The Washington herald., 1915-05-22

~ hope that, in the other world
"A all life sentences end in par
N don.
This particular murderer
seems to have been a good
fellow He must have been something of philoso-
phcr.
He has explained that his thirty-nine years OF
confinement don't seem so long that he can
look back on them.
The reason is that receiving his life SEN
tence, he accepted his fate He did not try to re-
sst. He made up his mind that the pr son was to
be his earthly abode. So to his prison he ad-
justed himself.
In the realm of the certain he found kind of
peace, as most of us do
And yet, in our society. how few OF US are per-
mitted to dwell in the certain. For most OF us
life is kept uncertain.
This philosopher says that. through accepting
his situation he tell into "the blues" far less often
than "the other boys" did.
His use of words is interesting.
To some of us there is always something
strange in the way convicts speak OF one another.
They appear as if they ordinary human be-
ings. exactly like the rest of us.
The bows" it seems, used to get the blues
from longing for the time when they would be
free Their longing made the days in prison all
the heavier.
But the life-sentence man wisely knew that he
must live for the day only.
"You See he said, up to a short time ago
there no end to look forward to- There was
just today Tomorrow l didn't think Of
l wonder if his case doesn't throw some light
on the meaning of Christs saying Take no
thought for the morrow"
If we live as well as we can for today, don't
meet all the problems of living with full
courage and power OF concentration?
1t is worth while noting what happened to the
when he BEGAN q
sentence might not prove to be life sentence.
when l learned he said, that there a
change for me to get out the time began to drag,
and began to have the blues. | didn't sleep any
the last night and not very much the night
before. My, how long the days were"
Philosophers have written volumes about the
delights of anticipation. But in even SO joyous
be pain; In his imagination, the walls OF the
more combining, more cruel.
The world outside had been to the prisoner
a kind of paradise, forever lost. AS a reality he
had put it away from him forever.
AS soon as the world assumed reality to him
again, within possible reach, it became both a
joy and torment.
When man has been in prison for thrty-nine
years he becomes object of interest. He stands
out from the rest of humanity. So he is likely to
find fellow-creatures interested in him.
On emerging from prison there were good
many people ready to help this colored man.
They must have enjoyed his JOY in the free
world, his amazement at seeing the things that for
years he had heard about and read about, the
trolley cars, the telephone. the subway, the ele
waited trains. the marvels revealed to during
the thirty nine years
And yet, in retrospect those years didn't really
seem so long!
Think of the multitude of the imprisoned, not
being confined within stone walls. We are so used
to seeing them all about us that to our eyes they
don't seem strange. 1t is society that has mpris-
oned Them not in body, but in mind and soul.
In thinking over that colored mans prison life
one wonders at the mystery OF time.
In that prison there were doubtless men, con-
fined for few months or a few weeks only, whose
confinement really stretched a period far cx-
ceeding thrty-nine years.
After all, time is only relative thing. Some
philosophers maintain that it is merely creation
OF the mind.
How quickly few moments OF pleasure may
leave. And yet the same number of moments Of
pain may seem like eternity.
And yet we deal with time as if it were con-
crete, possible of measurement. We made it
definite factor in punishment.
Here is only one of the many mysteries that
we so confidently deal with when we punish our
fellow creatures.
Perhaps shall even know how to make the
most of all the good that is now so plain in the
character of the coored murderer. Then we may
find some better way Of developing that good and
placing it at the service of society than keeping
the man in prison for thirty-nine years.
The treatment Of that prisoner suggests that
society is far wiser and far more economical in
dealing with its animals than in dealing with its
men,
Have you ever studied the working of pack
ing house? 1t offers marvellous exhibition of
economy and thrift.
Nothing in the cattle is allowed to 60 to waste
The marvellous system Upton Sinclair has
wildly described in "The Jungle"
Society might learn something about economy
in treating men by studying the methods of the
packing house.
1t might encourage science to work on the
problem of making the most of men, as it has
encouraged science to discover how to make the
most of cattle.
Then society may find better use for a man
guilty Of crime than shutting him up thirty-nine
years, cripplng his family by taking his services
deprivng his family of his earnings, and infictins
on him and his relatives lifelong disgrace.
The Cal Of The Sail