The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-02-15
S|IHE EkzY[IEYN{fl QNE

to the care of the poor, the ignorant,
the suffering, the imprisoned and the
wicked. As charming young girl
in her teens, she preferred to soothe
and comfort an invalid in her sick
room, rather than attend upon the
gaities of party or dance. At
seventeen she opened school for
the poor of her neighborhood. Only
a single little boy came at the begin
ming. She soon had seventy, the
limit of her accommo cations.
Neither did marriage and the cares
of her family and the ministries to her
children quench her zeal to do for
others. She was thirty one, when, as
a wealthy family they removed to
London from their country seat to
spend the winter. Then it was that
she first found her way inside the
great Newgate prison. Her heart
bled at the sight of appalling crime,
restitution, nakedness, gambling,
swearing, fighting, drinking to drunk
enness (for there was barroom in
side the PRISON. "a daily bedlam of
rage and beastliness. Among the
prisoners she found 300 women and
accompanying large numbers of
children in rags and dirt. Mrs. Fry
at once proposed to start school
within the prison for the benefit of
the children of these wretched moth
ers. At this ray of hope the swear
ing ceased and the mothers burst
into tears. Then somebody on this
cold, Lords earth, did really care for
them and theirsl
A young woman, prisoner, was
selected as teacher, and the school
went on with order and profit. Then
another school was organized for all
under twenty five years of age. And
the ill-clad, starving girls crowded
into the classes. They were not suf
fering from ignorance merely. They
were dying for want of some kind of
occupation for the mind.
Then, as the second step, Mrs. Fry
proposed that some kind of industry
should be furnished to all who were
old enough. And the prison officials
simply laughed her to scorn. The
prisoners, they said, would steal or
destroy the material they were set to
work upon. But the experiment was
tried. Mrs. Fry formed little or
ganization of twelve ladies for the i'm
provement and instruction of the
female prisoners. Thus outside help
was obtained, material was bought,
more and more engaged in the work,
till these poor prisoners 80 idle and
desperate before, actually found
themselves industrious and happy in
doing something for somebody else.
They became really ambitious to do
something-to furnish stockings for
the convicts which had been trans
ported to Botany Bay, Australia. Be-
sides what they did for themselves
and children, in ten months these
three hundred women made 10000
articles of wearing apparel, and knit
some 700 pairs of socks. There was
reading and moral instruction in their
presence every day. A miraculous
change took place in the female in
mates of Newgate prison. "The
statesman, the noble, the city func-
tionary, the foreign traveller, the
high-bred gentlewoman, the clergy
man, focked to the Jail to see the ex-
traordinary change" Even Queen
Victoria sent for the moral magician
to learn how it had been wrought
Mrs. Fry's work soon became
known throughout Great Britain.
She began to travel and visit other
countries and their institutions. The
Empress of Russia wrote to her.
Letters came from Amsterdam, Den
mark, Paris and elsewhere. The time
of two persons was required to an
swer her letters. She was entertained
by the highest dignitaries when she
travelled abroad. The King and
Queen of France sent for her to OBJ
tain wisdom and counsel. In Ger
many she was met by the King in
person. In Denmark the King and
Queen called her to sit at their table.
At Berlin she was treated as if of
kin to the royal family. And in 1912
the King of Prussia, on visit to
England, sat at the private dinner
table of Mrs. Elizabeth Fry. Alex
ander of Russia spoke of her as one
of the wonders of the age. And
when we consider the influence which
she had over the destinies of female
prisoners in so many countries-when