The evening times., 1896-01-04
VISITORS AND THEIR GIFTS.

l AA,A AoAss1 nv - l.
Newspapers and tobacco better Ap-
| preciated Than Trnct~! i-ss.z<.
The girls had visitors thai t-tley, ,llIed het-
ter later on. Two young men came in TO
see them from some cailroife efrafcfFfnre the
city. They didn't Say anything. about re-
ligion, but brought in "A great pic OF he VS.
| papers and distributed them. They had
Some garments. which they gave away also,
and just before going gave every eirfsome
! tobacco. e-a- esa
Take soine," said Margaret Wilson to
me. You can trade 1t with the Others for
something. or make one of them happy, later
| on" 1 shook my head, but She went for
| ward and took a TWIST of the weed. ~
IL was impossible 10 make up my mind
whether it was right for these wonnen TO
have tobacco in this way or not But can
understand the impulse 10 give II to them,
| as gave one of my precious 1O-cent pieces
| TO girl to buy snuff, and the next day
| Margaret Wilson gave her tobacco to
| girl In exchange for SNUFF for one Of the
white women, who is demented and who
| talks necessarily and wildly when she
doesn't have IT, The way they buy SNUFF,
| Cigarettes, tobacco and So on is by trading
| through the window when no one is about.
| The old men Of the home in the rear Of the
1 place HdSe Qulte u littic Win
| girls.
The Sunday evening passed without
| further incident. think ] heard the life
| story OF every woman in the place; but as
most of them were 10 the point of nothing
! except to prove the utter -hopelessDess for
reform into which they are sunk, IL would
be idle to repeat them.
| Monday morning, before daylight, ]
{ was awakened by the warden going about
I unlnckinV the doors We
down and get chuck. and the women came
| out into the corridor 10 huddle about the
! steanI-pipes. They were. given fish this
i morning in addition to the bread but II
| ..smelIed to heaven and Could no more
| eat IL than the meat. The hope that " ould
| be released tLat morning made me indiffer-
| ent to breakfast, however.
| We cleaned up our cells as usual. and as
| soon as il was light went down to the sew
| ing room. The two least skillful woinen OF
| the white ward were left 10 scrub up the
| corridors. and among these WAS the Old
| Irish nanny who wanted me to reform.
She was a little bit OF Il dri.d-up crone
and weak from years and exposure OF al
kinds. But she worked faithfully
Becky Smith, on the contrary. the strong
est woman in the house, no doubt, got upon
q tantrum. She declared she would not
scrub, and put her tobacco. pipe and matches
In her pocket and prepared to be thrown
into the dungeon: but, as no one paid any
attention to her. she sulked for an hour, and
then did her work. - ----' --' RI
BASTED THE GARMENT.
wehad shirts to ma ke in the sewing room,
and was given my first lesson in putting
that garment together. basted the gar
meDt together, and after several failures
got ON well Then made buttunhpies and
sewed on buttons and felt very cIean-ninded
and useful. The effect of the sewing room
is excellent. The girls all spoke OF how
much better they felt when they were
working.
Mrs. Giles sat with them, cutting, basting
and directing, and her conversation with
them was friendly, intimate and good When
the girls discussed the sermon she Joined
in with them, and told them Sue sincerely
| hoped that after all the good talking they
had heard Sunday after Sunday some one
of them would reform. s.. 5.s.., D..
The girls were not disrespectful with
her, but whenever she went out of the room
some one would start ribald song or tell
a story. 1t is almost inconccivable how
these girls can sing some OF the fine old
hymns and IN moment swing into a COLI
cert hall ditty OF the lowest character. . --
Emma was having trouble with her hus-
band. and all the morning she kept the sew
ing room in state of upheayal. When
ever the girls were left alone she would have
some message out the window with either
the old men of the home or prisoners in their
striped clothes, who were coulpg,~ and go
ing. Her hus band had dsenthcrwolllthathe- he
knew she had his money. and If she didn't
pay the fine and get them out, he would
never live with her.
In another half hour he had run across
the grounds when no one was looking, and
they nad violent quarrel through the win
she got out. Then some man, sent down
to the female workioiise on an errand,
managed to slip in the workrooIn and tell
her something more her husband had said,
and gave her note.
The thing was kept up, to the utter de-
moralization of Enma's work asked
her If she wasn't afraid OF being caught,
and If this wasn't against the rules. =. But
she laughed, and told me that 1t was at the
workhouse that she met her husband, and
that they made love to ea cb other on the sly,
and were married when they got out. The
rOmances in some peoples lives take a
strange turn.
When the noon hour came I was famished
and faint with hunger. / had not eaten
again for twenty-four hours. When we
went out to carry up the food / felt that
! co4ld eat anything, but when the door
was thrown open and the ncn hauled the
boxes into the corridor out of the rain
and pulled the tarpaulin off l had a sick
cning sensation OF revolt.
l lo3thed the sight of the big. dirty men
in striped suits-poOr fellows, my SYM
plthy died with my misery. They handled
the food as though it We're for cattle, and,
indeed, 1 felt as though We were cattle.
/ was racked with Il severe cold. the drafts
of the house penetrating my cotton gown.
i was weak from inanition and nervous from
the protracted strain. But l helped carry
the food up and tried to eat when it was
served. 80
TRIED THE HOMINY.
There was the same fare in the box that I
received on the day of my entrance;
feared the meat. but tried the hominy and
cornbread. My hunger persuaded me that
the meat might be eatable, even if it wasn't
good, and tried a morsel OF it. This time
l effectually succeeded in nauseatiug my
self. SO l discontinued the whole dinner,
determined to starve, If my city editor
did not relent and send for me. All the
women remarked on the meat again, but
they ate it.
That afternoon was spent as the morning
was. the only excitement being the ar
rival of two white girls, who were locked
up in our ward fordetcn;ion. They bathed
but kept their own apparel on. The girls
were eager to get upstairs to question
them. and talked over every little scrap of
inrorrnationa boutthem hat couldbe CLEANED
from any source.
l managed to get out into the wash-room
and observe the work going on there. There
were long lines of girls standing at the tubs,
sozzIing the clothes, singing, laughing and
talking. DC ''