Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1864-06-10
Monroe Edwards.

I
We passed an hour in Sing-Sing pris-
on the other day, and while regarding
with irresistible sympathyg the wretched
inmates, we could not help thinking how
little, after all, Of the actual suffering of
Imprisonment is apparent to the visitor.
The ceaseless toll, the coarse fare, the
solemn silence, the averted look, the yell
low-white pallor of the convict; his mar
row cell, with bis scanty furniture, his
hard couch; these are indeed visible to
the naked eye Yet do but think of the
demon thought, which must eat up his
heart during the long and inconcievably
dismal hours which he passes in stiffness,
and alone! Think of the tortures be
must endure from the ravages of that
pleasantest friend, b ut most mortal
enemy, imagination Oh the delight,
the depth, the length and breadth of a
sensitive captive's sorrow. AS we came
away from the gloomy scene, we passed
on a hill, within the domain Of the guard,
the Prison Potter's- Field, where lie, un.
distinguished by maidstone or any other
mark, the bones of those who had little
else to lay there when their life of suf-
fering was ended. There sleeps Monroe
Edwards, the forger, whose fate we had
marked in successive years. We first
saw him when on Lis trial; q handsome,
well-dressed, black whiskered, seeming
seli-possessed person, with the thin var
nish of gentleman and an efrontery that
nothing could daunt. Again we saw
him while holding court with courtezans
at the door of his cell at the 'Tombs,' the
day before he left for Sing Sing, clad in
his gorgeous morning gown, with luxu-
rious whiskers, a n the manners of
pseudo prince receiving the honors of
sham subjects. The next time we'saw
him he was clad in the coarsest felon
stripe, his head was sheared to the skull,
his proud whiskers were no more;
dark frown was on his brow, his cheeks
were pale, and his lips were compressed
with an expression of remorse, rage and
despair. Never shall we forget h a t
look He had little while before been
endeavoring to escape, and had been
punished by fifty lashes with a CATO
nine-tails-four hundred and fifty stripes
on his naked back. Once again we saw
him, after the lapse of many months.
Time and suffering had done their work
upon him. His once erect frame was
bowed; his head was quite bald on the
top, and its scanty bordering hair had
become gray. And thus he gradually |
declined to his melancholy 'west of life,'
until he reached his last hour, dying in
an agony of terror, gnawing his enact
ated fingers, to convince himself that he
was still living; that the appalling change
from life to death had not yet actually
taken place And now he sleeps in a
felon's grave, with no record of his name
or fate. Is not the way of the trans
gressor hard p Cark's Knick Rnacks.
CANADA GOLD DIGGINGs.-E. II.
Keeler of this town, has just returned
from the Chaudiere River gold country,
and says that he did not find sufficient en-
to induce him to stay there.
There is much gold in the country, but
at this season of the year it is hard to be
got at, as the bed rock on which it is de-
posted is very deep, and the intervening
earth is of a clayey composition, and full
of water, with no prospect of its being
otherwise for some weeks. A great
many people from all parts of the coun-
Try are hocking in there, but are return
ing about as fast. Later in the season
The chance for doing a good business
would be much better.-StanStead Jour
uak