That evening Mrs. Hardhack told me they were determined to break
Callahan's temper. They had got her pretty well under; but it was not
quite broken.
Her constitution was in a fair way to be broken, her temper might share
the same fate. If to teach her to control her temper were what was
meant, a very unfit method was adopted to effect the purpose.
How can one person teach another to control his temper when he is
ignorant of the way, and does not practice the government of his own?
When I was left alone in the prison, I sat down before Callahan's cell
door. I thought over the object of punishment. Is it intended to deter
the vicious from continuing in crime? That is the apparent object. Then,
ought it not to be adapted to the crime, and administered by those who
are free from the same faults? Instead of that, it was left, in this
instance, an almost irresponsible power, in the hands of ignorance and
cruelty, and if report were not mistaken, of kindred sin.
I thought, some mother's heart is aching for you, poor Callahan; such
treatment as you receive here, will never lead you to make it ache the
less. Injustice and severity will never soften your heart, or enlighten
your understanding. God pity you, and interpose in your behalf!
"What are you thinking of?" asked Callahan.
"How did you know that I was thinking?"
"I looked through the key-hole, and saw you looking straight to the
floor, biting your nails."
"I was thinking of you, Callahan."
"You was thinking what a wicked wretch I am?"
"I wish you might become better, and never come in this place again. It
is a great deal of suffering for so little comfort as you can take in
sin. Won't you try to do better, Callahan?"
"I can't in here. They are just as bad as I am that put me in here, and
they'll never make me any better."
There was the injustice for which she had suffered rankling in her
heart.
"It is more what we do ourselves than what others do to us which makes
us happy or unhappy."
"It's what they've done to me that makes me unhappy, and if ever I catch
them ---- outside, I'll pay 'em back,--I will, if I go to h--l for it!"
"Callahan, Callahan, be patient and gentle! Don't think of any wicked
things to do outside, but think how to behave so that you can stay
there. Remember it was for your own deeds that you came in here. If you
hadn't been in here, they couldn't have put you in the black cell. Be
gentle and patient while you are here, now that it can't be helped, and
never come again."
"For you, I will; and I'll try not to go in the ways that bring me here.
But if I should meet them, I know I should forget it all. I should think
about it, and it would make me so mad. If I was out of the right way,
and got in here, the Master had no right to lock me up here for what I
did not do."
I had no justification of that proceeding to offer, so I said nothing
more.
"Will you please give me a drink of water?" asked Callahan in a moment.
"Callahan, you know that I cannot! Why do you hurt my feelings by asking
me?"
"You have the keys,--you could give it to me, and the Deputy would never
know it. If you knew how dry I am you would."
"I cannot, Callahan. When I go out of here I can tell those who make the
rules, how hard it is to go so long without drinking, and how tiresome
it is to lie, and sit, and stand on the stones, and perhaps they will
change them; but I cannot disobey."
"O dear!" she sighed, and began to sing. Every sound went through my
heart like the stab of a sharp knife. If that were my child! was the
agonizing thought. What keeps my children from such a fate? The loving
care of Him who holds the hearts of all in His hand. I could have gone
prostrate on the cold stones to thank Him that He had saved them from
such a fate, and me from such an agony of sorrow. How can I show my
gratitude? By trying to make less hard the hapless lot of the
unfortunates around me, and teaching them in the principles that lead to
better practices.
My tears almost choked my utterance as I called to her, "Callahan, stop
that singing unless you mean to break my heart!"
O'Brien had been standing on the steps that led to the kitchen, only a
few feet from me. She came along and sat down on a low stool at my feet.
"How different you are to what I thought you was when you came in here.
You stepped round so square and independent, I thought we had got a hard
mistress."
"Look here!" said Callahan, "it does me good to speak to you sometimes.
It is easier to be patient, and the time don't seem so long. Look here!
Do you love Hardhack?"
"I know very little about her."
"I heard her in the kitchen scolding awhile ago, and you took it as cool
as could be. If I'd been you I'd put her out. She has no right to come
in your place and give orders. It sets me crazy to hear her."
"If I could not keep my own temper when I am annoyed, how could I teach
you to keep yours?"
"That's it," said O'Brien. "Hardhack gets mad in the shop, and scolds
us, and we scold back; and then we get punished. I wish there was
somebody to report her, too."
"Girls, did you ever hear of One who said, 'Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you'?"
"Yes; but I never saw anybody do it," said O'Brien.
"Did you ever try to do it, Callahan?"
"No! I always thought 'twas all moonshine. It'll do to preach about."
"It will do to practice, too. Suppose you try it towards Mrs. Hardhack,
and see how much happier you will feel."
"Ha! ha! ha!" resounded through the prison in continuous echoes.
"It has done me good to laugh. I don't feel half so mad with her as I
did."
"O'Brien, I came very near sending you to the shop to-day, when you
scolded Allen so hard. Be careful or you will change your mistress
before you know it. You keep me in constant anxiety lest the Deputy, or
some of the other Matrons should come in and hear you. In that case it
would be beyond my power to help you."
"If you do send me to the shop you will have me home again in less than
twenty-four hours, one of your bread-and-water boarders."
She understood how to meet that threat.
"I don't know but Hardhack will get me into solitary as it is. When she
came through the kitchen this noon, she saw me eating a piece of fish
with my bread,--we'd been stripping it off for the hash, and I took a
piece. She asked me who gave me liberty to eat fish. I told her, nobody.
She asked me how I dared to eat that fish without permission. I should
have made her a saucy answer only I knew it would make you feel bad, so
I didn't say anything."
"I am glad you had so much thought, and exercised so much self-control."
"I wasn't afraid of Hardhack."
"I am glad you had so much regard for me. It gives me a great deal of
pleasure to know of your good behavior. Don't you feel better, yourself,
for doing what is right?"
"Yes, ma'am; I do! and when you tell me I do right, it makes me feel
quite like a woman again; as though I was somebody."
Self-respect goes a long way towards creating good behavior, and
commendation given, where it is deserved, produces that effect. I
watched for a chance to praise them when they did well, and bestowed the
approval wherever I could find the opportunity.
There was no lack of discrimination on their part. They were aware when
they committed intentional wrong, and, as a rule, acknowledged it when
rebuked in a kind spirit. With the same understanding they appreciated
the praise when it was deserved. Gratitude was aroused when it was
given, and the satisfaction they enjoyed was an incentive to strive to
obtain more.
I had constant proof that the exercise of kindness was far more
effectual in getting my work done than that of stern authority.
That afternoon I had wished O'Brien to take more pains with her
scrubbing, and had said to her,--
"Your floor looks red and nice,"--the kitchen floor was of brick,--"but
do you notice that soiled strip in that corner, under the table? A dingy
border spoils all the effect of your labor."
"Yes, ma'am. I saw it when I was scrubbing; but I was so tired, and my
shoulder ached so bad that I didn't touch it."
"I am sorry your shoulder aches, and I know you are tired; but I like to
see the place look nice."
"I know you do; I'll go right now and take it away."
Kindness begets kindness. There are few human beings so totally
depraved, desperately wicked as some may be, who cannot be aroused into
appreciation of kind treatment. I have never met with one who could not.
So harshness in a superior begets harshness in an inferior; and constant
fault finding either arouses anger from its injustice, or paralyzes all
effort to do well.
As are the manners of those who lead, so are the manners of those who
follow. As a matter of policy, to restrain crime without regard to the
teaching of religion, those who have charge of convicts should be gentle
and humane.