The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-01-04
From the Boston Globe.

From the Boston Globe.
@HE inmates of prisons are quickly
Wv forgotten by the outside world.
The newspaper accounts of their
trials are read by portion of the public,
but after the sentences have been pro-
nounced the busy world forgets the case
and there is no one to remember the
unfortunate ones except near relatives
and occasionally a stanch friend.
The exiled one needs good support from
the state, but, on the other hand, there
are the strongest reasons why those de-
pendent on his earnings and who are
often left penniless should be looked after
with equal care. Deprived of their main
support. those familiar with the lives OF
this class know they will undergo all
sorts of hardships, even depriving them
selves Of proper nourishment, without a
murmur, and struggle on, sometimes for
years, waiting for the cell doors to open
and give freedom again to the head of
the family.
I The patient groups of mothers, wives
and children, occupying blighted homes,
secures some assistance, but probably the
NEST effective method for furnishing relief
to them has been devised by Maud Bal
lington Booth, famous in the volunteers
of America circles the world over and
known among prisoners as the Little
Mother" This lady has shown philan-
thropists everywhere an additional and
very important field for their labors,
which she describes in avery interesting
Toaar
This energetic friend of prisoners found
that while a man serving in prison Is
fed, clothed, sheltered and can have medi-
cal treatment-and of course experiences
bitter imprisonment-the pitiful side of
the question as it bears upon the lives
of old mothers, frail wives and helpless
little children is not so well understood.
While assisting prisoners she found they
were most anxious about their fami-
lies and children, and this condition
opened UP all unexpectedly a new field
of labor to her and her associates. De-
scribing this new work, she says:
Soon 1 realized the friendship I had
promised the man in prison, If it was
to be practical and comforting to him.
must include his dear ones in the world
outside. Little by little we came Into
touch with numbers of these families,
not only in New York but all over the
country. We entered their names and
addresses In our books and as far as
we could we ministered to their wants
These, as may be expected, were very
varied Sometimes the mother needed
hospital treatment; at other times, it was
- foal fn0 Often
starvation have to be helped with food
and fuel, and over and over again on
the verge Of eviction families had to be
tided over the emergency by the pay
ment of a months rent. In numberless
cases, the mother, by dnt of hard work,
could just about pay her rent and feed
her little ones; but there was nothing left
over for clothing, and for years we have
had to help in keeping such families re-
spectably dressed that the children might
go to school and that fral little bodies
might not suffer in the bitter cold of
winter.
Philanthropsists who found libraries and
endow institutions of learning and per-
form many other meritorious acts may
we'll pause and consider the ACCESSIBILITY
of assisting in the reform of prisoners
and aiding their helpless and innocent
families by entering this new field of
labor The slightest investigation will con-
vince them that by aiding this move-
ment they will cause prayers to be said
for themselves in many lands; none OF
the money viii be wasted, but all of 1t
will reach and relieve distress in every
case.
1t Is undeniable that there are many
inmates of prisons who have had such
hard experience in life they have be-
come more discouraged than hardened.
but they can be encouraged and made
hopeful through sympathy and kind
acts. and when this sympathy and kind
ness is extended to their far-off families
they will struggle heroically to reform
and will endure their confinement more