The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1911-10-27
SINCLAIR ON
..
HIS DAY IN JAIL
He Didn't Eat, Sleep or Drink
For Eighteen Hours.
WORKED ON the STONE PILE.
S"thcr Was Imprisoned For Playing
'e"n's on Sunday, Thereby Break.
'ne the Delaware Laws-Experienes
Suggested a Poem-His Comments,

| 'ne the Delaware Laws-Experienc
| Suggested Poem-His Comments.
Upton Sinclair, the author, who serv-
ed jail sentence Of eighteen hours
10: violating the blue laws of Della.
ware by playing game Of tennis on
Sunday, did not cat or drink during
ILLS incarceration. During the day he
worked on the prison stone pile along
with forty other prisoners, white and
black, and at night lay on the stone
door of the steel cell without blan.
ket. He declared the food was too vile
to touch and that he was afraid Of the
water.
He did not close his eyes throughout
the night Instead the surroundings
Of the place and the meanings of many
of the 337 convicts inspired him to
compose a poem. This he did mental
". Subsequently between loads OF
stone that he dumped from a wheel
barrow into Il stone crusher he wrote
1t out line at time. The lines are ap.
propriate to the night in Jail and are
entitled "The Menagerie." The pres
ence of unwelcome visitors in the cell
that Sinclair occupied suggested the
circus-like name. The poem reads:
THE MENAGERIE.
Oh come, ye lords and ladies Of the
realm;
Como from your couches soft, your per-
fumed halls;
Come watch with me throughout the
weary hours.
Here are there sounds to fill your faded
nerves,
sucl, as the cave men, your forefathers,
crouchlng in forests of primeval night.
Here, tier on tier. in steel barred cages
pent,
The beasts ye breed and hunt throughout
the world.
Hark to that snore-some beast that SUM-
bers deep.
Hark to that roar--sone beast that dreams
of blood.
Harl to that moan-some beast that
wakes and weeps.
And there in sudden stiffness bark the
sound
Some beast that rasps his vermin haunted
hide
Oh, come, We lords and ladies Of tho
realm
Come, keep the watch with me; the show
Is yours.
Behold the source of all our Joy and
pride,
These beasts ye harness fast and set to
The chariots of your pageantry and pomp.
Called II a Lark.
ut was nothing more than lark"
Sinclcir said. "The experience was
one Of the most interesting l have
ever had. will write about It," The
author laughed when he narrated his
work in the prison quarry. II wheel
cd 100 whcelbarrows of stone to the
worked seven hours, wore the
regulation Jail garb and had two
baths"
Sinclair lost three pounds while in
jail. "This," he explained, twas due
to the fasting"
A number Of times while talking
with newspaper men he declared:
And this for playing tennis on Sun
day. It makes me feel like blowing
kp euluC OHc WIN II DOIDD. l1c ulu
not say who that "some one'' might
be.
Tho principal comment that the au-
thor had to make was on conditions
ut the workhouse. He continues: "Oh,
lhosc bestial faces! l never saw such
4 parade In my life. We were forced
10 march to the eating room with our
hands folded and to eat in silence.
lid not eat. The workhouse has
that beats any in New
York a mile. The convicts never get
out Of doors, never see the sky. Their
faces are covered with boils, and there
are all kinds of evidences Of tubercu-
|osls. 1t makes a man realize what
The world really IS.
~ am the picture Of health, but do
not think could live in that Jail two
1t Is absolutely impossible
to ventilate the cells, and the convicts
suffer as result"