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of Mine” DescribedAtlanta prison inmates assembled in the prison yard to witness a game of baseball between convict te;United States Penitentiary, inscribed on the backs of the men’s coats as well as 01those of his hearers (we had all sat quite silent and impassive during the performance) who were willing to be saved, to stand up in their places. All the stool pigeons arose and a few other bewildered persons who fancied it expedient.But that great audience sat dark* silent and impassive. I said to myself, “What a terrible audience it is! Who is fit to stand before it?” These men had seen, known and suffered the tejrible, nameless things; the Unknown God, perhaps, had spoken to many of them in their solitude.In their silence they were preaching to him a sermon such as no mortal pulpiteer ever uttered. •There is nothing dramatic or hysterical in the attitude of the felon in his cell. He robbed the till, he admits to you; but he does not drag in the rest of the decalogue to divert your attention.And his penitence, when he feels any, is not, in nine cases out of ten, prompted by the expectation of getting a clean bill of health on his entire life-account (the empty till included).He tells you, as a rule, “I was foolish and took too many chances!” or, “If I’d handled the thing by myself, instead of admitting a partner, it would have been all right”; or, “Oh, of course, I was a fool; whats* the use of bucking up against the fly cops!” In the case of a murder, it might be, “I’m sorry I killed him, but I guess any fellow would have done the same in mycase.f 9THE UNREPENTANT MAJORITYDuration of confinement dots mot modify this attitmdo; the man of I# years soya thesame as the man of 10 months, except—and the exception is worth noting—that the former’s moral sense, whatever he originally had of it, has been blunted or discouraged, and he has conceived a settled animosity against human authority, and disbelief in the justice and sincerity of its administrators.A few larger souls overcome the obstructions; for example, our John Ross, who more than 33 years ago, in the blindness of a drunken spree in Yokohama, killed a shipmate who angered him. He died in jail last June (1913). He was sentenced to death, but got commutation to life imprisonment.He was a fine type of man, physically and mentally. His spirit was never broken by what he endured, and some years before being transferred to Atlanta, he became, in a simple, non-sensational, but profound way,* religious.At Atlanta, in his cell, he was a centre of ood influence on his fellow convicts; truthful, earty, faithful, manly, cheerful; his preaching was by personal example, and by support and help given at need to the weak and despairing.He was promised freedom on parole; the promise was not kept; but even this last betrayal failed to break his staunch heart. He died like a man, with composure and dignity.SENSE OF BROTHERHOODI repeat that the experience of associating with men without disguises is novel and refreshing. A tedious burden is lifted from the shoulders; the bones in the sepulchre are less revolting than the whitewash outside ;, it is pleasanter to know what a man is than to suspect him.It h certainly anteh wholeaomer, on die other■S i . » .1
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