The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-05-27
By Maud Ballington Booth
m The "Little Mother" Of the Prisons r
The Longing for Liberty

There is no word Of deeper meaning,
or fraught with greater anguished long
ing, than that simple little word "liber-
ty, when spoken by the one in prison.
+ seems to me that it is only those who
have lost it who know it's full sweet
ness, and I have found that however
many years have passed since they
were In the free, sweet world, they
never lose the longing to regain it.
A life prisoner passed one day down
the long corridor of the cell house in
one Of our largest and gloomiest
prisons. He had been there many
years, and his good conduct had won
him some privileges. He was what
was known as a runner for one of
the officers, hence he went and came
freely through the prison yard and
buildings. The corridor was long and
gloomy, but one door gave on the
prison yard, and through it passed an
other prisoner bearing something
carefully in his hands. AS he drew
nearer, the life-man saw that It was
a crudely made cage holding a poor,
frightened fluttering little wild bird.
AS the life-man reached the bird
catcher, he stopped him and stretched
out his hand. please give me that
bird "he cried. NO." said the other,
that 1 won't. 1 want it myself"
Again he asked, "Oh, do give it to me,
l want it so much" once more to be
harshly denied. Then planting him
self firmly in the path of the one who
would have pushed past him with his
prize, he began to plead for the pos
session of the little futtering prisoner.
Realizing that the old life-man was
really very anxious to possess the
bird, the other prisoner decided that
the time had come to strike bargain.
WELL" he said at last, "Tll tell you
what I'll do. If for three months you
will give me all your tobacco and all
your oil, I'll give you this bird" To
realize what this price meant, you
must know that at that date In that
prison, there was neither gas nor
electric light in the cells. Each man
had his allowance of oil for his lamp
He worked for the state from the
hour of rising until p. M, and after
that his time was his own. If he had
light, he could read, study, write, play
a musical instrument, do anything per-
mitted by the rules to pass those
hours of solitude. If he had no oil, it
would mean sitting alone in dark,
dreary cell absolutely unoccupied
Then the one luxury provided by the
state was the tobacco allowed to each
man, in which l suppose they find a
great solace in their loneliness. The
proposed bargain had hardly been
mentioned before it had been accept
ed, and stretching out his hand, the
life-man said, "You shall have the to-
bacco and the oil, now let me have
the bird" Handing over the little
cage, the other prisoner passed on his
way, puzzled perhaps at the great
value the other placed upon that lit
tie futtering bunch of feathers that
was still dashing itself from side to
side against the imprisoning bars.
The lifer took his way down the cor.
ridor to the door that opened into the
court yard. Stepping out under the
blue sky, he swiftly opened the cage,
and in moment the poor little pris-
oner had found its freedom, stretched
its battered wings, and scared away,
to vanish, speck in the blue above.
For three months the life-man sat
in a darkened cell for the lack of oil,
and went without the solace of his
pipe, and he did not think the sacrifice
so great because he who had lost his
liberty could not bear to think of any
poor little life shut in to cruel cap
tivity If 1t were in his power to give
it freedom. He did not talk of his
act do not think the prison off,
Gals knew of it, and he did not think
1t worthy Of police. It was to him an
impulse of the heart that he could
not resist. He confded to a CON-
rade through whom the story came
to my ears, that when the next
springtime came round, little song
bird lighted on the stone coping Of the
window opposite his cell, and sang a
sweet, joyous song of liberty, and he
firmly believed that it was his little
prisoner come back to thank him.
If people on the outside believe that
the passing Of years makes men so
accustomed to prison that they be-
come Indifferent to freedom and all
that it means in life, it shows
merely that they are not person.
ally acquainted with the prison
world, but have formed their opin.
ions from hearsay. l have come
into contact with thousands of
men, many of them serving life
sentences, and I have never met one
reconciled to Imprisonment On
the contrary have found that they
all look with longing to the coming
of freedom some day, even though II
may be in the far, far future. They
talk of it, long for it, dream of it, as
the one thing worth living for.
I received a rather pathetic letter
one day from an old man whom
had known for several years in one
of the state prisons in New York The
letter asked for my help in this way
He acknowledged that l could not pc
tition the governor or take up his
cause from the legal aspect, but he
said, Little Mother, only want you
to write the governor that il he feels
like giving me my liberty, you will
give me home at Hope hail." He
added that he feared other govern
ors had turned down his case because
they knew he had no home to 20 to
or friends living who could help him