Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1901-03-07
MIRRORS ON THE BAN LIST
Convicts in British Prisons Are De-
MED the Use of Looking
Glasses.

"What!" exclaims the astonishe'
reader, is il possible that there ar
any civilized persons on the face 0
the earth who are not in the habit o
beholding their visages reflected from
time to time in a mirror of somi
kind? Surely this cannot be so.
Wrong, quite wrong, gentle reader
for at the present time, strange as il
may appear, there are hundreds o.
men and women in the United King
dom who have not gazed into a mir.
ror for years, says London Tit-Bits.
The convicts confined in her maj.
| esty's prisons form members of this
community. From the moment of a
convict's entrance to Jail to the mo-
lment of his exit he is not permitted
to have the use of a mirror of any
kind, the smallest piece of glass be-
ing rigidly denied to him. To the
women eonyicts this absence of a
mirror forms one of the chief hard
ships of confinement, and many a fe-
male warder can tell piteous tales of
women who have actually fallen upon
their knees and sobbed out entreaties
for the loan of morsel of mirror
"just for a second" All these en-
treaties have perforce to be disre
garded-and it therefore comes about
that many female convict passes
three or four years without being
permitted to gaze upon her own feat.
ures.
1t must not be imagined, however,
that it is merely wearers of the gov.
eminent broad arrow uniform" who
are thus deprived of the pleasure Of
scanning their faces in the glass. for,
incredible as it may seem, there have
been many instances of eccentric in
dividuals who, for some reason or an
other, have vowed never to look into
a mirror as long as life endured.
Such 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 a ball
to which she was about to wend her
way. The child, left to himself. wan
dered 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 mirror.
She kept her word and until the day
II her death, which occurred about
-hree years later, she did not behold
Ter face on single occasion. Every
mirror was removed from the fiat
which she occupied-nor were silver
fishes brought to her table, lest she
hould see her features reflected
herein.
In one OF the Midland counties of
england, not so very long ago, there
passed away a farmer who had not
'eheld his own face for nearly is
ears. The farmer in question was
uperstltious to the point of credul-
ty, and on certain occasion a gypsy
him that he would die while
azlng into a mirror. Terrified by
his weird prediction, the weak mind
d man resolved that he would never
gain scan his features in the. glass
nd rigidly kept his word. diving
at the ripe age of rs.
A young Italian peasant woman
'ho welded a sailor told him on the
ve of his departure for long vow
ge that she would not look upon her
satures in the mirror until he re-
lrned to her, safe and sound. The
Unfortunate mans vessel was wrecked
the gulf of Mexico, all aboard the
zip being drowned, but the distract
widow refused to believe that her
usband was dead and vowed that she
ould adhere to her resolve regarding :
ne nonuse Of mirror for another
ear. As each year passed the VOW
as renewed, but eventually a new
iitor came upon the scene and paid
'urt to the woman. with the result Z
lat she married him in due course
I'd looked once more upon her come
face after lapse of six years.