Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1905-11-30

Thanksgiving day! The sunlight
seemed ia smile the good message
the winds to whisper 1.-THE very
dry leaves that rustled along the
sidewalks might have known 1t. so
light and merry was their dance. A
haze lay I'VE the hills. making them
look further away than usual in the
purple distance. while the great,
Aroad. peaceful river gave back
heavens blue in a yet deeper shade
save where its ripples chased each
other in %twinkling lines of silver and
gold.
All nature was joyous from the
golden sunbeams to the dusty little
sparrows who had been chirping Wig
orously since dawn. That was the
outside view Of life. What of the
inside for there by the peaceful
river was a great gray pile of build
ings. stern and f~orbidding, within
whose high thick walls shut each in
his narrow cell lived-or existed
over a thousand men. How greatly
the color of life depends on the van-
tage point from which it Is viewed,
To those without the day was glori-
ous-the view lovely with but a re-
gret that the big ugly pile of buildings
should blot the foreground and IN
trude on the passerby the thought of
crime and misery. To those within
only a very limited glimpse of the
outer world could be seen, and the
sunshine of it only made the shadow
surrounding them the darker and
more dismal.
AS the bell changed forth its mes
sage that the rising hour had come
yawns, groans and signs echoed along
. ahe galleries and made a volume OF
suppressed sound in the great build
ing. Ten hundred and fifty cells un'
der one roof. Cells three and one
half feet wide and seven feet long
heavily barred and bolted, opening
son TO iron galleries built tier above
tier. Yes, it was a gloomy place filled
with the heavy tainted atmosphere sc
peculiar to old prisons. 1t all spoke
much more of shadow than OF sun
shine, for the windows cut in those
massive walls were only like the sits
in some ancient fortress keep, and SC
small that the heavy iron bars that
crossed them seemed needless. NJ
one appeared glad to awake on thal
Thanksgiving day in prison. Sleep
blessed sleep, brings forgetfulness
n despite hard bed and narrow cell
to many sweet dreams had come
For a while shame and sorrow, wear
mess and pain, despair and bitterness
fall away. and the dream self flies
homeward, perhaps back to the home
or innocent childhood that In reality
has long since ceased to be. Freedom
is theirs again, dear faces smile once
more, wen the dead walk with then
in the old familiar haunts of mem
oty.
The sound of complaint and discon
tent is silenced at the tramp of Off
IL feet. Something of the great
spirit of the day is felt and apprecia
ted by the guard as they march Il
their places on the galleries and ex
change a CHEEKY salutation with the
night officers they have come to re
Iieye.
"A right royal Thanksgiving day
with a touch Of frost in the air. said
one to a passing comrade. Yes! sc
/ see. and mighty glad I'll he to get
out OF this cursed hole and breathe in
Some pure air" Take me with you
growled a voice at his side, and the
bars OF the nearest cell were feebly
shaken. 1t was a gaunt old face that
looked out and the rough disordered
hair was white, while in the eyes was
h strained WEAKNESS of n who
looks long for a sail on the horizon, a
sail that " comes.
"Ha! Ha! that's good. Take you
with me? No. no Pop, not till you're
ready for gallery 25." There wa:
grim humor in the answer for he was
a life mar and gallery % was. in the