Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-28
CHAPTER u-Continued.

II nope so, SAID. ana 1 meant IT,
In three or four days I went back to
my cell and to Elias Peabody, who said
in all sincerity that he had missed me.
and l. too. was glad to see him. I owe
much to that ignorant man, and yet not so
ignorant either. He had a homely SIM
plicity and piety at which 1 was at first
amused. but which soon impressed me
deeply with its genuineness. His i'm
prisonment he felt to be no disgrace, it
was merely a period Of detention through
no fault of his He had with him in the
cell little Bible from which he read
every morning and evening, spelling out
the words slowly and painfully.
The strongest thing in him next to his
piety was the love Of liberty. He knew
little OF the material restraints Of civiliza-
ton. His front door yard had been the
unlimited mountains and before he came
to the penitentiary he had always
breathed an air that came over hundreds
of miles of clean peaks and ridges. How
he chafed between high stone walls and
in our narrow cell.
"Oh, Charlie. If I could just stand on
the top of old Lonesome Peak and take In
the wind. guip after gulp,' he would say
to me-he called me Charlie from the
regard me either as a son or much
younger brother.
When my strength was fully returned a
deputy warden, a man named Stone UNI
der whose immediate jurisdiction l was.
said to me:
johnson, your sentence carried hard
labor with 1t, and We'll have to see that
you don't neglect your duty. For the
next three years you are to work for the
benefit of your state"
His words were not as brusque as they
seem on the written page, but they gave
me a great shock. l was to be peon.
a slave. and 1 telt my face turn white:
Peabody was with me- at the time, and
with the native intelligence that ne pos
sessed, despite his ignorance and gawki-
ness, he saw that l was hard hit. He
put his hand upon my arm in paternal
soothing manner.
ITS better. Charlie" he said; you'd
go crazy in here If you didn't work. Get
somethin' good an hard. somethin' that
will keep your muscles so busy that your
mind won't have time for anythin' but
to boss EN-!
What do you think you are fit for?'
asked Deputy Store. looking me up and
down, critically. You're fine big mus
cular man. an We're willing for you to
have some voice in the matter"
Despite Peabody's soothing words l
writhed mentally in my degradation. and
out of an impulse, springing from l
know not where, perhaps because it SEEM
ed the crudcst thing that occurred to my
mind, l replied
"Oh. anything; make me blacksmith
guess I'm fit for nothing better"
Your choice surprises me- said Stone
But We'll think 1t over"
They did not discuss It long. becaus, In
a few hours ! was told that could learn
to be q blacksmith, and after While L
saw that my impulse had been wise one
In many ways. I had for several weeks
a hard time in the blacksmith shop, sus-
tanning many a bruise and burn, and,
what was worse. sharp words Of reproof
or abuse, but they kept my mind from
morbid and unhappy thoughts, and at
night I was so tired that after the hrst
week Of nervous strain was over l al
ways slept a dreamless and restful steep
until the morning and the time for rising
came.
l had never done manual work before
and it was good for me now, purifying my
blood and hardening the fibe- Of my
frame. All the old grossness was purged
away. I knew that my skin was assum-
ing a new and healthier tint, the marks
of dissipation were gone. my nerves were
steady and 1 ate with an appetite that
had not known since boyhood.
Its maxim man Of you. Charlie,
said Peabody one day.
I would not admit it. but neither did
deny 1t. yet as time passed l began to
feel, strange as it may seem. q certain
happiness. sort of content that was per-
haps more physical than mental. Nafu-
rally of a strong, even powerful. constr
tuition, my exceeding good health was
bound to have a great influence upon me,
and had every hour the knowledge that
was innocent, that 1 was suffering to
protect the good name of another. that
1 was not like those a found me perverted
morally, the enemies OF the state ana So
ciety-at least not now.
LOT
except with Peabody, who was my COM
rade were, as far as they went, non
commttal, I did not seek friendship.
saw few who invited it, Do not make
mistakes about prisons the lnhocent men
within their walls are scarce. and While IN
the penitentiary at Frankfort saw little
Of martyrs.
NV happiest days were when 1 was in
the blacksmith shop handling the great
sledge hammer when the fire roared UNI
der the rapid pumping of the bellows. ano
I would bring the heavy mass of steel
down on the white-hot iron in blow after
blow. beating it into the shape that
wished. Then I could feel the muscles IN
my arm and back swell and my spirit
swelled with them. I was man now,
primitive man maybe, but no longer
weakling, the sport Of my own bad de-
sires.
sIt's good for you, Charlie Elias said
To me. But 1 need the mountains"
knew how true were his words. and did
not forget them.
When my body was settled into its rou-
tine of labor and my mind was freed from
its task Of incessant direction began 10
crave mental food. 1 begged for books
and a few were permitted to me. Then
as confidence in me was established was
allowed to have candle in our cell, and
at night often after Elias was asleep
read I can never make you realize the
mighty solace Of books to one condemned
that it was water to the burning throat
and food to the starving. Often after
reading them and after the candle was
blown out / would sit thinking far into
the dark Then / would wonder how my
youth could ever have been so weak and
foolish, and l would ponder over the
wasted years. A resolution slowly formed
itself In my mind and hardened with time
Life was not over for me; on the con-
trary 1t had scarcely begun. / should go
forth from the penitentiary still very
Young man. and, taking my own name. /
would make a place for myself in the
world.
l often thought of Alicia. and of her 81
lence, for which l could not account No
word had ever come from her. nor in
deed from any one In the outside World,
and once it occurred to me that she might
be dead Despite all my wrongs and my
resentment against her / felt pang at
the supposition. Poor Alicia! How could
she he blamed for anything that she did
under the dominance Of such a man as
George Grey!
After such thoughts as these I would
plunge with renewed zeal into the sever
| est kind Of toll. l worked far harder than
| the PRISON demanded of me, and the state