and strive with all your power
to resist the tempter in whatever form he may approach you. It is not
force he employs to drag you down to the plane of the convict, but he
causes the sweet song of the syren to ring in your ear, and in this
manner allures you away from the right, and gently leads you down the
pathway that ends in a felon cell, disgrace and death.

CHAPTER XV. THE WORK OF THE CONVICT

It is a great blessing to the convict that he can have the privilege of
working. When prisons were first started in this country it was thought
best to keep the prisoner in solitary confinement; have him visited
daily by a spiritual teacher, place the Bible and other good books in
his hands, and in this manner reform him, and send him out into the
world a better man than he was on entering the prison. The great
penal institution of Auburn, New York, was for a time conducted in
this manner. The plan, at first thought to be a good one, had to be
abandoned. The criminal could not endure solitary confinement. HE MUST
HAVE WORK. Many of them became insane, while still others died for want
of the open air, out-door exercise, and some diversion for the mind.

In all the penitentiaries of the country, at the present time, convicts
are required to perform some kind of useful labor. That is one point of
the prison question that is, doubtless, forever settled. All prison
men agree that the convict must perform some kind of work. Labor to the
prisoners means health of body and mind. Solitary confinement means the
reverse. But what kind of labor the prisoner should perform, and
what should be done with the results of his labor, is one of the most
difficult questions to decide.

All the prisoners of the Missouri penitentiary are let out to
contractors, with the exception of those needed to do the work about
the prison. The work consists chiefly of making saddle-trees and shoes.
Several large three-story buildings are used in furnishing room for the
convicts while at labor. Those contractors who have been at the prison
for some time have grown rich. They get their men for forty-five cents a
day, on an average. They have their choice of prisoners as they come
in. Those convicts designated scrubs, do the work for the State. The
contractors are charged with controlling the prison. If one of the
officials, in the discharge of his duty, happens to do anything
displeasing to the contractors, they combine against him and have him
removed.