Sunday Washington globe., 1902-01-26
PARr III
THIRrY-NINrH PAPER.

THIRTY-NrNTH PAPER.
There is an incubator which matches most
Of the DEVILS chickens or chickens that used
10 belong 10 the devil before that sui
phurOus parsonage was abolished by polite
theology and its name is Ignorance
Crimes are the DEVILS chicks, and vast
number of the offenses for which men suf-
fer in prison are brought into being in that
incubator The man whose education has
been omitted or neglected is fatally handi-
capped in the struggle for the prizes Of life
The educated find it hard enough to make
both ends honestly meet, sometimes, and,
when hard times comes the ignorant man is
the first to go under OF course there are
educated criminals but they are exceptional
The Ohio penitentiary has a school worthy
of its reuown, and here the minions of mis-.
fortune and wrong doing can win the great
prize of practical culture-which brings dol.
lars and sense. LEARN AND EARN IS an
honest motto, as true as if it had been writ
ten a thousand years. Except possibly in
times of widespread distress, he who learns
can earn and easily, too, because education,
in part, is the art of getting along in the
world.
The number of pupils varies but little,
the average attendance being about seven
hundred, of whom fifty are Indians The
period of instruction in the school room is
from TO 1890 p. m. Lessons are studied in
the cells until $3.50 p. IN. Most of the teach
ers have held responsible positions in the
enfranchised world speciality is made
of arithmetic, because Of its value as an
active stimulant to the powers of observa-
tion. Nothing is so valuable to the learner
or TO a man engaged in the active pursuits
of life, as clear understanding of his
theme, subject or problem, with an intelli.
gent power to weigh its elements, estimate
their force aud relationship and so inter
pret results. Mathematics is of the most
avail to him in these things, but as the adj
vanced mathematics cannot be studied to
advantage in pentup Utica Of a prison
school room, the humber branch, arithme-
tic, will supply that which is needful and
Immediately useful in all the ordinary af-
fairs of life. Several studies have been
added to a curriculum that Is necessarily
limited owing TO the fact that as most Of
the pupils are employed during the day
the school can be opened only in the even
ing
One of the greatest and most beneficial
reforms Of Warden Cofins administration
regulation convict striped suit to the limbo
of things that were. rhe man who can
wear a garb Of that kind for several years,
or even one andput on reformation with
his civilian suit when be is discharged from
prison, is Of the stuff that heroes are made.
Every time that the wearer's eye lights
upon it he is painfully taught that his
clothes are the habiliments Of degradation,
he faf~ nf fi,oev
his stripes he is healed They keep the
wounds of crime open instead of cicatTizing
them. because they are constant reproach
to him--the visible curse of society There
is an accusation, punishment and male
diction in each stripe, because he
sees that he is a marked being, made
as different in appearance from his fellow
men as outward and visible signs can mani
fest and emphasize a difference
To preach amendment TO him while he is
thus constantly punished on every inch Of
mis- body and made a moving monument Of
shame is bootless, unless the inducement
of speedy change Of garb can be held sout
to him as a reward for good conduct We
need not wonder that wardens, chaplains
teachers and guards have accomplished so
little, by precept sermon or example
toward the reformation of the imprisoned
law breaker. This ever-present ever
cursing garb has neutralized their efforts.
Warden Cofdns dislike for the striped vest
ments Of his wards was like the antipathy
held by Ewes descendants toward the ser
pent that beguiled her prisoner once
said: Every time the old man looks at
the clothes Of one of us living barber poles
his eye glitters like a snakes" Another
remarked He doesn't want his boys
looking like tigers walking on their hind
legs" When he announced in chapel to
the assembled twenty-five hundred that he
intended to do away with the stripes, a shout
arose that almost oosened the states off
the roof. II was like the cheer of a charg-
ing army, aud if it were not too out-of-date
to believe in angels one might well sup
pose that heaven struck louder chord Of
praise at that moment. There are some
moments that are big with fate for good or
evil, and that was one Of them A thous.
and crimes died in that acclamation, a
thousand men were born again to a nobler
purpose and better life. That shout was
hallelujah, the Joy cry Of redemption.
When the warden announced that all who
had not been reported at the end Of six
weeks should be clad in a grey suit, like a
civilians, it was supposed that only
minority would win the coveted honor by
remaining impeccable for forty days and
forty nights. But when the day arrived
nearly seven-eighths Of them we're found
eligible to FIRST grade clothing And yet
people existwho assert, with loud emphasis,
that the penal wards Of society can only be
controlled by harsh measures. In less than
two weeks after the adoption Of the new
clothing the number of infractions Of rules
had fallen to one and one-fourth per cent.
As the warden has often said, twenty-three
hundred preachers could not make a better
showing. That number Of theologians
might get to arguing too emphatically about
free will and predestination and lose a few
marks.
No saints that have ever walked on earth
have been required TO walk more uphghtly