The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-05-22

be. to dog the footsteps of his fellow man
and in the sacred name of justice perpetu-
ally perpetuate his yearnings for revenge.
Here on the one hand was a young man
just in the prime of life, having suffered all
the trials and tribulatiOns of two long years
of penal life, with intentions presumably
good. the moments considered hours ere he
would again press his little ones to his pa
ternal heart, in his hand the edifce of his
reformation, built up with so many sacri-
fees of past bad habits and adorned so
beautifully with fair and gentle Christian
pressure, as he steps across the bridge of his
now to be hoped forgotten past, is suddenly
confronted and the fruitful mental labor of
we'll spent hours dashed to atoms at his
feet; and by whom? By rich corporate
body whose loss by the young mans error
is as drop of water to the Atlantic ocean,
or as grain of sand upon the shores of the
sea that skirt the western hemisphere when
compared to the spiritual as we'll as the
temporal doom which l now fear is his un-
happy lot.
l trust am not overestimating the capa-
bilities of any one of these railway magnates
when | say that possibly their business ca
pabiitieS may be sufficiently advanced as to
enable them to explain the difference be-
tween a railway tie and an engine of con-
StructiOn train; but of this l am certain,
that looking at them from spiritual stand
point they unfortunately, like so many 9TH
erS. lack considerably those sentiments of
ChiStan charity which should burn brightly
in the breasts of all those who know, fear
and love God.
When man has spent one, two or more
years in such all institution as this l fear
leSSly assert he has more than compensated
to injured justice for all his venial errors of
the past, his future pathway of life should
be unobstructed by any fear of future Iashes
for past gashes and he should be given free
scope and encouragement to develop those
good resolutions formed under Gods all
seeing eye during seclusion. There is some
thing wanted in any law that has it other
wise. Where is the good. ask, of preach
ing forgiveness to your enemies, and point
ing out the path of righteousness and truth.
Sabbath after Sabbath to man. if the mo-
ment he passes the turnpike, society steps
up and whirling the sword of revenge in
mid air brings it down upon his defenSeleSS
head lowering him again to earth. God has
not ordained that any of His creatures how
ever prOstituted they may be in His sight,
however degraded and fallen they may be
in the sight of their fellow-men, to be the
target at which unchriStian men should
point, to satisfy their miserable, and l will
add sinful, desire for revenge. Christian
ity is the parent of reformation as we'll as
every other civilized advancement, conse-
quently Christians should guard it with
jealous care and not allow its pure stream
to be polluted by the poisoned sewers of
narrow, shallow and putrid minds; narrow
because of their greed for gold. which were
it as weighty as the world itself could not
necessarily add one inch to their finally al
lOtted span of earth; shallow because of
their unrighteOus desire to exhibit their su-
premacy over their fellow men, and putrd
because fOrgetful of the teachings of their
Crucified Master whose mission was charity,
they allow their actions to be fed and fOs-
tered at the crib of the worlds sinful man.
ger.
1t is not the individual. it is the principle
l defend. Where are our Christian minis
ters. our boards of corrections and charities,
and all our other Christian organizations
for the reformation of the criminal? Where
are they. | ask, while these once apparently
decaying flowers in the Garden of the Lord.
now budding into health and beauty are be-
ing blasted by the blighting breath of pref
udiced and unthinking men, that they do
not step forth and save those souls, created
for Heaven as we'll as the highest and holi-
est in the land, by demanding for the ex-
convict the enforcement of the moral law
''Llve and let live," law which should
be so engrafted into our civil law that
citizens of every grade should be
bound under penalty to respect it.
1t society is sincere in its desire for ref
ormation of the criminal, it should not
adopt an obstructive policy at the very
moment when liberty affords the poor un-
fortunate the opportunity of forsaking the
by-ways of sin and vice. and treading with
unfaltering step the path which leads to
Heaven. Let the law then be barrier of
protection between the ex-convict and the
past, light upon the shore" that will