The herald., 1895-11-03

SOAsA>ASihe
She will keep up some monotonous
sing-song at the top of her voice, drum
and hammer on her cell door for hours
at time. If her temperament is
sulky and surly she will lapse into alb
solute silence from WI ich nothing will
rouse her, crouchins all the time in
the fartheSt corner of q semi-dark
cell. When noisily inclined, the only
treatment Is complete isolation. Pris-
ons are generally provided with what
is known as a dumb" cell. one built
inside another and placed at distance
from the main building. The consci-
BUSINESS that no cries are heard. that
all disturbance is wasted and useless.
invariably silences the noisiest wo-
man.
Another curious trait in the woman
In durance is the great variation in her
moods. A woman will behave quite
dlHerently in two succeeding SEN
tenceS;;- in the first she is quite intract
able. in the second as mild and we'll
hammered as possible. A good deal de-
ponds upon how she be~ins, but some
predisposing cause Ilay exist in one
and be withdrawn in the other. One
case may be quoted, that of HI. J., (which
illustrates the question of feuds. The
Woman'S worst side showed, and she
was q fierce and persistent virago from
first to last because her greatest enc
my occupied neighboring cell. 1t
took the WarderS all their time to pre-
vent these women from fighting when
ever they met, yet there were
several pitched battles between
them. The woman, H. J., was
always the aggressor, and gen
orally able to inflict much damage
on her foe. l met III. j. twice after
wards in other prisons, where she was
spared the exasperating companion
snip of her enemy, and her conduct
was quite irfeproachable.
Women prisoners are true daughters
of Eve as regards personal appear
ance, and the unbecomrg prison dress
must hit their vanity hard. Hence
nearly ALL without exception, are anx-
ious to improve it. There are dozen
fashions of wearing the morsel of cap
with its long white strings; the first is
manipulated, its shape changed, it's
position on the head altered, the latter
one crimped and twisted and tied in
all sorts of curious ways. The Golf
fure again gets a great deal of atten-
ton. Bangs" were at one time uni
versal, resisting attempts made by old
fashioned matrOnS to taboo them.
Nowadays the fashion, in grotesque i'm
itation of what goes on outside, is
changing into side curls, although
curls like love-locks plastered tight on
the forehead are always popular, and
are attained at the cost Of skimming
the grease Of the soap. Skirts are al
ways made to follow the fashion, to
hang straight and severe or balloon
out like a bell according to the mode.
The worst hardship must be the prison
shoes. which are coarse and ugly, and
with no preten,e 1t fit. In the French
prisons, where sabots are the Uniform
foot wear, permission to purchase more
dainty shoes at the canteen is one of
the privileges accorded to the indus
trious prisoner. who is permitted to
spend a part of her prison earnings.
With US the woman in gaol is strict
~ limited to the regulation in dress
and in food. The latter is perhaps
hardship. as women are much more
fanciful in this respect than men.
There are some portions of the prison
dietary exceedingly unpopular on the
female side. The suet pudding, for
instance, made of the dark brown or
wholemeal flour; the brown bread it.
self. and especially the ''stirabout," or
pudding compounded of maize or In
dian meal, which is issued to prisoners
on short terms. How sharp is the CON
trast between the prison allowance
and what women would provide for
themselves is to be seen in the strange
ly assorted articles trial prisoner will
have sent in to her when she has
elected to feed herself. have seen
one such woman's dinner which con-
sisted of an enormous sandwich. loaf
cut in half, thickly buttered inside, and
enclosing two cold kidneys and several
slices of bacon; with these went four
gigantic leeks, an apple, two tomatoes,
and Il fat bottle Of dark beer.
1t is unusual to find any very great
manual dexterity among the female
criminals as a class. A good needle
woman may be met with, or some may
be taught fine sewing, only to forget
it on release, and to expect fresh in
struction if they return. Laundry
work is staple employment, but the
prisoners are seldom capable of getting
up linen with any SKILL where they are