The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-07-19
NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY. JULY IS, 1869.

signal OF the wand from solid masonry where has
seemed to be no trace of men an instant previous.
AT second signal they emerge aud move up stairs
with the precision of military evolution. A THIRD
Gang OF the IRON gong and a hundred doors on 2
them, managed by some invisible elockworx,
was actuated by the same Impulse. A
hundred figures appear again as suddenly A. In the
mrs, instance; and at second signal move up stairs
with the same monotonous precision OF STEP Again
me signal ls repeated, and again from ay TO hun
dfed iron doors start opeB and from fifty TO hun
dred men stand out In relief from the solid ma
sorry. fourth and ffth time; aud the capacity
OF The gloomy stone walls for human production has
obviously been exhausted, and you may peer II you
ike into little cells in the masonry thereof, which
put You In mind saving the whitewash. which is not
Egyptian, OF nothing SO Vvidly as the hypogies OF
the mummies OF Egypt.
You cannot be in two places at The same time
the same phenomenon repeated IN the southern
wing the embatted castle OF penance: only In the
the masonry and stand In relief in the low, narrow
doorways, instead OF men. You may take II for
granted that at least three hundred and ffty per.
sons have passed up the iron stairs during the five
minutes IN which you have been an observer OF
the process OF evoklng people from stone or
mumies In striped pantaoons. from their very
carefully whitewashed nypogees IN the walls. You
tramp up stairs yourself, weary enough when you
se reee e HUNDRED and ty faces every one Of which
eyes you furtivey when the keeperis not looking
eying the minister most lntent!y when that fnnc-
There is an odd uniformity about them, ana
vet an odd sort OF Individuality. They are not
Suilen some Of them are, hideous and repuisive
few OF them are; sad, very sad, most OF them are,
and there is q wonderful preponderance Of pug
noses, taking the audience together; but, after all
you may meet worse faces than the average Of them
more hardenedly criminal iaces on the street every
day, which only proves that the worst villains are
not standing boarders at the castle OF penance.
There is one strangely subtle feature ABOUT the man
ner Of them all, as II every one had lost his
IDENTITY, was looking for It; as II, In fact,
every one OF them had been No. = 80 long
that he was not quite sure whether he ever
n, horor hoo
more than one or two or three Arabic numerals.
man Is booked In . cemetery or hotel, or an in-
can only recover his identity by looking al the books
and fading out who he ia supposed TO be-; only in the
former case he Is generally too sound asleep even to
enough to permit It to be put on his tombstone.
For people who had no IDENTIFY and had some
the audience yesterday morning were remarkably
attentive. and listened most respectfully, for where
u person has lost his identity very little can be ex
pected Of him until he has found 1t again. ,,
The sermon was brevIty and consisted moro Of
exhortaion than Of exposition. Singing. Ia which
the poor human numerals or the congregation were
permitted to oin preceded; and having thus opened
the services the minister went on with simple and
prayer Tine feature ~ OF the services
received with avidity aud often with look OF
strange pathos in the eyes Of the duly. numbered
be lost the humanity has not utterly
taken leave herewith. simple hymn preceded the
inc. It Is strange, strange indeed, the mathemat-
| cal and aut0maton movement engendered In the
convict. The individual, the nerve OF personality,
work smultane0usness to the mass. ALI were on
their feet At the same instant All started in the d.
rection Of the upright at the same instant. Every
| head Of the whole $50 ceased Its upward mo-
/ ton at the same instant. 1t was as all
| were but parts OF An organ grinder's wax
| work Accomplishments; aud again. the motion with
which the heads came up was as II every one Of the
$50 was being leisurely pulled up instead Of getting
up Of MS own accord. The individuality OF motion
ID ali gone; your subject ID In motion as mere auto
matOn, duly numbered and ucketed to remain an
! automaton for many months or 30 many years. as
the case may be, and yet some half dozen, after
the beDedicton was pronounced passed their sleeves
perhaps, Of the sleeves IN question. Grind, grind
grind &c the MEMORABLE grindst0ne OF life, and yet
there are some out OF whom all the humanity
grndstone Of the prison house till the Is sore
with STOPPING at the memorable wheel and the world
is weary with turning the crank, still there is
enough Of the man left to secrete tear and beget
strange pathOs In the eye
The signal given the mass moves, no individual
moving hrst-moves In Q strange sort Of unison
from the hail. every one with tract In hand; every
one with strange longing to be more than No. in
the mute appeal Of eyes that look straight ahead
and neither to the right nor to the LETT. Down
the iron stairs they wind like tOngueess autOmatons;
as suddenly as they sprang forth $50 figures sink
into the solid masonry OF tiers one TWO. three four
and fve AZ suddenly as they sprang open $50 doors
clang upon the $50 evanshed ngures. Three hun
dred ana nifty hyp0gees again tenanted, and the
building ID as silent "a II 1t were nothing but vast
mRuB0leum.
Ten minutes or 30 elapse; the gong sounds and
the old phenomenon 10 repeated; but this time the
~ the as n
where, for automatons, they manifest remarkable
liking for salt junk and Boiled RICE the inevitable
constituents Of the Sunday dinner.
Here you may take leave OF them, for In less than
sixty minutes they Will all leave melted into invtsi
bilty again, and iron doors with No. - upon them
VIII have shut to upon their evanished figures.