Now or Never by Oliver Optic — Read

The intelligence of Bobby's misfortune reached Mr. Bayard, in Boston, / by means of the newspapers. To the country press an item is a matter / of considerable importance, and the alleged offence against the peace / and dignity of the State of Maine was duly heralded to the inquiring / public as a "daring robbery. " The reporter who furnished the facts in / the case for publication was not entirely devoid of that essential / qualification of the country item writer, a lively imagination, and was / obliged to dress up the particulars a little, in order to produce the / necessary amount of wonder and indignation. It was stated that one of / the two young men had been prowling about the place for several days, / ostensibly for the purpose of selling books, but really with the / intention of stealing whatever he could lay his hands upon. It was / suggested that the boys were in league with an organized band of / robbers, whose nefarious purposes would be defeated by the timely / arrest of these young villains. The paper hinted that further / depredations would probably be discovered, and warned people to beware / of ruffians strolling about the country in the guise of pedlers.

The writer of this thrilling paragraph must have had reason to believe / that he had discharged his whole duty to the public, and that our hero / was duly branded as a desperate fellow. No doubt he believed Bobby was / an awful monster; for at the conclusion of his remarks he introduced / some severe strictures on the lenity of the magistrate, because he had / made the sentence two years, instead of five, which the writer thought / the atrocious crime deserved. But, then, the justice differed from him / in politics, which may account for the severity of the article.