The Washington times., 1925-08-20

M. Hurd, Doctor Thomas r.. Sal
mon, Mrs. Helen Hartley Jenkins
Mr.. and Mrs. Everett Mack and
many distinguished foreigners.
Celebrities Promote Welfare
Scarcely a day passed that we
did not have celebrities at lunch
tea or dinner. AS a result OF
these visits many things were done
to promote the welfare OF the
prisoners. The band received new
instruments and music; the print
shop, where the prisoners paper
the Star of Hope, was produced,
acquired an upsto.date linotype
machine; a new motion picture
protector was installed; baseball
supplies were donated; courses in
study were provided.
But one of the most important
innovations, perhaps, was the or
eanization of a knitting class,
under the direction of Mr.. and
Mrs. Ernest Smelling OF New York.
During. visit at the prison Mrs.
Smelling conceived the idea Of hav--
ing the prisoners learn to knit
during their spare hours, and
made the suggestion to Osborne.
Mrs. Smelling. al the time, was
actively WORKING for the Polish
Relief Committee, sending sup
plies of all sorts to the noncon-
batants, the wretched wonhen and
children In stricken Poland.
Garments are needed badly"
she said. II wonder II the prison
ers could be induced to take up
knitting"
"They win not need inducement,
declared Osborne. "I1l wager
they'll take to the idea like ducks
to water"
Such proved to be the case.
Mrs. Smelling. with three other
ladies, appeared at the prison a
day or so later. and four prison
ers were selected to take lessons
in knitting from the fair instruc-
tors.
Knitting Becomes Craze
OF course, knitting Is not hard
"a. lea and the four. who had
been chosen, with view to max
ing them instructors for the 9TH
ers, were presumed to be
bright" The novelty Of being
taught by the ladies, however,
seemed to dull their minds and
make them clumsy It required
lessons every day for a week be-
fore the quartet became finished
products, and, even then, they
seemed disinclined to admit that
they could go ahead and teach
others without further instruction
from outside" teachers.
But once the knitting started
inside the prison the result was
electrical. 1t became a craze.
Marching to and from the shops.
or while waiting in line for meals.
men could be observed knitting,
knitting, knitting. Some even
took their knitting to court, or to
the chapel. The idea spread to
Auburn prison, and ''Izzy."
Sing Sing prisoner, who had au-
tomatically risen to be knitter-
in-chief because Of his aptitude.
was transferred to Auburn 10 in
struct the men there. Tons or
wool and hundreds of pairs OF
needles were supplied to both
prisons by New York philan-
thropists, and a Gloss check was
kept on results. Many of the
prisoners needed garments, for
themselves, and there were stlll
grating guards alert for new
ways of making illegitimate GAIN
vet there was little leakage.
Without definite proclamation 1t
became known throughout the
prison that graft in connection
with the wool supply would be
considered a heinous offense.
Garments Are Shipped to Poland
The final check.up, made some
weeks later. disclosed that more
than 81 900 garments-socl0sJ sweat
ers, chest protectors, mittens,
caps-were produced by the in
mates of the two prisons and
shipped to Poland. Even the
warden took to knitting. On
several occasions / saw him,
sitting propped up in bed at 1
o'clock in the morning, after a
hard days work, knitting him
self to sleep. The ladies' tried
hard to get me to learn, but I
never did. Relaxation wasn't in
me.
ITO Be Continued Tomorrow