The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-10-05
A PRISON FUNO

III has come hpme to MS with |
great force the past week, the real
vital and most urgent need FOR what |
we will term prison fund; so |
that when the cu,prit shall have !
served his term in prison, for any |
crime committed, and is again at lib |
erty, the shacbles fallen off and he free
to begin a new life andd an honest, he |
may find someone to give him a lit
tie help, helping hand to encourage !
him to keep forevermore in a !
straight path.
1t is very hard, it is a fearful thing
we can but fancy this coming out, al
ter years, it often is, of the life of
captivity; it is almost as terrible, in
deed, as the going in!
The man stands free, on the road,
we will say; he is told in the early
morning he can go, and soon he hears
the prison doors shut and clang be-
hind him. 1t is a common occurrence
at the prison for a mans time to be
up" and likely no one watches, and
few care, where he goes when once
out of sight. He wanders, it may be.
aimlessly into the town, where, when
it is known that he is a released con-
vict, no one cares to house or enter.
tain him.
He has no money, only a few poor
clothes, no home, no shelter, no work,
no chance to live or to begin life
anew, however much he may desire,
or however firmly he may have re-
solved, to live an honest life, once
again his own master.
1t seems to him, as he goes from
one place to another and finds no
cheering word, no help, that every
mans hand is against him. But this
is not so; it is only that what is
everyone's concern is no ones con-
Germ. The crowd on the street, what
do they know of him, the prisoner
released that morning, or the day be-
fore, or the day or the week before
that? In the stores, on the wharf,
what can they know of that poor
human drifting by, downcast and
downhearted, desolate and forlorn?
Now let us imagine one of the
good people that has talked to him
all the Sundays, of all the years Of
his prison life, that has sung with
him, prayed and read to him, exhort-
ing him and all his prison companions
to turn all their thoughts toward the
All-loving Father for guiding, protec-
ton and help in all their future stay
on earth; that He can never forsake
them, or fail to come to their asss-
lance, if they are loyal and true. Now,
here is this man, also testing all that
teaching, and he thinks over and
= over "Oh, if | could but meet one
of those men today or one of those
women, and he or she would tell
me what to do, would give or lend
me a little money (and prisoners
have been known to return borrowed
money! that l might go here or
there and get a start, either in a
strange place or among good old
friends. Oh, if / only could"
We are telling conditions as they
really often exist here, at our own
p Oahu prison, and we are pleading for
prison fund, that one be started,
and any disposed to give to this
work, much or Unloading to the
same at any time. This fund could
be kept in the bank, any one OF the
banks, on interest, perhaps, and one
of the regular visitors at the pris-
on, (say Miss Yarrow) could take
charge of the same, and could lend
or give, as she faced the need. Many
man would be saved in this way
from downward course, as we all
must believe.
Am / my brothers keeper" Yes,
not only in prison, but when he has
paid, so far as he can, the price of
his misdoing.
1t will not take much, my dear
reader, to start this fund" and shall
We not have one?
It is true that prisoners are often
D helped, we must hope and believe
e helped in various ways when a case
: L. I.u....uru.. I...A IL. IL I.unuLr H.. 1 1