Arizona silver belt., 1892-08-06
SINGING TO CONNECTS.
YOUNG WOMEN WHO DEVOTE THEIR
 TALENTS TO CHARITY.

Mary ana Lizzie Borneman's JfolpfuI
 Work In Brookiyn's PrIsons-Interest-
 Ing Details oG Their Experience Among
 the outeasts Of Society.
 There are two young women in Brook
 yn who have laid out for themselves a most unusual line of duty, and who have SO modestly and quietly pursued it that this is probably the first time their names have ever come before the public, These noble young wom6p are the Misses Mary and Lizzie Borneman. who have consecrated their lives to work among prisoners and the very poor of the city. They were born in the old part of the city lying beyond Willough- by street and Adams, and in that vicin- ty their lives have been spent For the last five years they have lived with their parents and sisters at 36l Jay street, and arc very domestic, industrious girls, car ing for their younger sisters and aiding their mother in good old fashioned way SO seldom in vogue now.
 Of all the family they two alone arc endowed with the gift of song, Mary heHins $ strong, clear soprano and Liz sie contralto of wonderful strength and beauty. To them the gift seemed to be divinely given, and they decided even while children that it must be used for somo good end, some purpose, For time they sang in churches, re- ceiving large salaries for their services, but this seemed selfish use of their beautiful voices, and even against the wishes Of their parents they began on | Easter Sunday, ten years ago, to sing in | Raymond Street jail at Chaplain Bass | morning services, and from that time | th6sr talents have been devoted entirely ! to this work. Every Sunday morning at Q o'clock they are admitted to the corridor of the jail, and every Tuesday evening, and no prisoner who has been | locked within those walls during the 1 past ten years but has been comforted | by the sound of their voices. Once in ! the month always, sometimes twice, they sing in the Kings County peniten- tiary in the afternoon, and since the h. dustrial home has been started they sing there Sunday and Thursday even ings. Aside from these services they sing often in concerts given for chari- table purposes.
 Nor are their duties entirely confined to singing. Often they are sent for by some poor prisoner, and never call comes in vain. At any time they are ready to go with words of comfort or little gifts of some kind to the darkest cell, 10 the most desperate prisoner, Next to Rev. Mir. Bass himself. thesb two young women are best known and best beloved of any persons in Brooklyn by the outcasts of society.
 Not few times" said Miss Lizzie td a reporter, 'haye we acted as brides. maids in the jail and peniteutiary, and have signed our names as witnesses tc tho marriage contracts. Qnite as often too, have we stood as godmothers tc poor little prison born babes We are often sent for to sit beside the sick pris oners, and have seen deaths, too, within the prison walls.
 Have you ever known many of the
 tamOus criminals hereT
 "Oh, yes The saddest duty we eYel
 mad to perform in our lives has been tC
 visit some of the condemned men il
 Raymond Street jail shall never for
 get tho morning Mills was hanged II.
 was convicted of wife murder, and be
 fore his death was converted to Chris
 tianity through Mir Bass efforts H.
 often wanted us to sing for him, and t' < the last we went The little organ wa placed inst outside his cell door, ant
 there we would sing and Mr. Bass would
 talk to him l. seemed always to cheei
 him until the day before the execution
 when, while we were there, the clothe
 he was to wear, even 10 the slippers ana hose, were brought to him, and then h,
 seemed stunned and was like one turned
 to stone. He seemed then to fully reahz his position, and from that moment los , all of his cheerfulness. l. was his wisl , that we come again in the morning. an, 1, of course we went and sang as long d we were permitted to stay"
 Were you with any others at such
 timey"
 "Ycs, WIG were with Jefferson becor 1, that
 "We were afraid to gonear McElyaiue'
 cell. He was so coarse and brutal tha , his language was not fit for Us to hear , He is the only prisoner we have met wh has rot behaved like gentleman in on l presence. When we were visiting Mills s every day Kramer, the burglar, occu pied an adjoining cell and used to han f a blanket up to his door that he migh 1 not see us, and wo were very carefu l never to look toward his cell. One day
 however, Mills told us that Krame wanted to speak to us, and we notice - then that there was oscreen at the bar y of his cell. He asked us to sing som e favorite hymn of his, and from that tim seemed very friendly. He afterward wa V sentenced to two years and a half in tn
 penitentiary, and while there sent for Il
 to come to see him. He was @ desperat
 man, and had broken out of every priso 0 in which he had ever been confined an '- had won for himself the s6briquet ( ' Bolts ard Bars"
 d Few young women truly have wi q messed such scenes as have these youn '- singing missionaries, and their home l. filled with little gifts, tokens of gratitud d from prisoners. New York World, n He Never Lost Book. once heard of fine old bibliopm Al l.