Prisons and prayer; or, A labor of love

Front matter

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Dedication

To the Bailroad Officials who have so generously and cheerfully provided me transportation; their employees, whose kindness has so many times lightened the weariness of my journeys; the State and Prison officials, who have heartily welcomed me and set before me open doors; the thousands of prisoners and OTHERS who have shown by word and deed their appreciation of my efforts to help them to a better life; to the many who have in any way ministered to my necessities or offered an encouraging word by the way, and to my spiritual children, these pages are cheerfully inscribed by The Author,

THE HARVEST TIME.

The seed I have scattered in springtime with weeping, And watered with tears and with dews from on high.

Preface

Dear Reader: Over twenty years have passed since God called and comniiisioned me to go to those that were bound, Witliin five years from the time I entered upon the work, I had been enabled to preach the gospel in every ?late and territory and had held meetings in nearly every state-prison in the United States and in the prisons in Canada and Mexico. My first trip to Europe was made iu 1890. I have not only held meetings in prison, but have endeavored to ^'preach the gospel to every creature*'— to those in authority, governorSj prison and railroad officials, a«d trainmen, as well as to those in churchesj missions, prisons, hospitals, alms-houses, dives, brothels, saloons and the slums. In all places God has fulfilled His promise to be with me and has given me evidence that my labor was not in vain in Him.

When 1 was made to feel that the Lord required me to write of the victories He had wrought and of the work yet waiting to be done I was amazed and am still, though it is more than ten years since God first told me to write for Him- Early left an orphan, my childhood was spent in the country where I had to walk two miles across the fields and through deep snows in order to get to school, and my life-work has been crippled by my lack of education. How then can I write? Yet the command of the Lord has been upon me and the cry of the needy has rung in my ears. Words cannot describe the cruel wrongs, the awful injustice, the scenes of desolation and degradation that have come to my knowledge. Much has been done, much is being done; and yet, O how much still needs to be done, in behalf of those in prison ! Wrongs that are indescribable still cr>^ to God for vengeance in this our own land. Cruelties that are beyond the power of language to describe stili exist, and the cry of the oppressed comes up to the ear of Him who has declared "Vengeance is mine, I will repay/*

One reason 1 have for writing, is to show the great need of Holy Ghost workers— those whose hearts God has touched — to carry the gospel to those whose lives are darkened, blighted and blasted, and tell them of a mighty deliverance from the bondage of sin, and of freedom in Christ.

Reader, if you could see the many inside prison walls going insane, you would not wonder that, by the grace of God, I am determined to prosecute my work as I have never done before, to save these poor prisoners from despair^ and to do with my might what my hands find to do.

I have kept no diary or journal and nearly all of ten years* correspondence was destroyed at one time by fire. Hence I have written largely from memory, and without any attempt to give an orderly and connected account of my work, I have endeavored to put before you, dear reader, such glimpses of the work and the field as would fairly illustrate that which has been done and that which needs to be done.

I ask for my imperfect work your kind consideration, and trust that you will overlook my many mistakes and pray God's blessing to rest upon the effort; and if I can only awaken in your hearts a deeper compassion for lost girls and fallen men and the heart-broken friends who mourn the loss of loved oneSj I shall not have written in vain.

In the selection^ arrangement and preparation of manuscript, I have been assisted by several friends who have been much interested in the work, whose labor and patience

PREFACE XI

can only be rewarded by Him whom we serve. Among these are Brother and Sister Shaw, of Chicago, who have so kindly given the introduction to the work, having full knowledge of its contents and ability to judge of its merits. I will also mention Brother and Sister Kelley, of Tabor, Iowa, who have rendered valuable assistance.

With many prayers and tears I send this work forth, hoping it may find a place on your book-shelf and a comer in your heart, and that you and I, dear reader, may meet where there are no prison walls, iron bars, nor breaking hearts. And may there be gathered there with us at Jesus' feet many of those whom we are striving to comfort and save, while together we crown our Savior Lord of all, and through an endless eternity worship Him who gave His life a ransdm for the lost — "because He loved them so."

