The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1889-10-24
FATHER NUGENT,S VISIT.
His Introduction by Father Murphy
and His Lecture.

and His Lecture.
We were summoned into chapel on the
evening of the 10th inst, to listen to lect
ure by this we'll known priest and friend of
the poor and distressed. Father Murphy
introduced the speaker with the following
appropriate remarks:
feel 1t no uncommon pleasure to have this op.
portunity of speaking to you this evening. 1 al
ways feel very much at home here. You will not
wonder at this when tell you that have been
connected with this institution for some twenty
years. have known it when it very insig
n fcant and almost unfit for the habtation of
man. This locality used to be known as Battle
Hollow on account of bitter contest between the
Chippewa and Sioux Indians There are many
other historical medicines of great interest to me-
but the most important to me has been the indi.
vidual history OF the men who have come here
and have gone out, or have died. During these
twenty years have seen many, many faces.
know many that have gone out and are now living
in prosperity and respected by their felowmen
Some that have gone out have entered into a
blessed existence. blest by God in heaven.
We come here this evening because we have
it in our hearts to help you. You are, like our.
selves made in the image Of God. We have the
same hopes, the same aspirations. We have the
same God to serve. We all have the one end in
view. the working out of our individual destinies
We all make mistakes. and you, perhaps by acct
dent, have made greater ones than we and are
now suffering for it and are prisoners. 1 could
not let this opportunity go by to bring before you
one who is known the world over as the "prison-
er's friend" He like st. Paul. is small of stature
but he has big heart. He has spent the last two
decades in doing good to his fellowmen. He has
gone into the highways and byways and slums of
Liverpool to help the needy. He is the great gen.
eral of temperance; and temperance is the lever
by which to lift in society: it is the best COM
pass by which to guide his footsteps By the
practice of temperance men now sitting on
the judicial bench, in the senate, or are occu-
plying honored positions. There is nothing like
the practice Of total abstinence. This man of
whom have been speaking, l now present to
you-Father Nugent, of Liverpool. England.
Father Nugent then spoke as follows:
Permit me to address you as my good friends.
i will tell you why do SO. 1 have been associ-
ated with institutions of this kind for period of
twenty-three years. During these three and
twenty years from two hundred and thirty to two
hundred and fifty thousand prisoners have passed
under my personal charge. and in this responsible
position came not only in daily, but in close con-
tact with male and female prisoners. There may
not be one among you who knows my name. But
if there is any man here who has been at the
Gross my name will be familiar to him as the
friend of prisoners. l enjoy their most implicit
confidence and am regarded as their true and
steadfast friend.
There scattered all over this country and
Canada. men and women. the circumstances of
whose cases induced me to find means to help
them across the ocean into new country where
they would have the opportunity. by honest in
dustry. of gaining their own bread and leaving
the follies of their past life buried in the land
that gave them birth.
The prison is school where men may be
studied. What is it that brings to prison?
1t is often the angry word or look that throws
person off the track; the wrong bend to what
might otherwise have been a noble life. When
first began my prison work 1 received many les
sons from prisoners. 1 remember about the year
1864 or s. OF going into prisoners cell. He said
to me: Your Reverence, there is no good in vast
ing your time on us old guns; try your hands upon
the lads. II you can keep lad from being
thief up to the age of sixteen, he will scarcely
ever become one after that. A lad never for
gets the things he sees when young. The lad
who has once been tn ef finds it almost impos-
sible to live square life; he has too many pals.
Take my advice, your Reverence, and try your
hands on the kids"
This was a lesson for me. How great a lesson
you may know when 1 say that there are hun
dreds and thousands of boys on the streets sur
rounded by evil and criminal influences This