"I had expected to find myself linked with a band of most outrageous
ruffians, but such did not prove to be the case. Few of them were
decidedly of a vicious temperament. The great fault with them seemed to
be a want of moral knowledge and principle. Were I to commit a theft I
should think myself unworthy to live an instant; but some of them spoke
of the felonies for which they were adjudged to suffer with as much
_nonchalance_ as if they were the every-day business of life, without
scruple and without shame. Few of them denied the justice of their
sentences; and if they expressed any regret, it was not that they had
sinned, but that they had been detected. The duration of the sentence,
the time or money lost, the physical suffering, was what filled their
estimate of their condition. Many had groans and oaths for a lost
dinner, a night in the cells, or a tough piece of work, but none had a
tear for the branding infamy of their conviction. Yet some, even of the
most hardened, faltered, and spoke with quivering lip and glistening
eye, when they thought of their parents, wives, and children. The
flinty Horeb of their souls sometimes yielded gushing streams to the
force of that appeal. But there were very few who felt any shame on
their own account. Their apathy on the point of honour was amazing. A
young man, not twenty-five years old, in particular, made his felonies
his glory, and boasted that he had been a tenant of half the prisons in
the United States. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for
stealing a great number of pieces of broadcloth, which he unblushingly
told me he had lodged in the hands of a receiver of stolen goods, and
expected to receive the value at the expiration of his sentence. He
relied on the proverbial `honour among thieves.' That fellow ought to
be kept in safe custody the remainder of his natural life."
Certainly those remarks do not argue much for the reformation of the
culprit.
By his account, a parsimony in every point appears to be the great
desideratum aimed at. Speaking of the chaplain to the institution, he
says:--
"Small blame to him; I honour and respect the man, though I laugh at the
preacher. And I say, that seven hundred and thirty sermons _per annum_,
for three hundred dollars and a weekly dinner, are quite pork enough for
a shilling. No man goeth a warfare on his own charges, and the labourer
is worthy of his hire. I do not see how he can justify such wear and
tear of his pulmonary leather, for so small a sum, to his conscience.
What is a sixpenny razor or a nine-shilling sermon? Neither can be
expected to cut--not but his sermons would be very good for the use of
glorified saints--but, alas! there are none such in the House of
Correction. What is the inspiration of a penny-a-liner? I will suppose
that one of the hearers is a sailor, who would relish and appreciate a
sausage or a lobscouse. Mr -- sets _blanc mange_ before him.--Messrs.
of the city government give your chaplain two thousand dollars a-year,
so that he may reside in the house of correction, without leaving his
family to starvation; let him visit each individual, learn his
circumstances and character, and sympathise with him in all his sorrows,
and, my word for it, Mr -- will have the love and confidence of all.
He will be an instrument of great good by his counsel and exhortations.
But as for his public preaching, this truly good, pious, and learned man
might as well sing psalms to a mad horse. Fishes will not throng to St
Anthony, or swine listen to the exorcism of an apostle, in these godless
days. If you think he will be overpaid for his services, you may braze
the duty of a schoolmaster, who is very much needed, to that of a
ghostly adviser.
"Mr -- never fails to pray strenuously that the master and officers may
be supported and sustained, which has given rise to the following
tin-pot epigram:--
"Support the master and the overseers,
O Lord! so runs our chaplain's weekly ditty;
Unreasonable prayers God never hears,
He knows that they're supported by the city."
He complains bitterly of the convicts not being permitted the use of any
books but the Bible and temperance Almanac. It is rather strange, but
he says that he supposes that a full half of the inmates of the house of
correction can neither _read_ nor _write_.
"Is it pleasant to look back on follies, vices, crimes; presently on
blasted hopes, iron bars, and unrequited labour; and forward upon
misery, starvation, and a world's scorn? In some degree the malice of
this regulation, which ought only to be inscribed on the statute-book of
hell, is impotent. The small glimpse of earth, sea, and sky a convict
can command, a spider crawling upon the wall, the very corners of his
cell, will serve, by a strong effort, for occupation for his thoughts.
Read the following tea-pot-graven monologue, written by some
mentally-suffering convict, and reflect upon it:--
"Stone walls and iron bars my frame confine,
But the full liberty of thought is mine,
Sad privilege! the mental glance to cast
O'er crimes, o'er follies, and misconduct past.
Oh wretched tenant of a guarded cell,
Thy very freedom makes thy mind a hell.
Come, blessed death; thy grinded dart to me,
Shall the bless'd signal of deliverance be;
With thy worst agonies were cheaply bought,
A last release, a final rest from thought."
