, looking very white
and clean. I am directed to take off my clothes, which I do, and then
ordered to get into one of the tubs, in which a negro prisoner has drawn a
warm bath. I obey and make use of the soap, and later of the towel which
the attendant hands me. After I am dry I am given my prison clothes--a
suit of underwear, a pair of socks, a cotton shirt with narrow blue and
white stripes, and a suit of rough gray cloth. There is also a pair of
very thick and heavy shoes. All the clothes are new. My coat fastens down
the front with five light metal buttons, on which are the words State
Prison in raised letters. The seven smaller buttons of the waistcoat are
similar. My uniform is not exactly a first-class fit, but good enough for
the purpose. A cap, rough gray to match the suit, together with a stiff
new gray towel and a cake of white soap, completes my outfit. I am ordered
to remove my wedding ring, but the officer explains that I am to be
allowed to retain it. This is the first exception made in my case.

The rest of my belongings are bundled up and disappear from sight. All
that is left of my former self is what can't very well be eradicated. So
far as is humanly possible, I am precisely like the other 1,329 gray
figures which to-day inhabit this abnormal world within the walls.

We return to the administration building and I am taken to the office of
the Principal Keeper, where are propounded to me a series of questions,
the answers to which are duly entered on the records: name, age,
occupation, married or single, Protestant or Catholic, parents living or
dead, any children, character of my crime, is this my first term, have I
ever gone under any other name, temperate or intemperate, and so forth and
so on. Some of these questions have already been answered at the front
office, and the officer holds the paper in his hand; but I answer them
again, suppressing such facts as I do not wish to have a matter of
record.[3]

After my history has been duly taken, I am handed a copy of the rules of
the prison; and the Principal Keeper facing me across a small desk makes a
neat little speech, giving friendly advice as to my conduct while in the
institution. It is excellent advice, as far as it goes, and for it I
thank him respectfully.

Then clearing his throat he says slowly and ponderously, "Brown, after you
have had your medical examination, you will be put to work in the
basket-shop, under Captain Lamb. He will giv