The prairie news. [volume] (Okolona, Miss.) 1851-1875, 1858-04-08
VOL. vI.---NO. 80.


To the unihitiated, jail life is a horrible
mystery. The weak and romantic, when
overcome by disappointments, sometimes
imagine that the quiet and seclusion Of
confinement would not be so intolerable
after all but the terrors Of incarceration
need only to be experienced to impress
their dreadful realities upon the mind of
the unfortunate victim. Without pre-
suming to speak from experience, we but
express conviction which is the result
of observation, that solitary personal con-
| fnement is one of the severest Ordeals to
which frail mortality can be subjected
During an occasional visit to the city
prison yesterday, we were led to reflect
somewhat upon the sad condition of the
unhappy felon, the dismal clank ofwhose
chains within we could hear distinctly as
we stood at the portals of the embrowned
and gloomy pile. A misguided man,
whose fetters dragged so heavily and dis
cordantly upon the cold, stoney floor with
in, had obtained permission to emerge for
the time from his living sepulcher in his
narrow cell, to exercise his jaded limbs
and breathe the free air in the little inner
court of the temple dedicated to those
who practice the various grades of crime.
AS the poor man crossed to and fro, drag
ging his iron fetters after him, he hum
med favorite song with which we were
familiar in our childhood days.
The sweet old melody and the rattle
of the heavy chains in that dismel hall at
once touched and stalled us. Perhaps
the unhappy victim had sung that very
song in his sunny youth at the joyous
feast, or in the gay saloon, or had be-
guiled the dreamy hours of some gentle
being whose hopes and happiness were
all too much involved in his existence
Perhaps it was the first cadence that had
been taught him by fond mother, who
trained his youthful mind and heart to
the lofty attributes of the no.
BILE character, and to love the pure and
beautiful. Perhaps he has hansas hame
away from the theater of all his crime,
and that loved and loving ones, uncon-
scious of his fate, wait anxiously his long
delay.
We thought if the noble little lads of
to-day, in whose tiny breasts now bound
the same joyous impulses which made
the prospect of manly life so hopeful and
glorious to the felon before us, could
have stood by us at the portals of the Jail
and heard the terrible discord of the pris-
oner's chains, accompanied by that
mournful melody, they would have VOW
ed to " shun even the appearance ofevil,"
and escape the fate of the wayward and
vicious.-Memphis AralaaeAe.
"He Drinks.''-How ominous that
sentence falls How we pause in con-
versation and CALCULATE" 1t is pity"
How his mother hopes he will not when
he grows older; and his sisters persuade
hem that it is only few wild oats he is
sowing And yet the old men shake
their heads and feel gloomy when they
.hink about it, Young men, just COM
nencing life, buoyant with hope, don't
lrink. You are freighted with precious
largo. The hopes of your old parents,
If your sisters, of your wives, of your
are laid down upon you.-
In you the aged live over again their
young days; through you only can that
weary one You love obtain position in
society; and from the level on which you
1lace them, must your children go into
he great struggle of life.
Exchange paper.
Would to heaven that paragraphs like
he above might be found in every news
PAPER from Main to Texas, and that, be-
ng read by young men, the shot might
strike home and secure permanent re-.
Singular as it may appear,
very few men who drink to excess can
be found, who do not denounce the habit
n the strongest terms-not the slightest.
benefit is derived from it. yet each sue
ceeding year beholds many a new made
grave which, but for habits Of intoxica-
lion would yet be tenantless. Ask any
gray haired resident of Natchez to give
you the names of his youthful associates
go with him to the cemetry and let
him point to the last sad resting place of
he chivalric, brave, honorable, kind
hearted youth who now fill drunkard's
grave. The information he can give
gou, will chill the heart like an ice bolt,
md then, if capable of appreciating the
esson, be warned in time.
Matches Courier.
Effect Of q Long Se,moa.-A clergy
nan on Sunday last preached sermon !.