WEDNESDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON
In my cell, Wednesday evening, October 2.
Looking out of the upper windows in the outer wall, from the door of my
cell, I can see that the morning is cloudy and threatening. It is also
warmer; up to now it has been clear and cool.
I feel in good condition after a very fair night, and rise soon after
hearing the six o'clock westbound train and the factory whistles. This
gives me ample time to wash, dress, and get completely ready for the day.
The new acting Captain starts in this morning--Captain Kane. He is a
handsome, neat and soldierly appearing officer, with cold blue eyes and a
forceful quiet manner. Promptly on time he unlocks the levers, and George,
the trusty, follows close after, pushing them down. Around the corner
there is a slight delay, as the long bar on that tier seems to be
somewhat out of order and will not rise far enough to allow the doors of
the cells to swing open. I'm glad I'm not in one of those cells or I
should be afraid of being shut in for the day. The Captain soon gets the
bar raised, however, and the usual routine happens; walking along the
gallery with our heavy buckets, descending the iron stairs, waiting in the
passage at the door of the north wing, and marching down the yard to the
sewage disposal building. Then the rapid cleaning of the buckets, leaving
them to be aired and disinfected at the stands; and the march back to our
cells. It is, as I supposed, a gray, cloudy day, with rain likely to come.
If it does, there is no change of clothing whatever in my cell, and no way
of getting one that I know of; so I hope it will not rain. But what do
these poor fellows do after marching through the yard in a real drenching
shower? Work until they're dry, I suppose, if they get wet on the way to
the shop; or go to bed in their cells if they get wet on the way back.
This holds out to me a cheerful prospect of wet clothes all day and
fourteen hours in bed in case it rains hard; for the distance from the
cell block to the basket-shop would be a long walk in the rain.
What an admirable system! Excellently calculated, I should imagine, to
produce the largest possible crop of pneumonia in the shortest possible
space of time.
Upon my return to the cell I do my morning sweeping. I do not know where
all the dust comes from, as no one else uses the cell, and I can't see
where I collect any; but dusty it is every morning.
Then I have a call from Dickinson, the Chaplain's assistant. The poor
fellow has a letter from the man who had promised him work, saying that
the factory is running slack and there is no knowing how soon his job will
be ready for him. He had counted on Saturday being his day of release, his
wife was coming to meet him, and all his plans were made for a joyful
family reunion. Now it must all go by the board. It is a heart-breaking
disappointment, but he bears up bravely.
As it happens I may be able to help him. At any rate I promise to write a
letter to his proposed employer. The poor fellow grasps at this slight
comfort and expresses his gratitude most fervently. Then I turn my
attention to breakfast.
Wednesday's breakfast consists of hash, with the usual accompaniments of
boot-leg and punk. I was told in the shop yesterday what to expect. The
smell of the mess-room is beginning to be unpleasant, perhaps owing to the
change in temperature. If so, what it must be on a moist warm day in
summer, or on a wet day in winter when the steam is turned on, I hate to
think.
The hash is not so good as yesterday's porridge. Moreover it is rendered
distinctly less appetizing by the amount of bone and gristle which I find
chopped up in it. I hope I am not unduly fastidious in such matters, and
an occasional inedible morsel I should not criticize; but an average of
two or three pieces of bone and gristle to a mouthful seems to me
excessive.
Back in my cell I write my promised letter on behalf of Dickinson; but the
minutes before shop time pass so quickly that when the lever is pressed
down I am not ready, and so have to make a grab for my coat and cap and
fall in toward the end of the line on the gallery. During the halt at the
door, however, I regain my place--third in line on the left. The rain has
come, but, fortunately, it is little more than a mist. It gives me a
chance, however, to venture a mild pleasantry. When the Captain is out of
hearing I whisper, with as English an accent as possible, "Oh, dear me!
Where did I leave my umber-rella?" a remark which causes unseemly snickers
from those within hearing. The joke is quite in character, as those I hear
turn largely on the various hardships and privations of prison life;
although the one huge, massive, gigantic joke, which is always fresh and
pointed, is the current rate of payment for a prisoner's work--one cent
and a half a day. Before this monumental and gorgeous piece of humor all
other jokes seem flat and pointless.
