The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-09-29

said. il humanizes and refines. Wnetn-
or this he because of their better ma
ture. which is elected in solitude or
because of their being gentler crea-
lures. of greater patience and longer
suffering, | do not know; but so II ID
That the punishment is nevertheless
to my thinking, fully as cruel ana as
wrong in their case as in that OF the
men, need scarcely add.
"My firm conviction is that, lnde-
nendent of the mental anguish 1t oc-
casions-an anguish so acute ana SO
tremendous. that all Imagination or IL
must fall far short of the reality-lt
wears the mind into a morbid state
which renders it unfit for the rough
contact and busy action of the world.
It is nv fixed opinion that those who
have undergone this punishment
must pass into society again morally
unhealthy and diseased. There are
many instances on record OF men VINO
have chosen, or have been condemn
ed, to lives of perfect solitude, but L
can scarcely remember one, even
among sages of strong and vigorous
intellect. where its effect has not be-
come apparent, in some disordered
train of thought, or some gloomy hal
lucination. What mOnstrous phan-
toms, bred of dependency and doubt,
and born and reared in solitude, have
stalked upon the earth, making crea-
ton ugly, and darkening the face of
Heaven,
Suicides are rare among these pris-
oners; are almost, indeed, unknown.
But no argument in favor Of the sys-
tenn can reasonably be deduced from
this circumstance, although it is very
often urged. All men who have made
diseases of the mind their study
know perfectly we'll that such eX-
IRENE depression and despair as will
change the whole character and beat
down all its powers of elasticity and
self-resistance, may be at work with
in a man, and yet stop short of self
destruction. This is a common case.
That it makes the senses dull, and
by degrees impairs the bodily facul-
ties, l am quite sure. l remarked to
those who were with me in this very
establishment at Philadelphia, that
the criminals who had been there
long, were deaf. They, who were in
the habit of seeing these men con-
stantly, were perfectly amazed at the
idea, which they regarded as ground
less and fanciful. And yet the very
one of their own selection-con-
firmed by impression (which was I'M
known to him), instantly, and said,
with a genuine air it was impossible
to doubt, that he couldn't think how
it happened, but he was growing
very dull of hearing.
THAT it is a singularly unequal
punishment, and affects the worst
man least, there is no doubt. In it's
superior efficiency as a means of re-
formation, compared with that other
code of regulations which follows
the prisoners to work in company
without communication together, I
have not the smallest faith All the
instances of reformation that were
mentioned to me, were a kind that
might have been-and l have no
debut whatever, in my own mind,
would have been equally well
brought about by the silent system.
With regard to such men as the ne
gro burglar and the English thief,
even the most enthusiastic have
scarcely any hope of their CONVEX
sion.
1T seems to me that the objection
that nothing wholesome or good has
ever had its growth in such unnatu-
raj solitude, and that even a dog or
any of the more intelligent among
beasts, would pine, and nope, and
rust away, beneath it's influence,
would be in itself sufficient argu-
ment against this system. But when
we recollect, in addition, how very
cruel and severe it is, and that a soil
tary life is always liable to peculiar
and distinct objections of a most de-
plorable nature, which have arisen
here, and call to mind, moreover.
that the choice is not between this
system, and a bad or ill-considered
one. but between it and another
which has worked we'll, and is. in its
whole design and practice, excellent:
there is surely more than sufficient
reason for abandoning a mode of pun
ishment attended by so little hope or
/ to-