
h1s deSire t o have a fmn11y was so strong, and his reforrnatory record
was so blameless, and his anxiety to please and obey so great, that
I began to feel a great duty t owards him Therefore I asked him
about h i s "mother".
He cou I d not speak enough of her, nor with too high pro. ise.
She was loving, honest., and strict. Her home was clean. She had
affection for all her childr en. It was clear that the homeless chIld,
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even as he had attached hirnself' to me, would have attached himself'

to her; he had observed her even as he had observed me, but did not
know the secret of how to open her heart, so that she would take hint
ir" and save him f'rom the lonely 1 ife that he led,
1I',Vhy did you steal wh en you had suc1). a mother?" I asked.
He could not answer that; not all his brains nor h1sfour-·
age could f ind an answeD to such a question, for he knew that with
such a mother he would not have stol en at all.
liThe boy's name is Dickie, II I said, lInot Tickie."
And then he knew the deception was revealed. Another' boy
might have said, "I told you it was Dickie ll , but he was too intelli-
gent for that; he knew that if I had established that the boy's name
was Dickie, I [mIst have established other things too. I was shocked

by the immedi.ate and visible effect of my action. His whole brave

assurance died within him, and he stood there exposed, not as a liar,
but as a homeless child who had surrounded himself with mother,
brothers, and Sisters, who did not exist. I had shattered the very

foundat ' ons of his pride, and his sense of human significance.
He fell sic~ at once, and the doctor said it was tubercu-
losis. I wrote at once to ![rs. .1aarman, telling her the whole story,
of how this small boy had observed her, and md decided that she was
the person he desired for his mother. But she wrote back saying that
she could take no responsibility for him. For one thing, Ha'penny
was a Mosuto, and she was a coloured woman; f'or another, she had
neVE:::l~ had a child in trouble, and how could she take such a. boy?

1'uberculosis is a strange th i ng; sOllletimes it manifests

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itself suddenly in the most unlikely host, and swiftly sweeps to

the end. Ha'penny withdrew himself from the world, from all Princi-
pals and mothers, and t .h e doctor said there was 1 i ttle hope. In
desperation I sent money for Mrs. ~aarmrul to come.
She was a decent homely woman, and seein# that the situa-
tion was serious, she, without fuss or embarrassment, adopted Ha '-
penny for her Q",m. 'rhe whole reformatory accepted her as his mother.
She sat the whole day with him, and talked to him of Richard and

home.
-
Dickie, Anna and Mina, and. how they wer e all~ aiting for hjJTl to come
She poul'ed out her affection on him, and had no .fear of his
sickness, nor did she allow it to prevent her from satisfying his
hunger t~be ovmed. She talk6d to him of what they would do when he
came back, and how he would go to *schoo1, and. what they would bu~

for Guy Fawkes ntght.

He in his turn gave his whole attention to her, and when
I visited him he was grateful, but I had passed out of his world.
I felt judged in that I had 's ensed only the existence and not the
measure of his desire. I wished I had done something sooner, more
wise, more prodigal.
We buried him on the reformatory far'ITl, and s. Maarman
said to me, Itwhen you put up the cross, put he was my son".
"I'm ashamed," she said, "that I wou Idn' t take him."
"The sickness, 11 I said, "the sickness would have come. I'

IINo," she said, shaking her head with certainty. lilt

would.n't have C!)Joe. And if it had come at home, it would have been
different."
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So she left for Bloerr~ontein, after her strange visit

toa reformatory. And I was left too, with the resolve to be more
prodigal in the task that the State, though not in so many words,
had enj oi.n ed on me.