On the march down the yard to the shop we pass the Warden. He lets us go
by without any sign of recognition, which gives me another chance to get a
laugh from my comrades. I whisper, "So that is the way my old friends
treat me!" Apparently the prisoners can appreciate a joke better than an
official; I am still a bit resentful at the way that excessively bored
Bertillon clerk received my attempt at humor.
Arrived at the shop I go directly to my bench, and turning around am
greeted by the cheery face of my partner. He comes up behind me, for he
marches somewhere in the rear. "Well, Brown, how did you get by last
night?"
"Better, thank you, Jack!"
"Well, of course you will find it hard for the first week or two, but
after that you will be O. K." By which it will be seen that my partner
likes a joke as well as the next man. Then as we hang up our caps and
coats and get ready for work he continues, "A new man always does find it
hard to sleep when he is thinking of a wife or mother or someone else at
home; but as soon as the mist clears away he begins to see and think more
clearly."
I am about to answer when a warning whisper, "Look out! Here comes the
screw!" tells me that our new Captain is approaching.
"How many bottoms do you two men make a day?" asks that officer.
I look at Murphy and he promptly answers, "Five."
"Then continue making five for a day's work, just as you were doing under
your regular officer," says the Captain; and moves on to the next pair of
men. Our new officer evidently does not propose to have the work slack off
during his management of the shop.
My other shopmates have greeted me warmly, and presently I have pleasant
conversations with some of them. To-day for the first time the ice is
thoroughly broken, and I am quite made one of them. It happens in this
way.
As we are working away, Jack and I, trying to accomplish our morning's
task with very stiff material to work with, the P. K. shows up. He has
come, I suppose, to see how the new Captain is getting on with the
toughest bunch of fellows in the prison. After he has conversed awhile
with the Captain he walks slowly over to where we are working and remarks,
apparently addressing the world in general, "Don't you feel the draught
from that door?"
As he has not spoken to anyone in particular, I look at Jack and wait for
him or somebody else to answer; but Jack is bending over his work and no
one seems inclined to say anything.
"Thank you, sir," I begin politely; "as far as I am concerned I don't mind
it, for I like fresh air. It doesn't trouble me any."
"Well now," says the portly and dignified dispenser of law and order, "I
don't want you men to catch cold. I think you'd better have that door shut
and perhaps the windows farther open. I'll just speak to the Captain about
it. You mustn't work in a draught if you feel it too much."
As the P. K. steps back to the Captain I glance over at Murphy and catch
an answering gleam in his eye. "It's all right, Jack," I remark, in a
cautious undertone, "I'm wise."
He grins. "Well, did you ever see anything so raw as that?"
I chuckle, and glance sarcastically over toward our highly respected
officers. Jack continues, "Does he think he can put that over on us?"
"Not this time," is my reply; and when the Captain, upon the P. K.'s
departure, comes over to shut the door I tell him that if he doesn't mind
we should prefer to have it left open, to which suggestion he kindly
yields. It is a large double door and gives light as well as fresh air to
all our part of the shop.
This little episode has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the men; I
almost instantly feel that I have risen several pegs in the esteem of my
comrades. Several of them who have hitherto held aloof come over for an
introduction to Tom Brown. If I am on the side of the convicts against the
officers, in short if I am "ag'in the government," I must be all right. I
am perfectly conscious of the barriers giving way. Of course the game I
am playing has its dangers, but I believe it is the wise one. If I am
really to gain these men's confidence, I must be on the convicts' side and
act the part completely. I must look at matters from the convicts' point
of view; and scorn of all forms of hypocrisy and double dealing on the
part of those in authority as well as good faith with your pals seems to
be the platform upon which all the best men stand. And these are mighty
fine qualities outside prison; why then are they not equally fine inside?
Are not truth and courage and devotion to be welcomed wherever found? And
are not falsehood and hypocrisy always hateful? A certain man who is
serving time here, although innocent of the crime for which he was sent,
because he could not escape conviction without implicating two of his
friends is a type. "But then," he once explained to me, "you see, I had
done a good many things for which I had not served time. And our code of
ethics is based upon the rule that you must never squeal on a pal." It was
the same man who, when he once started to complain of the injustice of
some term he had served and I had said, "Yes, but you must consider the
other side of it," broke into a smile and answered:
"You are entirely right. I've calculated that I still owe the state of New
York two or three hundred years."
