Sunday Washington globe., 1902-03-02
PART III.
FoRrY-FouRrH PAPER.

In 1884, on the 26th of February, a COM
pany Of New York elergymen, about 40 in
number, impressed with the necessity for a
wider and more intelligent interest Ia mat
ters pertaining to the causes and effects Of
crime aud in methods Of treatment Of
criminals, adopted a resolution urging the
observance Of the fourth Sabbath in Octo-
Der as Prison Sunday" From year to
year, since that time, many churches have
observed the day using it as a means Of
disseminating intelligence regarding crime
and criminals, aud arousing interest in the
more modern theories regarding the pur-
poses aud uses Of Imprisonment, and
modern methods Of preventing crime aud
reforming criminals. Wherever the day
has been so used the subjects presented
have been found to attract marked atteu-
tiou, and to excite deep interest.
But the truth campels me to state that
the general masses of the people take little,
If any, interest either in the criminal or his
reformation. However this is to be ex-
pectedi for all history proves that every
reform for the amelioratiou Of mankind in
the concrete has been undertaken and ac-
complished by the few. Hence, we do not
draw any adverse deduction as to the
advance in the humane methods of treating
prisoners aud reelaimiug them to society
because the masses and the newspapers
have not given the subject sufficient atten.
tiou, encouragement. or sympathy 1t Is
from the pulpit the Christian home, and
the Christian ministry the impetus must
come
The principle of force has, in times
happily past been dismally employed in
the treatment Of luuatics, lepers and pri.
soners. The lunatics were chained aud
put IN cages like wild beasts, and lepers
were banished from the town and made TO
live in some remote quarCer away FROM hu-
man beings, though themselves human
The galley slaves we're made to tug at the
oar until they expired in misery. Criminals
were crowded together without regard to
age or sex, until the prisons Of Europe be-
came the very sink of iniquity Some
hundreds Of years ago criminals were given
over to be vivisected by the surgeons of
Florence and Pisa.
We have all read and heard Of the dun
geons and chains in the castles Of chivalry,
but what tales Of misery and cruelty are
unfolded before the legal tribunals to-day
Search the annals of the poor in our great
cities, and how often will we be compelled
to say with Jeremy Taylor:
cruelty Of savages, aud an infinite distance
from the mercies of Jesus.
Alone, amid strangers in Kherson, in
Russian Tartary, died in his sixty.fourth
year the greatest philanthropist and the
most effective prison reformer the world
has ever known, John Howard, of England.
This man in his life work demonstrated
what even one sincere. sympathetic person
may effect in changing the sentiment of a
world. In the middle Of the last century
Howard began his prison work in England,
and up to the year of his death in 1880,
from Jail fever contracted in the Russian
Tartan prison, he had visited and succeeded
in reforming the prisons of Belgium, Hol-
land, Germany, Switzerland, Prussia,
Silesia, Austria, Russia. Poland Hanover,
Spain, Portugal, France, and the Neither
lands. He expended $4,000 of his own
money in relieving the prisoners, their
wives and families, aud in the twelve years
had travelled Fifty thousand miles. Dying,
his last request was
Lay me quietly in the earth, place a sun
dial over my grave aud let me be forgotten.
But the noble Howard will not be for
gotten as long as the memory of man lasts.
He was the beuefactor Of the most miser-
able Of men. He thought nothing Of him
self, but only Of those who without him
would have been friendless and uuhelped
In his own time he reached a remarkable
degree Of success But his influence did
not die with him, for it has continued to
influence, not only the legislation Of Eng
land, but Of all civilized nations. down to
the present time.
One Of flta -f,taf ,ft ..,t- .e
to prevent crime by removing the induce.
ments to commit it, and the main object Of
prison discipline is to reform the moral
condition Of the criminal, and to lead him
back to the bosom Of the society against
which he has sinned Thomas Wright. the
philanthropist Of Manchester, distinguished
himself as the true friend Of forlorn pris-
ouers. He was a man Of no position in
society. He possessed no wealth, except.
ing only rich and loving heart.
Aud yet this humble mechanic alone and
uuaided found employment for hundreds Of
discharged prisoners. aud finally succeeded
IN inducing by his example the foundation
Of the English Prison Aid Society This
illustrates what one earnest man can
do, however humble he may be. Thomas
Wright taught the doctrine Of trust. OF
prisoners he was won't TO say:
Trust them with privileges. and, by prac-
tice, they will learn the right use Of them.
AccustOm the prisoner who has come out Of
his cell to the light, and ne will soon be
able to bear the brightest rays Of the sun.
To humanize men they must be familiarized
with humaniziug influences. To make men
good citizens they must be allowed to exer-
else the rights aud functions Of citizens
Before a man can swim he must hrst have
gone into the water, before a man can ride
be must FIRST have mounted a horse; aud
before he can be an intelligent citizen he
must first have been admitted TO the duties
Of citizenship.
And this is the kernel individually and
collectively. and society is the nut
thorough knowledge Of the laws of the
country, IL possessed By a majority Of its
citizens, is the best safeguard against fool
ish and unjust legislation With the knowl-
edge Of the law. the learner imbibes the
spirit Of the law, and is able to see whether