The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-03-13
Continued from First Page.)
VandiVersS Address.

have thought of you fellows here. and wished
I was with you. Frequently when break
fasting off chew of Climax tobacco and
tooth pick have thought of your meagre
fare and wished had some OF it. Liberty
is mighty good thing when you haven't
got too much of it and have few material
accessories to 90 with it.
[ have some theories about your case
here which probably wouldn't be the cor
rect orthodox theory. There is a French
word that expresses what l mean, but l
have not obtained license to leave America
so l wont hazard its use; but to give
you my theOry-that is something can give
yOu-yOu see, crime is a manifestation OF
improper mental balance just as dizziness
is symptom of some physical disorder. l
believe that man who has perfect mental
balance is incapable of crime. When a
man commits crime it causes him to lose
confidence in himself-that'S the reason a
criminal can't look you in the eye-that is
only few of the most experienced of us.
But promised you l wouldn't bore you
with this kind of rot. and here l am now
wasting precious time just for the sake of
telling the truth Que of the boys sug
gested to me that ought to say something
to you about reading but really L don't feel
that can. l would hate to advise you to
read anything [ would not read myself and
as don't often get into anything deeper
than Sinbad the Sailor or Jack the Giant
Killer. would not like to lead you through
the labyrinths of current literature where |
myself could not 20. Stick to your Bible,
boys: with that and jenkins on the Atone
ment you will get all the moral training that
you want. for l assure you there has never
been a code of moral Swritten by the hand
of man that will CONF up to the decalOgue--
ho, hos hon
who lived up to it. [ should think those of
you who have any mechanical ingenuity or
inventive genius could study out plans for
your future guidance that would prove of
great value to you when you graduate. l
believe that man can mould his mind to
almost anything he chooses. You can dis
cipline your intellect so that it will be ca
pable of the closest application to mathe-
NAUTICAL studies or you can train it to the
widest flights of poetic fancy. l hope you
love poetry, all of you, it is a good sign.
The man who has no poetry in his soul
must be an earthly sort of a mortal. but it's
dollars to dOughnutS he has ducatS in his
pocket just the same. And muSic-muSic
hath charms to sOOthe the Savage-breath
of the trombone player. Musicians and
poets have been the heroes of history. To
them we owe all that is sOftest in humanity
especially in the matter of heads. Poets
and musicians are the embodiment of all
the more ethereal, the more spiritual in
man. The musician can speak in all
tongues. His eloquent touch can render
an English air comprehensive to the Ger
man ear, his deft fingers can translate ST.
Patrick'S day to the unnitated Swede and
even the barrel organ of the humble DagO
speaks plainly to our Yankee ears in
Johnny Get Your Gun"
l think, in many cases, you have de-
cided advantage over us. There are good
many OF us who have made up our minds
that Doodle shall not be the ruling element
in the next campaign and as the politicians
who are heeling us are little slow about
coming down we are forced into a very
pronounced denunciaton of the infamy of
political bribery. 1t is hard work, and we
never can tell just how hard to strike them
in order to scare them just bad enough
without soaring them clear away. The pO-
SitlOn is a most embarrassing one, and self
respecting men cannot allow themselves to
be bought up like pigs in the market-for
less than twenty five cents line. l con-
graduate you most sincerely and hearth yon
your facilities for studying human nature
Ii there is one single bad trait in man it
will come to the surface when he is in a
place like this know how it is. l have
Ueell Ill tHe u .. army myself. nad IN
tended to tell you about my services under
the glorious banner of the stars and stripes.
L wanted to tell you of brave soldier who
marched in the ranks as an humble private,
but | guess l wont for | see their are two
or three here who have heard me tell that
story once. and never could tell it twice
the same way.
Here is another thing l want to say to
you while have the chance (for the pro-
liabilities are that if you ever heard that 1
was coming this way again you'd be on the
sick roll and that is, l hope none of you
regard yourselves as brands snatched from
the burning. never saw but one or two
OF these men and in each instance l was