The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-12-06
CHURCH WORK At THE pssI1esl1asY

CHEYENNE, Dec. ), 1877.
To the Editor Of The Leader:
Avery interesting meeting was held
on Tuesday evening at st. Mathews
church, Laramie City. The Rector of
the Episcopal church, in order to for
ward the work of the parish, has organ
lied a guild called the "St. Matthew's
Guild" The guild is composed of
members of the parish who are willing
to lend a helping hand in any way, both
ladies and gentlemen, and is divided up
into nine chapters, each chapter having
charge eff some special portion of the
parish, and having n President as its
leader. Thus, there is n chapter on
music, another on visiting, another on
the ~penitentiary, etc. 1t was the regu-
lar annual meeting of the guild held on
Tuesday evening. Addresses were
made by the Rector, Rev. II. L. Ny
rick, Gov. Thayer and myself, and
much interest was manifested. The
larger part of each of the addresses was
occupied with the subject of church
work atthe penitenitiary, it is of this
that l wish to say a few words to your
readers, hoping to call their attention
to a hitherto much neglected sphere of
labor. ....
Since the establishment of the peni-
Tertiary at Laramie City nothing seems
to have been done in any way to help
the ~convicts, either morally or relig-
iously; no service was held; no interest
was manifested. Not long after the
Rev. Mr.. Myrick assumed the Rector
ship of st. Matthew's church he visited
the penitentiary and became much in
terested, and with the permission of the
Warden, preached to the convicts.
They manifested considerable interest,
and he repeated the service in a few
weeks and visited, as he had time, the
prisoners in their cells. His labors
were rewarded by n marked success,
though not in any revivalistic sort of
way. He never began to talk relig-
ion'' to any of the men; he never
preached the subject of religion unless
the convicts themselves referred to it.
But he talked to them as u man to
! his fellowmen, and 10 won their esteem
and FINALLY their love. By and by a re-
quest came from some of the prisoners
that they might be baptized. Mr..
Myrick talked plainly with them
showed them that if they thought bap-
tism would he of any temporal service
to them in securing them special favors
in the prison, or a pardon from the
Governor, they were mistaken, andafter
examining them thoroughly, il they
still continued their request and seemed
to be really penitent, he baptized them.
Some eight or ten have been baptized
from time to time, and they have lived
up to their professions most c%reditably.
Mr.. Myrick now holds service about
once a month, and has established a
Bible class under the charge of n lay
man, which meets every Sunday.
Now this is a purely voluntary work
on the part of this clergyman. There
is no salary allowed for a chaplaincy; if
there was perhaps many applicants"
would present themselves; it is a SIM
| Pile work of love. 1t is not a sectarian
work; MI. Myrick tried to secure the
cooperation of the ministers of other
denominations in the town, and failed;
he does not try to make Episcopalians,
but Christians. The service he uses is
simply the ten commandments, and Sc
lections from the Old and New Testa-
ments. 1t was my privilege to visit
the penitentiary before leaving the
town, and the Warden told me, land
what he said is confirmed by the u. S.
Marshal and by Gov. Thayer) that
since these efforts have been madelthere
has been Il marked improvement in the
general conduct of the convicts. /
think this is the best judgment that
could be given.
Three things are much needed:
First-Either an enlargement of the
~penitentiary, or a removal of some of
the prisoners. There are a great many
more convicts than the building can
comfortably Oh BEAUTIFULLY accommo-
date; Second-Some occupation out of
doors should be given to every man;
it is most harmful both to the bodies
and the minds of the men to be shut up
without any air day after day. There
are some who have not been outside of
the doors of the prison for eight or ten
months; we cannot expect to help them
mentally when their bodies are con-
fined. Third-When men are released,
if we want them to reform, some means
should be given them;a railroad ticket
to the home Of their relatives, or a pas
sage out of the country. AS it is now
when a man gets free he has nothing,
nobody trusts him, and he must either
beg, steal or starve. 1t is earnestly to
be hoped that these measures may be
introduced in time. Reading matter
is much needed. l saw some poor fell