The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1897-06-25
CRUELTY TO
CHILDREN.
Oscar Wilde Writes About En-
gliSh Prisons.
Small Children Kept for Days in Dark
and Gloomy Cells on STAR
VatiOn Diet.
Tender-Hearted Warden, Whose Sym
pathy Prompted Him to an Act
Of Kindness, Summarily
Discharged.

Whatever may be the truth in re-
gard to the personal morals of
Oscar Wilde, who was released from
prison on May 10, after serving two
years for a heinous crime, he has
done a service to humanity by writ
ing a remarkable letter about the
almost fiendish cruelty of the Eng
lish prison system in the treatment
of child prisoners.
A warden namedMartin, who was
employed at the Reading Jail,
where Wilde was confined, was dis
missed for giving two or three bis
cult to starving child in one of
the cells. The whole convict system
of England is too barbarous for
belief in a civilized country aDd age,
but when it is applied to "a child of
eleven years, as in this case, it is in
human.
In the course of a long letter
Wilde says:
"Three children (referring to the
Monday previous to his release)
had Just been convicted. They
were standing in row in the prison
dress. They were all small. The
youngest, to whom the warden gave
the biscuit, was tiny little chap,
and it was evident that the prison
officials were unable to find clothes
small enough to fit him.
THE present treatment of children
is terrible. Children can under
stand punishment inflicted by an
individual; what they can't under
, stand is punishment by society. A
:: child is taken from its parents by
=, finding itself in a lonely cell and
l ordered to be punished by the repre-
sentative of system that it cannot
: understand, becomes a prey TO the
first and most prominent emotion by
modern prison life-the emotion of
!. terror. The terror of child in
F.; prison is limitless. | remember, as
; / was going to exercise, seeing in a
: dimly-lighted cell opposite my own,
= a small boy. Two wardens were
. talking to him with some sternness.
The child's face was like white
wedge. There was sheer terror in
it, and in the eyes was the terror of a
E haunted animal. The next morning
heard bim at breakfast time crying
and calling to be let out. The cry
was for his parents. From time to
time could be heard the deep voice
of warden telling him to be quiet
r. And yet he had not even been con-
victed of whatever little otfense
5 with which he was charged. He
/ was simply remanded.
V This terror that seizes and domi-
-, nhilI is iptanGifia1 hnUnn6 n
+ power of expression by the solitary
e cell system. Every child is cOnfin-
y ed in cell for twenty-three hours
IS out of twenty-four. This is the ap
e palling thing. To shut a child in {
Is dimly lighted cell for twenty-thret
is hours a day is an example of cruelty
y and Of stupidity.
d "Inhuman treatment of child II
Is always inhuman by whomsOever in
Ie dicted, but inhuman treatment by
e society is to child more terrible
Of because no appeal to the parent cal
y be made to let out the child from th,
l. dark room. A warden cannot. Mos
wardens are fond of children, bu
Of the system prohibits the rendering
l. of the child any assistance. ShOulC
s, they do so, as Martin did, they ar
id dismissed.
n "The second thing from which
IN child suffers nprison is hunger. Th
Is food consists of piece of usual.
badly baked prison bread and a til
le cup of water for breakfast. At nOO'
IL he gets dinner composed of I'll
course of Indian meal, and at $3.50
ell piece of dry bread and a tin of wa
ct ter for supper. This diet in the cas-
IS, of strong man always produces ill
le ness, chiefly diarrh9a. In fact in
e. big prison astringent medicines ar
lg served regularly as matter c
Id course. A child, as rule, is il
le capable of eating the food. A chill
is who has been crying all day an
m perhaps half the night, in lionel
lie cell, and who is preyed upon by tel
ror, simply cannot eat food
I'd this coarse, horrible kind.
ne I'm the case of the little child
v. whom Martin gave the biscuit, tn
ed child was crying from hunger Tues
lg day morning. He was utterly III
able to eat the bread and watt
he served for his breakfast. Marti
". went out for breakfast and bought
in few biscuit for the child rather tina
to see him starving. 1t was a beat
~ tiful action and was so recognized b
of the child, who, utterly uncOl
n scious of the regulation of the PrisO
nd Board, told one of the senior wardel
le. how kind the junior warden ha
ill been to him. The result was repo
I'm and Martins dismissal"