"If the pains of a prison be not enough for you, I will teach you a
lesson in the art of torture which I learned from our chaplain, or one
of his substitutes.--`Make your cells round and smooth; let there be no
prominent point for the eye to rest upon, so that it must necessarily
turn inward, and I will warrant that you will soon have the pleasure of
seeing your victim frantic.' Look well to the temperance trash you
physic us with, and you will find, in the Almanac for 1837, a serious
attempt to make Napoleon Bonaparte out a drunkard, and to prove that a
rum-bottle lost him the battle of Waterloo. The author must himself
have been drunk when he wrote it. Are you not ashamed to set such
pitiful cant, I will not say such wilful falsehood and slander, before
any rational creature? Did you not know that an overcharged gun would
knock the musketeer over by its recoil? I do not tell you to give the
convicts all and any books they may desire; but pray what harm would an
arithmetic do, unless it taught them to refute the statistics of your
lying almanac, which gravely advises farmers to feed their hogs with
apples, to prevent folks from getting drunk on cider? Why not tell them
to feed their cattle with barley and wheat for the same reason? What
mind was ever corrupted by Murray's Grammar, or Washington Irving's
Columbus? When was ever falsehood the successful pioneer of truth!"
His remarks upon visitors being permitted to see the convicts are good.
"Among the annoyances, which others as well as myself felt most galling,
was the frequent intrusion of visitors, who had no object but the
gratification of a morbid curiosity. Know all persons, that the most
debased convict has human feelings, and does not like to be seen in a
parti-coloured jacket. If you want to see any convict for any good
reason, ask the master to let you meet him in his office; and even
there, you may rely upon it, your visit will be painful enough; to be
stared at by the ignorant and the mean with feelings of pity, as if one
were some monster of Ind, was intolerable. I hope a certain connexion
of mine, who came to see me unasked and unwelcome, and brought a
stranger with him to witness my disgrace, may never feel the pain he
inflicted on me. To a kind-hearted `Mac,' who came in a proper and
delicate way to comfort when I thought all the world had forsaken me, I
tender my most grateful thanks. His kindness shall be remembered by me
while memory holds her seat. Let the throng of uninvited fools who
swarmed about us, accept the following sally of the house of correction
muse, from the pen, or rather the fork, of a fellow convict. It may
operate to edification.
"To Our Visitors.
"By gazing at us, sirs, pray what do you mean?
Are we the first rascals that ever were seen?
Look into your mirrors--perhaps you may find
All villains are not in South Boston confined.
"I'm not a wild beast, to be seen for a penny;
But a man, as well made and as proper as any;
And what we most differ in is, well I wot,
That I have my merits, and you have them not.
"I own I'm a drunkard, but much I incline
To think that your elbow crooks as often as mine;
Ay, breathe in my face, sir, as much as you will--
One blast of your breath is as good as a gill.
"How kind was our country to find us a home
Where duns cannot plague us, or enemies come!
And you from the cup of her kindness may drain
A _drop_ so sufficing, you'll not drink again.
"And now that by staring with mouth and eyes open,
We have bruised the reeds that already were broken;
Go home and, by dint of strict mental inspection,
Let each make his own house a house of correction.
"This _morceau_ was signed `Indignans.'"
The following muster-roll of crime, as he terms it, which he obtained
from the master of the prison, is curious, as it exemplifies the excess
of intemperance in the United States--bearing in mind that this is the
_moral_ state of Massachusetts.
"The whole number of males committed to the house of correction from the
time it was opened--July 1st, 1833, to September 1st, 1837,--was 1477.
Of this number there were common drunkards 783, or more than one-half.
"The whole amount of females committed to this institution from the time
it was opened to Sept 1837, was 869. Of this number there were common
drunkards 430, very nearly one-half.
"And of the whole number committed there were--"
+========================+====+===============+====+
YNatives of MassachusettsY 720YEngland Y 104Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YNew Hampshire Y 175YScotland Y 38Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YMaine Y 130YIreland Y 839Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YVermont Y 17YProvinces Y 69Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YRhode Island Y 35YFrance Y 10Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YConnecticut Y 28YSpain Y 2Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YNew York Y 50YGermany Y 2Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YNew Jersey Y 3YHolland Y 2Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YPennsylvania Y 28YPoland Y 2Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YDelaware Y 6YDenmark Y 2Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YMaryland Y 10YPrussia Y 1Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YVirginia Y 20YSweden Y 8Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YNorth Carolina Y 10YWest Indies Y 12Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YSouth Carolina Y 1YCape de Verde Y 1Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YGeorgia Y 5YIsland of MaltaY 1Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YDistrict of Columbia Y 3YAt Sea Y 7Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
Y Y YForeigners Y1100Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YUnited States Y1241YUnknown Y 5Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YMORAL States Y1905Y Y Y
+------------------------+----+---------------+----+
YOther States Y 236YTotal Y2346Y
+========================+====+===============+====+