The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-11-07
MIRRORS ON THE BAN LIST.
Convicts in British Prisons Denied
Looking Glasses.
(From London Tit Bits. }

tfTOfH IOilUol llL-bltS-t
What" exclaims the astonished read
er, lis it possible that there are any civil
ICED persons on the face of the earth who
are not In the habit Of behoiding their Wis
ages reflected from time to time in a
mirror of some kind? Surely this cannot
be So Wrong. quite wrong, gentle read
er, for at the present time, strange as 1t
may appear, there are hundreds of men
and women in the United Kingdom who
have not gazed into mirror for years
The couyicts confined in Her Majesty's
prisons form members OF this community.
From the moment of a eonvicts entrance
to a Jail to the moment of his exit he is
not permitted to have the use of mirror
of any kind, the smallest piece Of glass
being rigidiy denied to him To the wo-
men couvicts this absence Of a mirror
forms one of the chief hardships OF con-
fnement, and many a female wardeI can
tell piteous tales of women who have &C
tuaIly fallen upon their knees and sobbed
nut entreaties fer the loan of morsel of
nirror-"just for a second All these
entreaties have perfoTce to be disregarded
and 1t therefore come about that many
a female convict passes three or four
years without being permitted to gaze up
on her own features.
It must not be imagined. however, that
it is merely weaTers OF the Government
broad arrow uniform who are thus de-
prived OF the pleasure Of scanning their
faces In the glass, for. incredible as 1t may
seem. there have been many Instances Of
eccentric individuals who, for some reason
OF another, have vowed never to look into
q mirror as long as life endured.
Suei; a case occurred some years ago at
Carcassonne, in France, where young and
beautiful widow. much given to frivolities,
lost her only child, boy of three, while
dressing her hair before the mirror for
ball to which she was about to wend her
way. The. child, left to himself, wandered
into the roadway and was run over and
killed by passing dray, and the mother,
heartbroken by the shocking affair, which
she attributed TO her own neglect, vowed
that she would never again look into q
mirror.
She kept her word, and until the day OF
her death which occurred about three
years later she did not behold her face on
a single occasion. Every mirror was re-
moved from the fat which she occupied
nor were silver dishes brought to her table,
lest she should see her features reflected
therein.
In one of the midland counties of Eng
land, not so very long ago, there passed
away a farmer who had not baheid his own
face for nearly fifteen years. The farmer
in question was superstitious to the point
gypsy Informed him that he would die
while gazing into a mirror. Terrified by
this weird prediction, the weak-minded
man resolved that he would never again
scan his features in the glass, and rigidly
kept his word, dying eventually at the ripe
age of seventy eight.
young Italian peasant woman who
welded a sailor told him on the eve of his
departure for long voyage that she would
not look upon her features in the mirror
until he returned to her, safe and sound
TIE unfortunate mans vessel was wrecked
in the Gulf of Mexico, ali aboard the ship
being drowned, but the distracted widow
refused to believe that her husband was
dead. and vowed that she would adhere to
her resolve regarding the nenuse of mir
ror for another year AS each year passed
the VOW was renewed, but eventually a new
sutton came upon the scene and paid court
to the woman, with the result that she
married him in due course and looked once
more upon her comedy face after lapse of
six years.