Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-02-20

ants, the doctors dispensarv assistants. the
house servants and the librarian are taken
And it is from here, too, thss the prisoners
are indentured into families or returned to
their relatives on ticket-ufleave If the
conduct Is entirely exemplary. the term of
imprisonment is shortened by sew. raj days,
and sometimes weeks. If in any division.
even the fourth, as does occur, an unfortu-
nate hit of temper or insubordination renders
solitary confinement necessary, the prisoner,
as still further punishment, is Obliged to be
degraded to the fret division and do all her
work over again. although less number of
credit marks are required for advancement
1t is surprising to see how the pride and am
bition are aroused, and how earnestly some
OF the women strive for advancement; some
times the seemingly most difficult cases be-
come the best behaved. 1t is not only diff
cult, but an almost impossible task to determ-
ine the number of women who have been alb
soluteiy reformed during the five years in
which the prison has existed but enough have
been turned into the paths Of rectitude to
warrant any expense that the State has been
at to support them during the period of re-
formation. Within the limits of the State
there are happy, prosperous homes presided
over BY women who are graduates from the
reformatOry al Sherborn. In every case the
husband knows the story of his wife's career,
but it will be kept a secret from the little
children who love and honor the mother, who.
but for her timely experiences at Sherborn,
would have been an outcast and q criminal
1t is for women like these that the cry comes
constantly to the prison commission: ado
not let them shut up the prison at Sher borne
Where would have been to-day but for liz"
Many of the prisoners after leaving suppose
themselves to be lost to sight, but usually
their condition is known to the prison authori-
ties, although they give no sign. Usually
these people do well. and the very sense of
the degradation Of their past makes them
shun any allusion to it or any connection,
even that of open friendship. with its officers.
Their present is so secure, the future SO full
of hope, that they try to blot away the
past from their lives. Any feeling
like this is always respected by those
who have been her friends in the time OF
trouble, and have helped her into the new life.
During the year just closed rs were either
indentured into families or returned to their
own relatives on ricket-of-leave; of this num-
Der only four have deem returned to the prison
for msdemeanor. The State keeps close
guardianship over them until the term of
their sentence has expired. and might almost
be said to know every detail of their daily
life as infinitely as If they were in the reform
atory. When a woman has been repeatedly
returned to the prison, and it is known that
she is a hopeless case who cannot be reform
ed. no matter how thoroughly an attempt
may be made. she is transferred to a penal
institution, in order that room may be made
for the women who are not in the list of
''incorrigibles, and who NAV be helped by
the reformatory to become a good, honest
woman owing her support to the labor of her
own hands rather than to the bounty of the
State. The whol influence of Sherborn is
to make the women self-respecting, in
dustrious, cleanly and systematic. and,
above all, to teach them the sacredness of
their own womanhood. That the influence
fails sometimes is not to be wondered at
when one remembers the material on which
the work is to be done; that it succeeds so
often is matter for surprise and great thank
fnlness.