The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-07-08
A MINUTE IN A DARK CELL
The Experience ola Lady who Re
Gently Visited Newgate.

dark cell p L query. "That we do
after all other measures are tried in
vain," replies my host. well,
please put me in one and 60 away
for five minutes" / request. On
this am led towards the cell ''most
politely" as is sung in Princess Ida.
Please, Mr.. Jailer, 1 want a new
sensation; | want to struggle and be
forced in, and hear the key click in
the lock with a spiteful snap; else
how can / write of the dark cell real
istically ?"
On this proceed to throw my arms
about and behave otherwise in most
rebelIious manner. With a quiet
smile | am humored in my little
crank" and in a second | find my
arms pinioned in firm grip, and am
pushed into the dark cell, hearing
the key click in the lock, and over
the one wee bar at the top seeing the
last of the light. / know it was
silly, but, overcome with terror, |
was speechless for one brief second,
and it seemed to me as if an icy cold
hand held my temples in a cruel
pressure. Then from my dumb lips
came piercing shrek, that echoed
through those deserted halls with
horrible distinctness. Five minutes!
1t was hours before they returned
with the lanterns. "Oh, DEAR" |
grosned, evil l be here always?
Have they forgotten which one /
am locked in?' | felt that much
longer of solitary confinement would
turn my brain, and / began to gasp
for breath. At last they come:
the CLEAN of light increases the
steps sound more distinctly on my ear
returning to release me. l hear the
jailer's keys jingle with joyful sound
of freedom from:my self-imposed tor
ture, and the door flies open. / can
not speak, and, womanlike choke
down q sob instead.
At this my friend show me his
watch. How long have 1 been
there?" l faltered out. Exactly one
minute" he replied. Sure enough,
this is true. yet in that one minute all
my life seemed to come up before my
mental vision, just as it is said ones
life comes up TO the drowning man or
woman.
1 am told that usually one dose OF
the dark cell suffices the culprit, and
can not Danish the impression that
it is haunted with fiendish spirits. l
know it was silly of me to be so un-
nerved, l, who have gone about Lon
don's slums, and know no fear of living
thieves in London's streets, met at
uncanny hours. Well, call me senti-
mental if you like, for, all the same,
/ solemnly assure you that | had
rather die on the instant, be shot
down 10 the twinkling of an eye, than
be locked and bolted for one night in
the dark cell at Newgate, with no
more tangible terror than those born
of my terror-stricken apprehensions.
1t is such a little place, only big
enough to sit ina little dark closet,
in fact. Some inbuman mothers shut
up their refractory children in a dark
clothespress as punishment. At all
J times believe the woman who strikes
a child to be human monster, unfit
to hold the sacred Office of "mother.
> After this | shall still more loath the
woman who shuts her miscellaneous
} little child in closet for five minutes,
or even a minute, as a punishment,
for | know now by experience the
awful fright entailed.
| Oh, mothersl don't terrify the
little folks. Perhaps their vexlng
little pranks are only an overflow Of
| animal spirits. Learn to curb your
own temper, and be gentle with the
mites. Take the hot, fretful little
girl in your arms, undo the pinafore
and wee frock. and, slipping her out
of the burdensome clothes, place hel
in q warm bath dainty perfumed, and
my word for it, the nervous little one
will soon be splashing about the water
In merriment. Don't forget that
children have nerves as well as grown
folks, and that they have their trouble:
in child land. But | implore you, dc
not put children in dark closets as 6
punishment. If you can't control
: your own nerves, you are unfit tt
quiet your children's nerves. and host
employ some woman to manage your
offspring who is actuated by more
lofty principles and mere we'll
balanced nature than yourself.