The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-12

c1osson. chaplain of the Wyoming
,apitAntiary. For two years. says the
chicago Record Herald, Mrs. Slosson
hos had charge of the moral and
s,iritual welfare of Wyoming's con-
,,icts She has endeared herself to
nearly 200 convicts, some of whom are
,,otorious Western desperadoes with
.,arv murders on their heads, and such
o., effect has this slight little woman
sverted over the men since her ap-
ointment that breaches of discipline
have decreasd narly so pr cent. In a
monograph sent to the international
congress of prison superintendent at
brussels in 1900 Warden Mcdonald de-
,lared that Mrs. Slosson's appointment
as chaplain was the best move toward
lettering the condition of Wyoming
eonvicts that had ever been made. The
CHAPLAIN seems to inspire the prison.
ers to their best behavior, and the
roughest of them express regret on ac-
count of the little lady" when they
are put under punishment.
wyoming, though the youngest but
one of the states, was first to pass an
eoual suffrage law, but the appoint
yoent of Mrs. Slosson as chaplain of
the penitentiary was so extraordinary
that it created comment even in the
home of advanced" women. Mrs.
Slosson. however, was not without nee
essary training. She was the first
woman to receive the degree of Phi.
d. at Cornell graduating well toward
the head of class of young men. Aft
or her graduation she took up prison
work in Wyoming. For several years
she took a practical interest in the
welfare of the convicts, hence her APP
nointment brought few new duties. She
soon made the chapel the brightest,
sunniest place in the prison.
The broad windows overlook
a wide plain, many miles in
extent. flanked by the Sheep
Mountains and the snowy range of the
Rockies. These windows are always
mi of plants in bloom, the flowers
heng under the personal care of the
chaplain. The walls are adorned with
nictures of a religious nature, with here
and there a colored print or water
color from some artist friend. The con-
yicts sit on rough pine benches and
The chaplain's desk is of pine boards.
convict choir sings hymns and now
and then a prisoner joins in, but for
the most part the men sit with folded
arms waiting for the chaplain to begin
her Sunday afternoon talk. Sometimes
the chaplain takes a text from one of
the lessons she has read, but oftener
her theme is some little incident in life
with which all her hearers are famil-
lar The hard, impressive faces melt
into softened lines as the speaker pro-
ceeds, and occasionally a prisoner
bursts into tears as old memories are
awakened.
Mrs Slosson's appointment as chap
lain was remarkable in that it came
from the convictS themselves. Owing
to the resignation of the man who held
the position for many yeasr, the chap
lains post was vacant and the con-
Victs were asked what local clergymen
they would prefer to fill the position.
Mrs Slosson had lectured to the men,
the faculty of the University of Wyo-
ming having organized a prison lee
ture course. To her surprise, the men
rejected the names of all the clergy
men suggested, saying that they pre-
ferred the little lady At first Mrs.
Slosson reasoned with herself that she
had not the courage, and her husband,
who is a member of the university fac
ulty, feared that she had not the
strength. The prisoners, however, were
insistent and, believing that she could
be of benefit to the convicts, Mrs. Slos-
son accepted the post.
wyoming has been the home of many
bad men" since it's earliest days, as
the roll at the state penitentiary bears
evidence, Some of the most famous
of Western characters are serving
life sentence at Laramie for many
murders, and in consequence Mrs.
Slosson's charges form about the
toughest class that one could pick out.
There are cowboys and sheep herders
who have not known a humanizing in
iluence since boyhood, and whose life
training has been of the toughest and
Widest. Murder is a part of their
creed, and with them the man who has
not at least one notch in his revolver
putt signifying the sudden death of
an enemy, is little short of a milksop.
Such men cannot be reached through
channels of argument, nor by ordinary
Individuals. They would laugh the or
binary prison chaplain to scorn in spite
OF penitentiary discipline if he dared
TAX OF right thinking and right living.
yet Mrs. Slosson finds the finer SEN
slbllities that lie buried so deep in the
natures of these bad men" of from
uer days. She has organized reading
classes, and the convict choir is the
PRIDE of the penitentiary. The men
whlttle out little nick-nacks for their
chaplain, and fall in readily with her
suggestions. They have long, earnest
talks with her, of their own accord,
and what they tell only "the little
lady" knows.
When a convict has served his term
ana is started out into the world to
pegln where he left off or to make an
cEtlrely now score. the first person he
cans on is the chaplain. He gets a
rev words of hearty good will and a
hdhdshake, and whether he succeeds
or talls he never neglects to commu-
nlcate with the chaplain at least once
before he drops out of sight in the
world
The Wyoming prison authorities are
never tired of singing the praises of
tnelr chaplain and the good work she
Goes Their chief regret is that the
coming removal of the penitentiary
from Laramie to Rawlins will neces-
state Mrs. Slosson's resignation. Prob
AMY some other woman will be select
ca 10 MI her place, now that the way
mas been blazed and such a field OF
usefulness opened Other states are
considering the appointment of women
70 similar positions. Certainly it will
mean the general betterment of penal
conditions If the record of Wyoming
prison chaplain is eaualed.
Women frequently chide their hus-
pahds for their neglect of small COM
missions they give them on their visits
20 the business district, but they are
themselves far from blameless in this
respect The other day, says the Chi
cdso Chronicle, young married wo-
man was calling at the house of hel
DfOther-in-laW when that individual