Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-23
ALUGUBRIOUS LUNCH
COnvictS and That llk Temporarily
Retired From Public Life.
MUST TAKE WHAT OTHERS GIVE
Christmas Dinners Behind Bars, With Bit
ter Tears for Sauce.
PORK AND BEANS ARE GOOD ENOUGH

peace on earth, and good will toward
men,"
the Christmas dinner has been, since the
earliest Christian history, an event which
has been looked forward to with the greatest
expectation and most potent imagination,
especially by the growing generation, as
the most Important of the year. To those
who have passed the heyday fife it is looked
forward to as q reunion of friends and
relatives, and a time when the incl
dents, trials, and tribulations of their
existence during the time since they last
met, will be poured into sympathetic ears.
Thousands and hundreds of thousands of
turkeys of all ages, sizes and conditions in
life will be placed upon the Christmas board
throughout the civilized world to be eaten
by the assembled guests. Perchance, in
some few thousands of cases, only an at
tempt will be made to enjoy the fowl, when,
for instance, the length of time which the
bird has been upon earth is uncertain.
THE THANKLEss ONES.
While millions Of people are thus as
sembled and a prayer of thanks to the
Almighty is ascending from their lips, will
those doomed to spend their Christmas in
iails, workhouses and penitentisries be re-
membered except by those to whom they are
still held dear, despite their crimes?
A gentleman, when spoken to on the sub
ject yesterday, said: II wonder II the
Christians throughout the country when
they sit down to their,Christmas dinner, and
while asking the accustomed blessing, as
the board before them groans with the
weight of delicacies, think Of their fellow
creatures who are incarcerated in the various
penal institutions within a few miles of
them? Do they, while contentedly gnaw-
ing at the fat turkey, think that the con-
victs are possibly chewing the bone of dis
content, or do they think the wives and
children of these men, who are struggling
through life's rugged path with the stain on
their protectors name hanging over them,
sitting down to a Christmas dinner which
may consist only of cup of tea and crust
of bread?"
SOME SORRY MENUS.
To solve the problem a DISPATCH repre-
sentative called at the peniJentiary, the
workhouse and the Jail yesterday. At the
former place he was told that the prisoners
would be given an extra fine dinner with
menu which would lead with roast beef and
be followed with vegetables, side dishes of
various degrees of delicacy, mashed potatoes
and tea or coffee. The convicts will be
given holiday and the workshops will be
silent.
The citizens who are confined in the work
house will not be treated to any extra bill
Of fare, but will have the satisfaction of
knowing that their friends in the peniten-
tiary are mparatiyely happy and con-
tented.
The persons who occupy the building in
the rear of the Court House Wednesday
will not be invited to banquet by the
warden, but the prison societies of the
various churches have always made it
point to remember tse Jail prisoners on that
day, and will no ooubt do so this year. The
warden said yesterday that he had 1S2 peo-
pie with him, and he had thoughtof pur-
chasing a barrel of sauer kraut and guam
tity OF pork and treating them to free
Il,