The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-11-21
The Families of Prisoners.

lOuuu hiOtIOi, ciCC al euuCdleu' pIOuu anu
happy wife. When her husband had gone 10 the
penitentiary. she with her three children
to my parish. and gained the reputation
OF being queer. She told me her sorrow, but not
until l had disclosed my knowledge of it, and
showed her letters from friends who had asked
to seek her l asked her if some Of the
ladies of the church might call upon her. She
shuddered she replied oh no, don't want to
make any acquaintances; don't want any one to
know it After the ushers have taken their seats
at the evening service sometimes this
slip into the rear pew, and she is gone before
tie benediction.
When the stain comes upon the home, the cur
tains come down at the windows The children
are kept from the day school, from the Sunday
school. and from association with play mates on
the streets. Frequently, the little cottage is Of
fered fer sale without awaiting for the foreclosure
Of the mortgage, or the lease is given up. The
family moves hulredly. and almost at random,
to another place. Their conduct does not invite
acquaintance. The children are restrained from
finding ociates. Schools are stunned. An i'm
preston quickly gains footing in the neightor-
hood, that there is something strange about this
family. Soon will come rumor followed by
confirmation, OF the crime and disgrace. Exag-
geratiOns aggravate the account gossips toss their
heads at each other, and say they had known
something all the time; and there is a general
agreement by all parties t. give this family wide
distance. Children learn of it. of them think
it is brave to throw it up to the children of that
household, and there is sorrow and weeping at
night, and more shrinking by day. Recklessness
may supervene. which probably leads some of the
family into crime and infamy; or the misery may
simply be borne with some relief though frequent
removals, only to incur the same in each succeed
ing neighborhood. A woman said to me: 1T has
followed us, wherever we have gone; not per-
son before has come to talk kindly to and only
the other day neighbor called and said she
wished l would keep my children in; she did not
wish hers to play with them, for reasons which
she presumed she need not name" She added:
II don't know what to do
Add to this the common element of poverty.
Before the crime, they were generally Door,
their possessions scant, their income small and
probably heavily taxed for the benefit of the sa-
loon. But ow their support is gone The care
of the family comes upon the worse than widowed
wife and mother, while the boys or girls must
work or beg to aid her
Their new SORROWS toll, and associa tons often
most unavoidaby open the way for the downfall
of some other member of the compa ratively help.
less family The death, instead of the imprison-
ment, Of the criminals would, in many cases. be
a mercy to the home A convict with VIII ON was
once conversing, (whose family l had learned
were living not far from my OWN when l asked
him how his wife supported herself burst into tears
and replied: God only knows, sir. Just read her
last letter. 1t was not kindly letter, because
she had to tell him of her starving condition Be.
ing then on my way for an absence from home,
telegraphed lady where she would find the suf-
fering woman, and asked her to be quick with re-
lief She was in a tenement house. third story,
with babe seven months old, with not stick or
shred of furniture in her one bare room, except
sofa SO in pieces that it could not be sold. The
woman, barefoot, had supported herself by watch
ing until the hall was quiet, and then slipping to
garbage barrel under stairway for such bits as
her miserable neighbors had thrown away which
she had cleaned from sweepings and ashes and
eaten. She had no friends, and could obtain no
employment She would not telegraph her re.
spectacle family in the state of New ork because
she did not want them to know of her disgrace
And here, in this century, in town of ten thou
sand inhabitants, she was found sick and starving
with dozen church bells ringing Justify in her
ears. and the clatter of christian commerce about
the walls of her worse than prison.
AS to christianity. its followers must certainly
be ready to visit those who are in prison. to heal