pose, I went out four times
during the winter. Besides treating upon the objects and needs of the
Association, I alluded to some of the prison matters, such as the
proposition in the governor's then late message for the management of
the institution to be put under a permanent Board, the responsibility of
which the legislature largely shirked, by turning the whole matter into
the hands of the governor and council;--for reasons given, the very
place where it should not be;--expressed the hope that the next
legislature would do its full duty upon the matter; referred also to the
much needed repairs just made, and hoped they would be carried still
further, improving the manner of lighting the prison by having a small
gas jet at each cell, also provide a library room, &c.; but of course I
wholly avoided alluding to the internal management of matters at the
institution. My attention was called particularly to this point,
however, in one place, by the question being publicly asked by a
gentleman, "How are the prisoners treated there?" in reference to which
I begged the gentleman to excuse me from answering his question, as I
wished to keep the mind on other points. That was true, but it was not
the whole of the truth. The question itself was not a proper one to
answer then in that place. Could I have conscientiously said, "Well," it
would have been done in a moment and been all right, but that I could
not do, and besides, I hoped that our rulers would soon get their eyes
opened, or the next legislature put things on a proper basis and matters
pass off without having anything publicly said. Indeed, I knew but
little then of the prison workings in comparison with what I afterwards
learned.

24. _Prison correspondence under the new rule._ The former warden had
solicited me to assist in the correspondence, and I would write for a
prisoner occasionally, but pass it to the warden for his examination,
till he said, "You need not pass them to me, send them yourself. You
know what to write just as well as I do." Hence, I sent a very few in
the course of a year without his examination. The reader will understand
that all letters, to and from a prisoner, must be thoroughly examined,
that nothing prohibited may pass. They are allowed to speak of personal
family matters, but nothing of general, secular affairs. The prisoner
would not be permitted, of course, to express any dissatisfaction at
prison fare or treatment.

The new ward