Sunday Washington globe., 1902-02-09

10 them by the Governor Of earth and
heaven, they shall be prisoners Of. sin and
of the everlasting iailor Satan, forever
more that if any man be free in Christ, he
shall be free indeed
Free from the law, oh, happy condition,
Jesus hath bled, aud there is remission
Curs'd by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace hath redeemed us once for all.
It is agospel most Aattering to the pris-
oner, because It puts him and the Judge who
sentenced him and that pesky prosecuting
attorney who wound the tolls so skillfully
around him in the same dock together
charged with the same ofiense, by the same
indictment, and with being habitual crimi
mails also, for all have sinned and come
short of the glory Of Cod" and there is
none that doeth good, no. not one, " and
spiritually speaking, from the crown of the
head to the sole of the foot, they are full of
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores
There Is a ghastly picture of the Judge
prosecutor, jury and jailor All equally
bad with the prisoner, and waiting to APP
pear before a tribunal where neither money
nor influence goes" If a prisoner can be-
lieve that, it will take all the sting out of
his captivity, and enable him to endure suf-
fering
Every prisoner ought to be a Christian,
for It will open the cell door as surely as it
did for Peter-but in a spiritual sense--and
make him happy all the time" If that is
not cheating the law, what ISL It will re-
form him without intricate machinery or
plan laid by man, for it is the plan of saliva
ton, reforming or regenerating in the fash
of an eye. But chaplain can not preach
the gospel successfully when he is thwarted
at every turn; when Sunday school teachers
are hectored by men who see a plot being
laid to escape, in the discussion of the
means Of grace between teacher and pupil;
or restrained by a system Of prison govern
ment that allows the minister of God no
more latitude-or but little more-than the
prisoner; or that when the prisoner asks,
What must do to be saved?" says, Give
me your name and number, that I may have
you beaten with many stripes and a paddle
tomorrow morning"
Since Warden Coffin took control of the
penitentiary, all obstacles have been re-
moved, and the chaplain has been able to
report greatly increased interest in the re-
ligious services on the part of the prisoners,
and not one of them has managed to escape,
through the discussion, in Sunday school,
of any theological subject. On an average,
four hundred and fifty prisoners attend the
Sunday morning praise service and Sunday
school. and there have been about one hun.
dred and thirty conversions during the
year
There is no distinction between the press
of this institution and that of the outside
world. The ohio PeHiteRtiayY Nez0s has
the same freedom of utterance as its en-.
franchised compeers, and whatever appears
in it is neither dictated, suggested, inspired
nor forbidden by the prison officials. II Is
a retrospect and commentary from the pris-
ouer's standpoint. The press has been en-
franchised under this administration, aud
does not suffer from a censorship worse
than Russian OF Spanish. that would sup
press original ideas, fill in the spring of
humor with muddy commonplace, choke
the utterance of reasonable criticism, and
quench the sparks Of original wit lest they
should kindle the flame of merriment in
some prisoners breast and consume his
cares. The humblest prisoner who has
thought worthy of expression and knows
! how to express il, may, through the prison
press, add his mite to the worlds stock of
knowledge, or to the dump" and intel
lectual dust-heap of a long-suffering public.
Though the body is straitened, the mind is
as free as the wild winds that revel around
the head of Mount Washington. The
signing Of the prisoner" may find express
sion, and his thought conqueriug time and
space may soar over a continent on frail
paper piuions that shall outwear the eagles
and make that noble birds lofty course
seem but a sparrow's flight. For there are
some men in prison who can think.
The Italian proverb which says that
More skins of foxes find their way to the
tanner than hides of asses, will not apply
TO the prison, for ignorance and iutoxica-
tion are closely related to crime-they are
three sisters-the three disgraces-but there
are some men in this prison who have noble
thoughts, elevated sentiments aud advanced
ideas that are worth the recording, worth
the reading and worth the needing. The
small, dark cell will yet throw light on
some dark questions, especially crimi-
nology. These men are the students Of
their condition, the scholars of misfortune,
the pupils of prison life, tutored by steel
and stone, the graduates of grief, and past
masters in the art of suffering. Their griev-
Gus experiences, coined into golden counsel,
may yet pass current with the intellectual
wealth of the reformer and philanthrOpist.
In fact, they must do so, because there can
be no effective prison reform, nor great
diminution of crime, without a thorough
knowledge Of the prisoner. But in him,
his emotions his likes and his preiudices,
his fears and aspirations, there is a useful
lore, wisdom that must be added to the
worlds stock of knowledge, and ought TO
have been learned several sad centuries
ago And there is no vehicle for the con-
veyance of this knowledge equal to the
prison press, but the time Is coming when
the press of the outside world will pay as
close attention to the prisoner and his ex.
periences to diagnose that disorder we call
Crime" as is now bestowed upon the
bacillus Of consumption, the tariff, or the
beet sugar industry not whit
more important
Nothing less than several large volumes
would be required to fully treat the subject
of improvements in the Ohio Penitentiary
during Warden Cofins administration.
Many minor reforms, most important TO the
prisoner and state, have been instituted.
source Of considerable income to the state
has been opened by the restaurant in the
basement of the front building, where