The age-herald., 1897-08-08
TECHNICS FROM
 CURRENT TOPICS

ments in favor of its speedy establish
 ment. We talk ard write of the power of
 heredfty ard environment yet passively
 accept the fact that large percentage of : our citizenship is ilampered by the in-
 heritance of the most vicious instincts,
 and degrading surroundings, without de-
 ing ore thing ito overcome the effect of ! either.
 Tho penitentiaries are fuH of men ard
 women, as for that, who never had a
 chance" to use homely phrase who
 were born to the evil side of life and
 who have grown up literally in the gut
 ters with little reason that they should | have faith either in God or man.
 anitarian6sm is the gospel of the
 future; it is the gospel of Christ, pr ached
 from every hillside in Palestine and on
 the blue water of Galtlee by Him who
 came to save mankind. Every great
 movement of the day has for its ultimate
 object the salvation of the race. The globe is engirdled with the efforts of men
 and women of brains and souls, who are
 struggling for the reclamation of those who "sit in darkness
 Denomirational lines sink into nothing
 ness; sectarian bickerings are beginning | { waned, because of the tremendous move ments everywhere visible for the redemp- | ton of mankind.
 As long as individual tastes exist there
 will be need of the various and varying
 religious sects, for say what we please.v l denomfnationalism is largely a matter of 1 temperament and inheritance; but the great fundamental doctrines of Christi anity are bringing into closer, nearer re- | IationShip all men and women whose | souls are worth the saving. There is no ] room for the bigot in the civilization of 1 today, and he or she is being rapidly ] relegated to their proper sphere, where | they can no longer distrust the world or
 the church, with their wearying, ineonse-. | quental jargon. 'l.A ssss sa | There are pathetic incidents which are | constantly finding their way through the | thick walls of the state penitentiary | into the brighter world outside. In the
 hurry and Dusfle of life, we scarcely
 heed the lessons they teach, yet there is | coming a time when we shall be held l accountable for one neglect of the great | duty we owe to the young criminal. There l is an application for pardon now pend- 1 ing, of a young boy, of twenty years of,
 age whose father and mother were edu-s cated and refined people, He left his
 home in northern state last year after
 the death of his mother, and aimlessly
 tramped over the country. He came to | Alabama and being ragged and footsore. l one evening in passing a house, he was | tempted by the sight of 50 much com
 fort within, crept into the. hall and took | a hat which hung on the rack, conyen- | iently near the door, For this. he was,
 of course, arrested, tried. convicted and
 sent to the state penitentiary. For two | years his father has endeayored to find | him and at last the news rpacfied the | far-off northern home, that the missing , boy was in the Alabama penitentiary | under an assumed name. The father im- mediately wrote to an official or. the pris- l on stating that he had heard that his
 son was imprisoned, but bearing ficti-
 tious name, and-gave that name. The | officer called the boy to him, and kindly | asked him what n!s name was: he
 promptly gave the one he had assumed. .but. when he was Shown his fathers let | ter he was completely overcome, and with tears flowing down his white face, l admitted that he was the lost son. but
 said that he had intended to conceal his |
 and was free once more. zas as | There are only two white women l among all the state convicts, but nearly | one hundre n gro women. A considefa- l ble proportion of the latter are serving
 terms for murder. Mosx of the women and many of the boy convicts are em- | ployed in the cotton factory. FOB iif
 It is difficult to separate humor from
 the negro race, whether they are toiling
 in Jhs penitentiary or battling against a. ] smallpox epidemic, as the following pe-
 culiar incident shows: An application for i pardon was made few days ago by a
 colored convict in the penitcntiary, from
 Montgomery county. The convict is
 about 65 years old, and when young | man he came to Alabama on ra llroad
 work, and fell in love with and married
 an attractive young negro girl. of Mont l gonlary coun:y, and settled on a farm | For time everything was lovely and
 peace reigned. But sad to relate, in the l course of a y''ar or two, so the convict
 says. the stepfa tier of his wife became
 enaHnore1 of her and artf;ilily brought 1 about an eytralg ement that resulted in a
 separation. Still he loved his wifi and 1 deeirsd to have har reunited to him. To l bring about this consummation devout- 1 ly wished, he consulted a hoodoo dod.cr, | who. for $5 presently to be paid, instruct ] ed him how tro regain ;ill'A affections of
 his wife. The doctor prescribed a lot of
 gum powder, red pepper and the dust from
 a track made by his wife, all of which
 were to be mixed together and set on fire
 ir front of his wife's door, and fine ensuing
 explosion would dnive the evil spirit from | his wiIfe's heart. He carefully followed l the hoodoo doctors dipictio,ls and in his
 anxiety 90 be near enough to watch the
 effect of the experiment. he was severely burn@d by the explosion, which occurred alarmingly near his wifa's door.
 The evil spirit apparently departed on
 the pillows of smoke; a reconciliation fol- 1 lowed and he and his wife were living
 happily together, when the step-father had