ABSTRACT
The very first night the author took a nice bath, had a change of clothes, and a good meal. Inside the Detention Home they found a motley crowd of aspiring young crooks —young aspirants to the "hall of fame of crookdom." In their own minds they had already achieved fame in the world of crime, and proceeded to impress that fact upon the other boys. The whole thing seemed to be a contest, among young crooks, to see who was the biggest and bravest crook. The author wanders away from home and "hitched" a ride on a truck, which carried him several blocks from home. Their questless journey led them to a group of boys who were playing games around a church. During the five month's imprisonment they worked as an errand boy part-time, and went to school. Discipline was so strict throughout the institution that a boy could not even talk, and there was not any interesting recreation or diversion.
