The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1894-08-09
FOR THE PRISON MIRROR.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE.
Do not Waste Time by Crying Over
Spilled Milk.

Unless you are able to adapt
yourself to the circumstances
which surround you, you will only
succeed in making this earth a hell
for yourself and those with whom
YOU come into contact, though you
might be more favorably situated
than to be in prison.
AS jeremiah Taylor aptly writes
"Impatience turns sorrow into
amazement, anger into rage, loss to
despair, ague to fever, and fever
into a plague If you are labor
ing under the idea that you were
hated and treated unjustly by the
community where your conviction
occurred dismiss it at once, for the
probabilities are that the commu-
nifty did not give either you or your
concerns a second thought. The
prosecuting attorney was bound by
his oath of office, and his duty to
the public to employ every honor
able means to secure your cOnv1c-
ton, and as laws are not invented,
but are the growths Of circum-
stances, you have let these circum-
stances get the better Of you. The
surroundings which led you to CON-
nit a crime, might have been very
trying, but if you will but look
back a little past that time, you
will surely discover some mistake,
or acknowledgement in your affairs
that has led up to, and fastened
YOUR trials. Money is the root OF
all evil, and if you had exercised
little forethought when you grub
bed up that last root, how different
MIGHT have been the result. You
have now reached the climax, and
the only thing left for you, is to so
employ your time that you may re,
alize the greatest amount OF good
which it is possible to extract from
your present surroundings, retain
it, and apply it to your future life.
The main resource Immediately
at your command is study, and If
you devote your leisure time, about
three hours each day to improving
your mind, you will re-enter the
outside world far better man, and
more able to cope with matters as
YOU will find them. The illustrious
Louis Kossuth, while imprisoned
at Buda mastered the English Ian
guage by the aid Of copies OF the
Bible, Shakespeare, and diction-
arv. It doesent follow that you
can learn Greek through the med
ium of the prison library, but il
you have not the master mind OF
Kossuth, neither have you his un
bounded ambition, and can easily
learn something within your desires
and capabilities. Take up tina
| study which most interests you, O.
; still better, the one Of which you
, stand most in need, and by giving
, that study an earnest trial, yo'
!, will be simply surprised at the re
3 suits attained at the end Of 81,
: months, this will encourage you t.
continue your efforts, and the goo'
1 required, will surely result. Shoul'
3 the study you wish to persue b
3 not available to you here, an ap
/ plication to the new friends whicl
l your unfortunate position hav
t raised up for you, will surely pre-
/ cure it for you, for they will gladl
e aid you in any and all things reason
e able. Drive away morbid thoughts
L and do not waste time in cryln
d over spilled milk. It is all RICH
i, to repent of past misdeeds, this 20
5. should certainly do, but there is
r vastditference between repentance
S and brooding, the latter is entlrel
# unnecessary and it does not requll
II a whole life time to accomplish tn
IL former. When you parted wit
a father, mother, brother, slste
h wife or sweetheart, you repente
Is more deeply, and suffered mo-
le keenly in five minutes, than yo
rs will in five years in prison. Atten
i, chapel frequently, if not urge
IN thereto by religious motives, it wi
IN still act as a pleasant diversion al
7e expose you to a Wholesome inf17
R. ence. Train your good resolution
le SO thoroughly that they cannot
~ drowned in the flowing bowl, al
II. from the beginning to the en-
strive to do your duty, and "
will soon have better opinion
YOUR associates, and Of you
Self. In conclusion l will quo
Sir Walter Raleigh who just
COLO. OF would be an unSpea