"Mother Wheaton.^'

Introduction

This world is, to a large extentj a great prison house. Nearly all of its inhabitants are prisoners surrounded by walls of sin -and darkness. Many are bound down hy the curse of rum, others by the besetting sins of lust, unholy temper, envy, revenge, malice, hatred, jealousy, prejudice, pride, covetousness, or selfishness resulting from a carnal mind. Out of the vast multitudes that are led captive by the devil at his will, a few that have violated human law have been sentenced to various prisons and reformatories* This book has much to sa}' about the men and women behind prison walls. It records the sad story of many prisoners in a way that very few can read without being moved to tears and that will awaken sympathy in the hardest hearts. It also tells of the work of God among prisoners both in this and other countries. It records some of the brightest of Christian experiences on record, showing how many prisoners that have been slaves to worse than human law and have lived in greater darkness than in the prisori dungeon, have been made free by being translated into the light that outshines the noonday sun, and how they have been enabled to live noble. Christian lives behind the bars.

We are >vell acquainted witli the author, having known her for several years and having had the privilege of entertaining her in our home more or less during that time. This acquaintance has enabled us to know something of the burden that rests upon her soul for prisoners. She has doubtless spent more time in the work, visited more prisons and traveled farther than any other living prison worker. She has visited practically all of the prisons of the United

XIV INTRODUCTION

States and Canada and most of them many times, and twice she has crossed the sea. Her mission has been a mission of loving' service, with but little financial reward. But the Master who laid this work upon her heart has given her rich reward for all her toil and privation and suffering, for many have been converted through her Instrumentality. Some have gone to their reward. Many others, both in and out of prison, are living honest, useful lives.

Had this work been written only for the hasty reader who has but a few hours at the most to give, much that it contains might better have been omitted ; but such as these can easily select from its pages that which is most to their likingj while those who are deeply interested in the work of soul-saving, as well as the prisoner whose spare hours drag heavily and slowly, will here find food for study and encouragement that will repay for many days of careful reading.

In many respects, such a work as is here represented has never been done by any other person. For these hundreds of pages give but a few glimpses, as it were, of the work *' Mother Wheaton" has done. We have assisted her in gleaning from the many hundreds of letters still in her possession (though much of her correspondence was destroyed by fire) and in arranging and preparing matter for publication. We have listened as with eyes filled with tears she has told us of the needs of the work, and with every day thus spent we have become more deeply interested in the work to which her life has been given. In a memorial service it was said of the late Bishop William Taylor: *'He was not an organizer nor an administrator; not a statesman, in the ordinary use of those terms. He was rather a great religious pioneer. He blazed pathways through unknown

INTRODUCTION XV

moral wilds, and left the work of organization mainly to those who might follow after." Such, in her field of labor, has largely been the work of Mother Wheaton.

No place has been far enough away, no stockade hard enough to reach, no day warm enough or cold enough or stormy enough, no prison official or stockade captain sufficiently abusive, to discourage her when she felt that the Master bade her go forward.

With a burning love for all the sinful and all the needy, she has gone from north to south and from east to west, seeking the lost as one seeks for hidden treasure. Through nights of weariness and days of toil she has sought them and loved them and wept over them, man or woman or child, as a mother weeps over and loves her own. She has borne their burdens and shared their sorrows— ever bringing to them the cheering word, the testimony or inspiring song, the faithful warning, the earnest prayer, the plain gospel message, the hearty hand-clasp, the loving "God bless you."

We believe and pray that these pages may be greatly used of God to reach thousands of hearts and stir up many to carry forward the work so dear to her, when "Mother Wheaton*' has crossed over to meet those that are waiting to welcome her on the other side.

Yours, in Jesus' love,

Etta E. Shaw.

S. B. Shaw.

Chapter I. Biography Anb Call To The Woes

Birth — Left an Orphan — Con vera ii>ti — Marriage — Sorrows-Sanettfication — Call to Prison Wgrk — Pamily Reunion — Bltettih of My^ life by My Brother 23

CHAFTEH II.

