Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-16
A TALK ABOUT HOPELESS MEN.

The first prison that I visited in this
country was Sing Sing. and I knew MOTH
ing then of Is called "the prison
problem" Anything that 1 have learned
Of it since I have learned from my boys
I only knew on that first visit when I
looked down into the faces of the audi
ence before ne hat 1 saw written there
hopelessness and longing. I knew that in
the future there might be a retrieving of
the past by a brave manly struggle to re-
gain the self-respect which many of
them seemed to think had gone forever.
In 10 state prisons there are 5000 men
wearing the little badge which says:
Look up and hope There is a fight to
be fought and a victory to be won. And
the battle must bebegun within the pris-
on walls.
MANY men nave said to me: II am
going to do right as soon as l get out"
II the resolve is worth making it Is worth
making now If the battle is worth win
ming 1t Is worth winning now. Don't
wait until you get out to be free. There
are letters stronger than iron. there are
prisons more combining than those walls.
1t is the binding of the soul by some
vice or some weakness that makes men
prisoners, and there are many men walk
ing about the streets who are more alb
solutely bound than a man chained in q
prison cell.
One of the things that 1 have set my
self to fight is the word "~ex-convict."
That is a cruel, unjust un-American
word. When a man is suffering the PEN
atty Of his crimes he is a cOnvict but
when he has made his reparation to So
ciety how cruel it is to call him an ex-
convict. The moment he has served his
sentence he is a free man and no one has
the right to attach that stigma to him..
I will go from Christian church to
Christian church until this wrong is
righted and I will appeal to the hearts OF
all Christian people to help make a
chance for those who have been in prls-
on. In the Volunteers we never use that
phrase. We have a much better one, I
think We call the men who have been
released from prison graduates
For they are graduates for surely this
is the hardest school-in which men can
! learn the worlds hard lesson.
I told my husband once that l could
never enter a prison again until it was
possible for me to do something for the
man h has served his time and Is try
ing to lead an upright life. I know what
thai means. I know of the sneers of the
world. of the efforts to railroad" men
back to prison and Of the barriers that
are raised on every side against the man
who | strying to do tight
I ave eve had men come into my
office in New York city, faint with hun
ger, who have tried to gain an honest
livelihood actually to the point of star
walton. 1 am glad to say that now we
are able to do something for these mer
Hope Halls" We have one rule about
in a practical way. We have estab-
lihsed in New York city, in Chicago and
at Flushing, L. l., what We have called
these institutions, and that is that nc
one who has not served a term In prison
can enter the door.
The reporters have come to me ant
said:
1--WE should like to see your Hope Hal
and have our artists make some sketches
of it."
And I nave replied:
II am sorry, gentlemen. but as 20,
have not served a term in prison, ! all
compelled to refuse you admission"
The detectives have come there. too
and have said they would like to tall
to meabou some of the men there.
have told them hat they might see M
at my office, but that that house be
longed to my boys and they could no
enter. And no detective has ever learned
one word from my lips about any mar
who has ever come to us or who has evel
trusted me with his confidence. That |!
not my business.
This is how the Hope Hall in each cit,
is chosen and fitted up. A house /
chosen in the pleasantest locality oh
tainable and furnished as prettily ant
tastefully as possible, so as to remind thu
man who once had a home of the day
when he had a mother, and perhaps :;
wife and children, and to surround tn
man who has never known home infiu
ences with the best hat were to be had
Any man who comes to Hope Hall 1
welcome to stay there until we hav'
found him permanent employment.
AS no NERO.