tte, no longer in its gloomy surroundings, now stands on
the banks of the Seine, nearly opposite the Terrace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye,
from which it is visible, at the end of the road which leads from
Montesson to the river. This happy removal marks an equally fortunate
transformation in the character of the institution, for the stupefying
and demoralizing system of solitary seclusion has been substituted the
wholesomer labor in the open air of an agricultural and horticultural
colony.

[Illustration: THE END OF AN AFFAIRE. After a drawing by Emile Bayard.]

This important reform has been extended to the greater prisons of the
capital: those of Mazas, Sainte-Pelagie, and the Grande-Roquette are all
to be removed to the new penal institutions at Fresnes-les-Rungis, in
the department of Seine-et-Oise, inaugurated on the 18th of July, 1898.
These were solemnly transferred by the Prefet of the Seine and the
President of the Conseil General to the _administration penitentiaire_,
and in the speeches which formed part of this ceremony the principles
actuating this departure from ancient principles were duly set forth. M.
Thuillier, President du Conseil General, after citing the transformation
of the Petite-Roquette as the initiatory step in this great movement,
declared that "from our profound compassion for the unfortunates who
come under the hand of Justice sprang the desire to place the prisoner
henceforth in surroundings in which might be born and strengthened the
sentiments of self-respect, of bodily cleanliness, of propriety, which
will frequently inculcate in him the noblest ideas of repentance and of
moral regeneration. Hence those salubrious and almost comfortable
arrangements which you have just seen.... Hence our desire to render
the stay in the prison as little depressing as possible for the body
and the conscience." "Without the _recidive_ [the offender for the
second time]," said M. Selves, Prefet de la Seine, "criminality in
France would have diminished within the last twenty years. It is, then,
the recidive, above all, who is responsible for the augmentation of
criminality, and, as it is the prison which makes the recidive, it
follows that the amelioration of the penitentiary system should have a
greater influence for good than all other methods."

It was accordingly resolved to endeavor to better the condition of the
prisoners while at the same time preventing as much as possible their
corruption by indiscri