The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-02-19

For the Sake of Our Dear Ones.
What would we not do for those dear
ones who are so closely bound to us by
every tie of love and affection? Are not
their loved images so indelibly photo
graphed on the tablets of our mind that
they are visible to us every hour of the day
and night? In the workshop, in our lonely
cells, in our hours of solemn contemplation,
in the dreams which haunt our nightly
slumbers, the loving glances, .he endearing
careSses and the dulcet voices of our dear
children (thOugh only in our memories of
past days of happy communion and gentle
care) beguile our senses. and engrOss our
thoughts in the solitary watches of the
night.
All! what poignant twinges of conscience
rend us for our many acts of neglect. indif-
ference. and even defiance and outrage of
their best interests; for cruel sutferingS and
privations entailed upon those innocent
ones by our wrong doing and selfshness.
and our own willful transgresSon of moral
and social laws! Now that we have time to
reflect on the misery and shame we have
brought on them by our unbridled indul-
grading vices which result therefrOm. is it
not our first and paramount duty, instead
OF wasting our time in useless regrets, to
bring all the energy. the intellectual vigOr
and the dominant will-power with which
we are endowed. and determine to retrieve,
so far as in our power lies, the SufferingS
and injuries we have brought upon our
loved ones, by turning our backs, at once
and forever, on our old companions. our old
habits. and those long cherished desires
which ever and anon assail our timorOus
natures-by transferring all that physical
and mental energy and moral force which
we. In the past, have prOstituted to our own
base ends, to bear on retracing our steps,
fOrSaking our past selfish and willful wrong
doing, and setting our face and feet firmly
toward the rising sun-bringing that energy
and moral resolution which has so long laid
dormant or misused into active operation to
reinstate ourselves in the affections. con-
fdence and respect of those so near and
dear to us.
1t is not yet too late! All may be re-
stored; and not only restored. but re estab.
lished on solid. permanent basis of desire
to compensate for the past miseries. and
purity of thought and purpose in the future.
We do not believe there is a single person
in our prison communities, whose better and
higher nature cannot be reached to greater
or less extent, through the medium of his
affections. The influence of mother.
sister, a wife, clinging, affectiOnate child,
will pierce the heart and break down the
most revengeful, vindictive or desperate
feeling, when the heart is impregnable to
ought else-tO even the desire for wealth or
liberty. The love of wife and children will
Outlive and prove superior to physical pain,
social Ostracism, mental alteration, and
even death itself-it will outlive the world
and all it cOntains-and, even when time
shall be no more, it will assert it's ascend
ancy in the regions of eternity.
But our business is with the present, and
the preparation for our prospective future.
Longer delay will only increase our diff.
culties in the way of reform. This constant
presence in our thoughts of our home and
its dear ones, will become the most power
full and valuable agent in our restoration to
society and its duties and pleasures-the
most irresistible incentive to pure and
honorable life. The only solid and reliable
foundation for our future progress and re-
habiltatiOn is. first and foremost, the
abandonment for all time of recourse to the
use of intOXicants; the repudiation of all
dissOlute companiOnships and associations;
the rejection of all those recreatiOns
amusements, OreoccupatiOns which would
lead us to indulgence in or sympathy with
those influences which have heretofore
drawn us away from the path of rectitude
and duty.
When we think of the bitter experiences
through which we ourselves have passed,
and the disgrace and mental and physical
suffering we have entailed on those loved
ones who bear our nameS-can we do ought
| but shudder at the bare idea of that bright
and loving boy, whom we have so often
dandled upon our knee, following in ou1
footsteps. and enduring those horrors which
we have passed through? Would we no
rather, dear as they are to us, follow then
to the tomb?