LETTER TO MY PRISON CHILDREN.

My Limited Education — ^Disappointments — A Friend in Jesus, _ . . . . . . , .3S

Chapter III. A Plea Foe The Prisoner

In the Shadow of the Wall (poem) — Letters to Prison Offtt-era — Wtirth While (poem) — Prejtidi<;e— A Look into the Cell — ^Insane Priaimers — AH PrisouerB Not Criminal — Prepared to Die. 43

Chapter IV. A Brief Pen Picture Of Prison Life

The Buildings — En t ranees-Chapel and Dining-room- — Chapel \ Service — The Cell-house — Wo rkjs hops— Hospital. 6\i

Chapter V. Letters Of Introduction ^no Kind %vords Prom Governors, Peison

orrjciALs, ETC.

From Governors— Prison Wardens^-Chaplaina 67

Chapter VI. Some Of My Prison Boys

A Prisoner's Conversion as Shown by His Letters — A Talented Young Man — Under Death Sentenee — Commuted — Finally Pardoned ^l^etters — Sentenced for Life-^His Letters— Faithful Inside and Outside of Prison Walls .... / .^. . 87

CHAPTER VIL ■

LETTERS FROM CO- WORKERS AKD MY PRISON CrlRLS.

Letters from Sister Co-workers— From My Prison -bound Girls. 117

CHAPTER VTIL

INCIDENTS IN MY PRISON WOEE.

Letter from the Prisoners at Chester, TIL — Extract of Cliaplain^B Report — Suicide of a Prisoner— ^ 'I Have no Friends" — Letters

CONTENTS from Chaplain Starr — A Waj Opened in Answer to PrajcF — ^A Leb ter from a GoverEor — A Woman Converted and Healed — A Change Wrought^ A ChaplaJD in My Audience^ Impressed to Tarry — Edeonragenietjt by the Way — Cruel Neglect- — Another Suicide— Just Out of Prison — Dying in PriBOo — Does It Pay? — ^Savod and Proac^hing the Goapel — In Solitary Confinement — Cr^pe on the Door— In a Police station — Burned in His Cell — The Innocent in Bonds^— Conf eased Her Guilt — Uuder Sentence of Death^ — ' * The Religion Mother Had"... : , , 135

CHAPTER IX.

COJTVlRSiON OF nESPERATE PRISONERS PREVENTS A TEERIBLE MUTINY.

Welcomed in Prison-— An After-Servica — Plan of the Mutiny^— Havoc of Sin— Letters. .♦..,....,,.,..,,.,♦.♦,.,.... 161

CHAPTER X.

REMAKKABLE CONVERSION^ A NO EXPERrENCE OP GEO. H. COUJROVE.

His Own Story^Infidei Literatuie — Burglary and Murder — Life Sentence — CJonversion — Study of tlie Scriptures— Bible Class Teacher — An Enemy Kindly Treated — A Pardon Refused — Second Effort to Secure a Pardon — Letters — Flaai Illnesa and Tnumpbant Death. 169

CHAPTER XL WOKK IK STOCKADES AND PRISON^ CAMPS IN SOUTHERK STATES*

Race Question — Letters of Introduction and Recommendation— A Stockade — Letter to a Governor — Reply of Prison Manager — Plea for Women Convicts — Bloodhouuds — ^Coal Mines — A Touching Incident— First Meeting in a Prison Camp — Rido on Engine of a Coal Train — First Railroad Pass—RiiJe on a Mule, ,,.,.,,......,,, 188

CHAPTER Xir.

STOCKADES AND PRISON CAMPS COKTlNUEB.

Novel Conveyances — Assisting a Colored Minister — Through Danger Alone — Prostrate Among Prisoners — A Meeting at Day Dawn — Helping to Bury a Prisoner — Wreck of a Coal Train^Stigar Camfjs- — Ride in a Cart — la a Gambling Baloon — Condition of tkjnvicts— Unjustly Condemned— Need of Reform 212

CHAPTER XIII.

