The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1910-05-26

ing. than That simple little word "liOor-
ty." when spoken by the one In prison.
= seems to me that II is only those who
hive lost It who know its full sweet.
ness, and have found that however
many years have passed since they
were In the free, sweet world, they
never lose the longing to regain II.
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 Il runner" for one Of
the officers hence he went aud came
freely through the prison yard and
buildings. The corridor was long and
gloomy, but one door gave on the
prison yard, and through II passed an.
other prisoner bearing something
carefully in his hands. As he drew
nearer, the life-man saw that 1t was
a crudely made cage holding a poor.
frightened Tutoring 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 | won't. | want It myself"
Again he asked, "Oh, do give It to me-
j 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 huttering 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 a bargain.
Well" he said at last, "I'll tell you
what I'll do. II 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 mis- own. If he had
light, he could read, study. write, play
n 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,
.droary cell absolutely unoccupied.
Then the one luxury provided by the
state was the tobacco allowed 10 each
man. in which ! suppose they find
great solacc In their loneliness The
proposed bargain had hardly been
mentioned before 1t had been accept.
ed and stretching out his hand the
liie-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 fluttering 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 ope..od into the
court yard. Stepping out under the
blue sky, he swiftly opened the cage,
and in n 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 lifeman 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
80 great because he who had lost his
liberty could not bear to think of any
poor little life shut In to cruel cap.
tivity II ii were in his power to give
1t freedom. He did not talk of his
act | do not think the prison OH.
cials knew of 1t, and he did not think
II worthy Of notice. II was TO him an
impulse OF the heart that he could
not resist. He confded to n com.
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 II was his little
prisoner come back to thank him.
II 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 II means In life, 1t shows
merely that they are not person.
ally acquainted with the prison
world. but have formed their opin.
ions from hearsay. have come
into contact with thousands Of
men, many of them serving life
sentences, and / 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 1t
may be In the far, far future. They
talk of It. long for 1t. dream OF 1t. as
the one thing worth living for.
received n 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 could not pc
titlon the governor or take DIP his
o,,,,a from, tho legal nsnprt hut he