The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-27
A Convent Prison.

Tn Austria woman, no matter what she may do, is never regarded or treat ed quite as criminal. She may rob, burn kill-set every law at defiance, in fact, and break all the commandments in turn-without a fear of ever being called upon to face gallows. She is not even sent to an ordinary prison to do penance for her sins; the hardest fate that can befall her, indeed, is to be compelled to take up her abode for a time in a convent. There the treat ment meted out to her is not so much justice seasoned with mercy as mercy seasoned, and none too well, with jus tice. Even in official reports she is an 'erring sister"-one who has, it is true strayed from the narrow path, but quite involuntarily.
 The convent to which Vienna sends it's erring sisters is at Neudorf, only a few miles away from the city. There any woman who is convicted of either crime or misdemeanor is at once trans ported. The judge before whom she Is tried decides, of course, how long she shall remain. He may, too, if he deems it right, give orders that while there she shall pass day in solitary confinement from time to time and, on these occasions, be less plentifully SUD- piled with food than usual In the great majority of cases, however, no instructions of this kind are given; the women are simply handed over to the keeping of the Superior of the convent, to be dealt with as she thinks best She houses them, feeds them, clothes them, and provides them with instruc- tion and occupation; and the govern
 nent gives her for what she does thir- ty-five kreuzers a day (about seven pence) for each prisoner under her care. So long as these women are in the convent the full responsibility for their eafe-keeping and general we'll being rests on the Superior; and in re- turn, she is allowed practically a free hand in her management of them There are, it is true, certain regula- tions in force with regard to the amount of work they may be required to do, and the punshments that may be inflicted on them; but these are not Of a nature to interfere seriously with her freedom of action. She is, in fact virtually an aIutocrat within her own domain; and there are not half-a-dozen women in Europe to-day who have so much power for the veal or woe of their fellows as she has. The only man attached to the place-a government inspector-is little more than her aide de-camp; and as for the great officials who pay her flying visits from time to time, they are more inclined to seek ad- vice than to give it.
 The convent itself is a fine old build ing which once upon a time was a cas- tla, and seems to have been strongly fortified. The religious community to which it now belongs received it as a present from it's owner, who cared more for the church than for his heir There is nothing in the appearance of the place to show that it is a prison the courtyard stands open the whole day long, and there is never a guard within sight. The doorkeeper is a pret- ty little nun whom a strong woman could easily seize up in her arms and run away with. She welcomes all com CTS with the brightest of smiles, and leads them into the parlor without making a single inquiry. Although we went provided with all sorts of intro auctions, official and otherwise. it was only after much heart-searching that the Superior allowed us to pass