The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-10-29

III the body.
All the punishment, all the con-
tinement, all the good treatment, all
the bardships. all the pleasures Go
little to reform a man or woman
without the purpose of God IN that
word cOnvictur, cunvincer. is applied
TO our individual lives. We cannot
+xpunge certain words from the
English or any other language, bur
we can each of us, expunge error,
sin and INV hol-some thoughts from
our minds. In a word we are the
builders Of our own characters, and
the work must be done dav by day,
now, not some future day. or time.
We have never yen written an ar
.lcle iu all these years " hlle here in
,lurance vile, advocating that the
word convict" be expunged from
the English language; and the major
paper. advocated. III f. ueht to have
The " ord put out of use since our
stay here. have nearly all of them
gone out either on parole or dis
charge, and while wanting The word
convict" expunged from our vocab
ulary, had not expunged the word
from their inner lives ans! have elIh-
err gone to some other prison. came
back here. or broken their paroles
and are now fugiliv-s from justice.
But. however that may he, We have
always been of that callbre, even ia
our palmy days of honorable citizen
sh,p-to sympalhize with the person
WHO was down, and We sympathiZe
most feeiIngly with any one who adj
vocates the eradication of All lnp.,s-
siblIiy.
Now. we do not wish it understood,
that what we write FIR the Mirror
is done with a view show lug great
k,uw ledg-. nor do we wrile merely
10 kIli tine, or To tickle the ears IF
those Who may read what We say.
but what W. write Is done tor the
purpose uf doing some lIltle good,
and We have always beer frank and
open with each subject written upon,
and II has been our purpose, to reach
not only our own family here. but TO
reach The outside world as we'll and
give them faint view of the shut
ms and their true needs. -becatise
no prison reforms or better prison
conditions are hrouch about Ithout
CO. operation, Of he prisoner aud eli
lZen--they cannot cooperate at the
ballot box. but the prisoner can
point out the real needs that will
tend to better his condition as IA state
ward to the citizen, and the citizen
can bring such needs to the attention
of the public. and the public can
have better laws enacted. Again
The public might induce our law
makers to expuhge from our statutes
The wcrl CONVEX" but another
word should be chosen t. take lis
place. No word chosen would he,
or sound any better to the lmpris-
umed when once he learned lis full
| meaning. No one word taken from
or added To will reform amy one.
For reformation comes through SER
vice, let that service, be as a
convicted man of crime, an appoint
I'd keeper or guard. an elective gov
ermor; and without service there can
'.e II" such thing as All equilibrium
Il
scales between all men.
The only hing We " I'll laast of is.
that in all our writings for The Mr.
ror none OF our arilcles have ever
'een cut or censored by he fiji lals.
and our hrs, appeare on july llth
| l9l n have we thought II wise
AS a convicted man IN duramce vile,
II laul l." The skies the Minnesota
>tate Prison or To continually por
Tray the praises If the management
from week 10 week, for common
sense and reason should Tell us that
the management of All institution Of
Ihls, or any other kind must of nee
essl he men of integrity and honor.
and as such We like to think of all
.nen-yes. The warden anu his lepu.
ties IN their uffices. the guards on
the tow rs, Tie Keepers IN he shops,
our fellow worker at our side, the
man " b" sets type by our side at the
case, who walks by our side In line,
sis "A, our side IL chapel or a, our
are all men, and us man lhimke,h,
s" is be-" So we at work, al play,
day :,lnl night like Ia think If each
one here as real man. True, some
of laval before bar of justice.