The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1895-11-07
CONVICT CLOTHES.
NATURE HAS PRISONERS.
ALL Wear Stripes.
,Se,7nonette IN Richmond Dispatch.

the shirt OF Nessus, they burn INTO the
bodies and souls of the criminals the
badness OF their faults, and make them
feel all the time the consequences OF
them. So, they may be moved to pen
itence. and be not inclined readily TO
repeat their offences. Moreover, when
they get abroad in their prison-garb
they are at once identified, and either
avoided or taken back to their lock-ups
Convict clothes are the mark OF out
laws. and are anything else but honor
able.
Nature, or the providence OF God.
rules IN the kingdom OF men. Anc
the police system there is perfect. There
are little short and sharp punlshments
that are inflicted at once little whips
and heavier scourges that are used on
little law-breakers. And there are
we1gntIer pun1snments and more appal-
ling dOOns that await hardened ana
persistent offenders. Degrees of crime
prepare the convict Of nature for more
lasting and overwhelming suffering, as
they make for him ways OF pleasant
ness impossible. In the divine system
no breach of law goes unpunlshed. But
the progress of guilt is rapid and all
embracing. Little offences undermine
character and constitutions and away
goes the mass at last.
Nature has prisons, and her terms OF
confinement and her convict clothes.
She will make one offender keep to his
room for brief period another She
sends to bed without his supper anoth-
er she will lock up and put on prison
fare. bread Of affection or worse. t
will rot do to set down all sick persons
as offenders but it is hardly too much
to say that nine tenths of the sick are
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. or less to blame.
They desplse common sense and PLAIN
law, and take the consequences. They
Will none of the cOunsels Of wisdom
and she leaves them to her police courts
her officers of Justice. What are
headaches, and choIeramOrbuses, ana
side-stitches, and the thousand little
pains that follow gormandizlng, and
laziness, and seli-indulgences? What
are they, but fashionable whipping
posts, and stocks, and pillories, and bas-
tinadoes2 Is not dyspepsia owned as
the remorse OF a guilty stomach7 And
do not a large portion OF the human
family go about with convict clothes
help the case that they brag Of them
or that they glory III their shame. It
does not help the case that the average
is so bad that conylct-clOthes are the
fashion. 1t Is not pleasant thing tC
show the brand or mark of the law
breaker on the common crowd.
The man who familarizes himsel
WILL AZ uISil StjIudIu vi Illdi1iiOOU. WIFI
obedience to law, is painfully and al
the time impressed with the effects O
brands OF disloyalty We call thes.
things causes and effects The inebri
ate proclalms to the world his inebr.
ETY., and publishes his intemperance il
his color, his shape, his gait, his talk
The livery OF intemperance is consplc
uOus, and she hangs out her banners OF
all the outward walls of our being
An experienced doctor recognizes tn
clothes OF his convict at once. and Ii,
brand upon his countenance. TIL
splendid science OF medicine has grow
up on the fOllies and vices and infirmi
ties of mankind. And the people low
to have it so.
Convict clothes in common life ar
not confined to physical law-brea!,el
merely. The color and flavor and man
acles and letters OF heart and head ar
just as positive rs that of the cute
man. A habit of lying will fasten itsel
SO upon a man that he can't tell tn
truth when he wants 10 do so. Proia,
lty and yulgarity VIII take such fas
hold that there is no taking them off
they clOthe Or color every utterance
All uellness of character and min
become SO much part of the bein
that the convict is only comparatiyel
easy with his felow-convicts. TIL
presence Of decencv and prophet
makes him conscious of his conyic
clothes, and very uncomfortable.
Not only the apparel bespeaks til
man, but, as we say, the "cut of tn
Jib; the glance Of the eye the boil
and brazen cOuntenance the twitcI
the swagger, OF the commonest motion
OF the body, make up SUITS of conv,c
clothes-nature's danger signals-tha
tell OF iaW-brea&lng within that prC
claim a reign Of folly and vice an
broken law. The scriptures speak G
men being clothed in Righteousness:
The good taste and gentilltv of tn
individuals shows Itself III the stvle q
dress. AS Don 4uixote said to Sar
cho, An unbuttoned vest bespeaks a.
unbuttOned mind" And the genera