But all that is another story.
Before the morning is over George, the trusty, comes along saying: "Shave,
Jack?" "Yes." "Shave, Brown?" "No, thank you."
So my partner goes under George's hands for his semiweekly barbering, and
in due time reappears, looking his best. If anyone should ask me how good
is Jack's best, I should have to answer that I have not the least idea. By
this time I am becoming so attached to my open-hearted, whole-souled
partner that I can only look at him with the eyes of affectionate and
indiscriminating friendship.
While Jack is getting shaved I work on steadily, chatting with
Stuhlmiller, "Blackie," whose name I find is Laflam, and Jack Bell, who
marches second in line on the right, and who has a pleasant voice and
seems like an exceptionally intelligent fellow.
We return to the cell house at the usual time; and fortunately the rain
has ceased, so I do not have the experience of a wet day--an experience I
am quite willing to forego.
At dinner we have pork and beans, the beans not at all bad. We also have
tea instead of coffee. I can make out but very little difference in these
two beverages. I should say they must both be prepared in some such
apparatus as is described by the boy in "Mugby Junction": "A metallic
object that's at times the tea-urn and at times the soup-tureen, according
to the nature of the last twang imparted to its contents which are the
same groundwork."
After dinner I have a long talk with Roger Landry. He grows confidential,
telling much about himself--completing the story, part of which he gave me
yesterday. It interests me greatly. And it is just this vital human
element that is making my experiment so much more absorbing than I had
expected.
At the usual time we march back to the shop, where I have two new
experiences.
The first is a glimpse of the school. I am working away steadily with Jack
when an officer suddenly appears at my elbow. "Is this Thomas Brown?"
"Yes, sir."
"The Professor wants to see you at the school."
Meekly putting on my cap and coat, I follow the keeper out of the shop. At
least I prepare to follow--I wait for him to lead the way, but he motions
me to go ahead of him. Then I realize that an officer escorting a convict
always walks just behind, where he can keep a watchful eye on every move
of his charge.
The school is only a few steps away, in fact in the second story of the
very building of which our shop occupies the ground floor. I ascend the
stairs, and passing through a hall find myself in the principal's office.
Here I am told to wait until the Professor is at leisure. I wait a long
time. When he arrives he gives me a single sheet of paper, and tells me to
write a composition on the subject of My Education.
I sit down and quickly fill two pages with a succinct account of my stay
at different institutions of learning, ending with my graduation from the
university. Then I simply add that, while this has been the end of my
schooling, I hope my education is still going on.
The Professor having left the room again while I am writing, I have
another considerable wait. The school appears to be much larger and more
important than when I saw it last, some years ago. I should like to see
more of it. After a while the Professor returns and reads over my paper.
His only comment is one regarding my university degree. The Chaplain has
already told me that there are twenty college graduates confined in prison
here, but I am pleased to have the Professor add the information that I am
the only Harvard graduate in the institution. I repress the inevitable
impulse to say, "I suppose the others come from Yale," and simply express
gratification at what the Professor has told me. I have already decided to
reserve all jokes for my comrades.
"That is all, Brown."
"Thank you, sir."
I cannot even be trusted to go down one flight of stairs and walk not more
than thirty steps to the door of the basket-shop; so another wait is
necessary until the keeper who brought me up is ready to take me back. He
in time reappears and returns me, like a large and animated package, to
Captain Kane. I appear to have satisfied the authorities with my mental
equipment.
My second new experience to-day is the bath. The order to fall in comes
soon after my return from the school. We are lined up and counted--35 of
us--each man with his towel, soap and bundle of clean clothes. My fresh
apparel appeared yesterday in the shop and George kindly took care of it
for me until to-day. We march in due order to a large bathhouse where are
rows of shower baths with small anterooms for dressing, arranged about
three sides of a large, oblong room with a raised promenade for the
officers down the middle. I am for plunging at once into my section,
heedless of the careful instructions Jack has given me, but one of my
companions stops me, and I wait like the others with my back to the door
until we have all been counted and placed. Then the word is given, and I
enter. Here is a very small space where I undress, handing the shirt,
socks, and underclothes I take off to an attendant who sticks his hand
under the door to get them. Then I enjoy a good warm shower for a few
moments, but cut it short, having been warned that I must not waste any
time. The drying and dressing are rather harder than the disrobing in such
confined quarters, but are successfully accomplished, and I am among the
first to emerge and take up my station outside, with my back to the door
again. The officer, who has been walking up and down his elevated perch,
keeping close watch of our heads while we bathed, counts us all carefully
when the space in front of every man's door is occupied. We then are
marched back to the shop, are again counted, and then disperse to our
work.
