Retrieved Reformation

RETRIEVED REFORMATION
1 Just before Jimmy left the prison the warden advised him
to stop the life of a burglar and live honestly. He wanted him
to make a man of himself without coming back to prison
often.
2 Jimmy saw Annabel Adams and fell in love with her at the
first sight.He gave up his plan to rob the Elmore bank when
he learned that Annabel’s father owned the bank.
3 Jimmy discovered that Elmore needed a good shoe- store
and decided to start one. He fared well and became very
popular among the town dwellers very soon.
4. By the end of the year he was prospering both financially
and socially , and he was going to marry Annabel in two
weeks. He became so popular among the town mates and
everybody admired and loved him
5. The bank had installed a new vault with a time clock. While
playing , Annabel’s nine year old niece May got her five year
old sister Agatha locked in the vault. There was a great panic
and commotion because the time or the combination was
not set and nobody knew how to open it.
6 The story teaches that true love has more power than
punishment or advice in reforming a criminal . Also it unfolds
the lesson that if reformation is genuine it should be payed
off with a speck of kindness
PARAGRAPH QUESTIONS
1 Ben price was the detective who arrested Jimmy for the
Spring field burglary .His investigations had revealed that
Jimmy always performed in a style of his own. He never had
any partners . He used his own special tools to open safes
and lockers . And outside the prison he always moved with
the upper class in the society. So whenever he got into prison
he had people who would get him out of it very soon The
burglaries in Richmond, Logansport, and Jefferson city
happened soon after Jimmy was released , and they had a lot
of similarities with the Spring field burglary . So Ben Price had
no doubt that they were done by jimmy Valentine.
2. Ben Price was the detective who arrested Jimmy in the
Spring field burglary case. Connected with that he had made
a study into his character. Jimmy was handsome and young
with a taste for good society. His high connections always
helped him to get out of the jail. That is how in the Spring
field case he was able to get out of a four year sentence after
ten months . He also had a professional style of his own. He
had no partners and always used special tools to open safes
and lockers in a very easy way. Ben also realised that Jimmy
was a good man at heart and that is why he left without
arresting him at the end of the story
3. Ralph was on his way to Little Rocks to meet his friend Billy
and present him his very special tool kit. But before leaving
Annabel’s father wanted him to join the family to see the
vault newly installed in the bank. It was the most modern
with a single handle and time lock. In a spirit of play
Annabel’s niece May locked her younger sister Agatha in the
vault . Unfortunately the combination of the time – clock had
not been set and nobody knew ho to open it. There was the
danger of the child being chocked to death without enough
air inside. There was panic and commotion and Annabel
turned to Ralph for a plea for help. He could not stand her
tears and the Jimmy Valentine in him came alive. He opened
his suitcase , took out his tools and started working . In ten
minutes the lock was off and the door opened. The child was
safe in her mother’s arms.
4.It so happened that Ben Price had traced Jimmy Valentine
to Elmore after that letter he wrote to his friend Billy. He was
at the door of the bank while Jimmy was in with Annabel’s
family to see the banks new vault. The cries and commotion
when Agatha got trapped in the vault made Ben Price rush in.
He saw Annabel looking at Jimmy with pleading eyes. Jimmy
asked for the rose on her dress before setting out to work. It
could be the last gift from Annabel because what he was
going to do might identify his real person. But he was ready
to sacrifice anything for Annabel’s happiness. He opened his
suitcase , took out his tools and started working. Within
minutes the child was safe in her mother’s arms. Ben Price
who always knew that Jimmy was good at heart was now
convinced that love had changed him permanently into a
straight and honest person . So when Jimmy saw him ans was
ready to surrender . Ben acted as though he had never seen
Jimmy in his life. Instead he said that Jimmy’s carriage was
waiting to take him at the station and walked away.
5. Once Jimmy got settle din Elmore as Ralph. D. Spencer , he
wrote a letter to his best friend Billy in St. Louis . Init he said
he wanted to meet Billy at Little Rocks the following
Wednesday. He said he was running a successful business
and was going to marry affine girl. He didn’t want to lose that
love and so had decided to give up his burglar’s life and be
honest and straight forward from then on. After the marriage
he was planning to go to the west where police would never
come after him. But before leaving he wanted to give as a
present to his friend his very special and precious tools he
had designed for himself.
6. The title seems really apt and befitting to the story. The
story talks about a convict Jimmy Valentine who reformed
himself into a new person after having met the love of his
life. He had great expertise in breaking open the safes and
lockers . He often was taken to the jail and got released
because of his connections. He never wanted to redeem
himself at any cost. But after meeting Annabel Adams he
became a changed man and started to lead an honest life.
But at the end of the story he was compelled to show his real
self when Annabel requested him to do something when
young Agatha got caught in the bank’s vault. Jimmy at the
cost of revealing his true identity , became ready to open the
safe using his tools to save the little girl. The tears of his
sweet heart moved him so much that nothing else came to
his mind at that point of time. Ben Price understood the
situation and got convined that Jimmy has regained his
reformation as a true and honest person . So he took an
important decision to let him free. Thus the title truly
suggests the core content of the story and it suits the story
like nothing else do.

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