The New York herald., 1870-08-27
AUBURN, August 20, 1870.

Hot, intensely hot, as 1t Is in every place where
sweltering humanity can fee from the direct
piercing rays of the spotted sun-for we are
assured that there are spots upon that flaming
orb, and we must believe it, for astronomers have
said it, and one, so report goes, has burned out
his eyes in endeavoring to see h-hot, say, as It
Is with unlimited space at command IN which to
move and be, what cannot imagination do for this
place, untreed unsheltered, unbreexed, the very
centre of concentrated carbonzationl In the
shoe shop the pegs throw out jets of smoke o. they
are driven into the crumblng leather, aud the
quick revolving machinery glistens with q phos-
phorescent lustre, while the unfortunate humanity
eliminated from human society by chronic dis
regard Of human rights seem gradually loosening
their hold upon this world like candles dipped in
hot water. While sitting upon his raised platform
the governor of the room--a martyr to his sense
Of duty and his daily stipend-seepily looks out
upon his busy hive, the baton of protection half
fallen from his grasp, and his revolver
| neglected and forgotten. Fortunately we
| are relieved in this place from the
sight OF woman spinning the woof that shall cover
her shortcomings and with NO vicarious sacrifice
working out her relief from the penalties Of bro
ken law. A sense Of justice saves us from over
! much pity, and no reminder of the sweet delights
that we have received from the other sex rises up
| to make our pity burdensome or harrow our feel
ings with unavailing regrets. Other shops offer
equal chances for moralizing, ont we will from the
shoe fly to other portions Of this penal caravan
sary, and endeavor to draw some instruction, II
no consolation, from its rugged recesses.
The entrance to the prison is not majestic, al
though from its front can be the face Of Cop.
per John, the mythical god who looks down from
the centre pinnacle upon the unfortunates who
tarry beneath his rule. 1t is stated a. a fact
that the prisoners who have lived under
the stern rule Of this metallic governor no sooner
are discharged than they turn at the gate and look
anxiously at the face of their ironhearted tyrant
1t Ia not stated that they receive any particular
consolation from this, but it is certain that they
move away satisfied. and this probably establishes
the fact that the prisoners not good judges of
art The wide steps that lead into the main build
ing, typical of the broad and straight road in
which many travel, surmounted, the central hall
is reached, from either side of which doors open
into the private rooms Of the inspectors and into
the public room where prisoners are recepted
for, orders for rations given out and the other
business of the institution transacted. At the
end of the hall is the large door through which
the prisoner enters to commence his new life.
Once shut the man Is looked ct carefully by
each keeper, another door opens and shuts, and
the last hope Of liberty Is limited to drain on the
namismatical ambition of reckless keeper, both
OF which have succeeded, and viii again, for
once man takes his life in his hand he is a mas
ter Of his fate. Seldom, however, has success
crowned the efforts Of the brave in this institution
though tt is something wonderful to an outsider
that this should be so, for, in other places DO.
ltical necessity has rolled up numbers upon mum.
bers of patriotic watchers until they are almost in
majority, and would seem to doubt each others
efficiency. Tho present inspectors claim great
reductions, and propose to still further ecouo-
mize, but, qstod Uub Deus, the people have suf.
fered long, and we have provsrbial authority for
saying that it makes them strong to suffer.
whereas the word of politician like the virtue of
humanity, weakens with every assveration Of
strength. However, the Gagged man Is now in the
nher circle, in full position to appreciate the care
that the State takes of its wayward sons, and as
curiosity is always stronger than grief SO much 50
that the man to be hanged always looks with
inquiring eye at the scaffold from which
he is about to take his leap in the dark, the prs-
oner is sure to study with inte1t gaze the various
rooms and halls through which he passes.
Passing the second door, we see some eighteen
steps, the echoes of the prisoners feet growing
heavier, heavier as he descends until fairly planted
ponu the stone floor from which spying the first row
ofcells in whose scant accommodations he is here
after TO swelter and suffer, and the various work
shops in which ne is to earn forty or fifty cents
day for the State. Now is he fairly at home
caught, charged, convicted, Gagged. The world ia
done with him for while, and we for ever.
THE CELLS.
The cells are very neatly arranged the halls
whitewashed often and sprinkled with sawdust,
making them look exceptionally cool and whole
some, and although visitors after half minute
inspection of the iaterior are satisfied with the
coseness Of its accommodation, they are equally
impressed that better arrangements could not be
made with the space at command. The internal
arrangement OF the cells beyond the bunk ia left
to the occupan Is, and here crop out some of the
most singular idiosyucrasies Of ch aracter imag
nable. In one cell was small ra ok intended to
hold some dozen vo lumes and on It, arranged in
style that Illustrated their degree of service lay
few books; OF course, the Bible held the 6rst 7
place, il anywhere consolation surely here; then
Thackeray's ''Newcomes," Patent Office report,
the last resort of mental starvation; Travels in
the Holy Land" &c. The books one
would have expected to see, and whose
not appear, to wit " Jack Sheppard -" The New. |
gate Calendar and such consultations for the ac-
quistve mind. In another mechanical chap |
had spent his time in framing pictures, mostly cut
from Hdrper's Weekly but even here was some |
wit, for tae artist had been wise enough to leave
the title, so that head wonld not be taken for q
landscape. Ia still another the occupant had |
opened vein and with a stick painted various |
pictures on the walls. memories of taf forgotten |
scenes when the world was not all strange to him,
pictures Of his prison experience, of his hopes |
and. last OF all, dreams OF the future, when he |
n of his iyiu 20
life ANEW. This last was in the Hospital ward, |
and the artist drdted away from his unfinished |
work into the vast future, with medium of the |
world TO ia eryene between this blood stained |
cell and the judgment seat of God. Most OF the |
men coatent themselves with the daily round of |
prison life and if they imagine Of anything else |