But the excitements of the day are not yet over. As Jack and I are working
hard to make up for lost time, I suddenly see over to the left, out of the
corner of my eye, a familiar figure. It is my nephew. He is followed by
another familiar figure and another and another. The Warden is showing
over the prison a party of visitors, among them several of my intimate
friends.
I fear that the remark with which I explode will not bear repetition.
"What's the matter?" says Jack, looking up from his work.
"Nothing," I reply, "it's only my nephew, confound him, and some other
rubbernecks. For Heaven's sake, Jack, work away as usual and don't attract
any attention if we can help it."
My eyeglasses are in my pocket; and fearing that my ring may catch the
light I hastily drop it also into another pocket. Then I put on my cap and
continue my work as naturally as possible, without looking up.
Certainly, so far as appearances go, the prison system is a success in my
case. In arithmetic, as I recall it, we used to seek for the greatest
common denominator and the least common multiple; but in prison the
apparent object is to find the least common denominator--the lowest common
plane upon which you can treat everyone alike, college graduate and Bowery
tough, sick and well, imbecility and intelligence, vice and virtue.
In appearance, as I started to say, I am apparently all that could be
desired. Just as happened yesterday, the Warden leads this party through
the shop; they are all looking specially for me; they have been spurred on
by the failure of the newspaper men yesterday and are one and all
determined to find me. Yet they one and all pass within twenty feet, look
straight in my direction--and go on their way without recognizing me. I
must have the marks of "the Criminal" unusually developed, or else
criminals must look a good deal like other folks--barring the uniform. If
I had the ordinary theories about prisons and prisoners it might seem
rather mortifying that, in spite of every effort, not one of these
intimate friends can spot me among the toughest bunch of fellows in the
prison.
Certainly something must be wrong somewhere.
This appears to be an afternoon of excitements. Down comes the P. K.
again, for what purpose I do not know. The afternoon is cloudy and it is
getting somewhat dark and gloomy in the shop. After the P. K. has spoken
to the Captain he comes over and tells us fellows that we can quit work if
we want to, as it is too dark to see well. He points to the north windows,
where a car of lumber on the track outside interferes somewhat with the
light in that part of the shop. After he is gone we continue working, as
we can see perfectly well; and Jack is still more scornful than he was
this morning. He expresses the opinion that this proceeding is even more
raw than the former one. "I should like to know how long it is since they
was so careful of our eyes, so awful anxious about our health!" is his
sarcastic comment.
My answering comment is this, "I dare say, Jack, it's all right; but, so
far as I am concerned, they can't come it over me that way."
"Well, I guess not!" is Jack's hearty response.
After we have washed up and just before we separate for the night my
partner comes up to me in his engaging way. "Say, would you mind if I
called you by your first name?"
"Mind! I should like it; and I wish you would." As a matter of fact I had
been intending to ask him to do so.
So now it is "Good night, Tom," "Good night, Jack!" when the time comes to
fall in.
As we turn into the yard, I see a group of men gathered about the entrance
of the main building. I suspect it to be the same party of rubbernecks the
Warden conducted through the shop this afternoon--including my friends.
They are evidently waiting for us to march by. As we draw nearer I find
that my suspicions are confirmed. I conclude that they failed to discover
me in the shop, and so are taking this means of gratifying their
curiosity. They are welcome to do so. I look as unconscious as possible;
go swinging by the group, eyes front; pick up a slice of bread and regain
my cell as usual.
It seems that this time two or three of them, recognizing my walk, spotted
me at last. I should think it was about time.
Soon after I am in the cell my friend Joe, the gallery boy, comes along
with the hot beverage called tea, which is a little later than usual
to-night. He halts at the door.
"Tea, Tommy?"
One of the prisoners has sent me a letter in which he addresses me as "old
pal."
I think there is no doubt that the barriers are down now.