WORK IN FT. MAPISON, IOWA, AND SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO.

My First Effort for Sen^ico in a Prii^on — Kindnefi^ of Officers and Men — Letters from Officials — Wtirk io Santa Fe, N. Mcx.— Three Christian Men Pardoned — A Forty Years* Sentence — Kind Wortis from Governor and Superintendent \ 241

CHAPTER XIV.

tiONE HOME FROM THE SCApfOLB.

Spetdal Mission to Doomed Mcn^ — Indifferent but Finally Con- T^rted^Letiera— Motber 's Prayers — Claimed to Be Innocent —

CONTENTS XIX

Hardeoed in Crime — Ten Men under Death Sentenoe — ^ConverBion of a Jewish Boy — Mysteriously Guided — In Loog Expeetation^^enteaee Commuted — A ft] an Deceived — Interceded for a Boy — Went to the Scaffold Singing — A PromineDt Official — Eecent Casea. , . , , .254

CHAPTEE XV,

Provided with Food in Answer to Prayer — A Great Revival — A Man Saved from Suieide — Letters from Pastors and Others — Chureh of the fie deem er in Baltimore^ — Suacessful Meetings — Young Man Called to the llimstry — A Colored Woman Saved and Preaching— Incidents^ — Saved by a Hymn *.,..,.*,..,.....,,.. 294

CHAPTEE XVI.

PREACHING THE GOSPEL OK RAILWAY TRAINS.

Accidental Death of My Nephew — My First Trip by Rail — Experience cf a Railr<>ad Man — Transportation — A Kind Conductor— Interesting Servii^es — Train Saved from Wre<^k — A Train in Danger — impressed to Leave the Train — Helped to Care for a Wounded Man— -Conductor '8 ''God Blem You" — A Woman's Faith Fneonraged — Siding in a Parlor Car — Favor tn the Bailroad Company^3l3

CHAPTER XVIL

STRIJST AND OPEN AIR.

Poem — Permits to Hold Street Meetings — From a Missionary— My First Street Meeting-^' A Wonderful Conversion^ — Became a Preacher— The Blind Encou raided— -Forbidden to Preaeb on the Street-^T bought They Saw a Ghost— Hurt by a Saloonkeeper — Warned to Leave the City— In JaiK , .328

RKSCUE WORK.

'^A Mother ^B Plea'* (pofm) — A Plea for our Sisters— Drunken Women and Men — Assaulted in a Dive— Attempts Suicide — A Girl Saveil — A Girl Rejected at a Rescue Home — Neglected by the CTiurches — Visits to Hospitals^Kiiid Tributes — The Prodigal Daughter (poem) , . , 349

CHAPTER XIX.

WORK IN CANADA AND MEXICO.

Street Meetings in Hamilton — In London, Ontario — ^A Girl Rescued— In Kiogaton— Btoned iu Quebec — Victory in Toronto — lo Victoria, B- C— Work in .Mexico — A Bull Fight — Wept with Condemned Men — Attacked by a Fierce Dog — Minlatered to fi Sufferer. .. . ..365

CHAPTER XX.

ACROSS THE SKA,

On the Ocean — In a Foreign Laml — Preaching in Glasgow^-My Life in Danger^A Song StO[m a R<jw — Arrested for Singing — Tumult in a Dive — Mob ^f Drunken Women — Letter from America — In Paisley— Return to America — Second Visit to Europe — Espc- Tienees in London— Safe Return to America — Letter from Scotland 372

'XX coyiEarrs

CHAPTEB XXI.

TRAVEL AX1> TOIL-

Two Nxgfate' Service— One Weeks' Work— A Profitable Trip- Six Weeks' Service— Reeent Work— Another Trip 39G

CHAPTER XXIT.

LETTEKS 7ROM PKISONESS. 431

CHAPTER XXIII.

KIND WOKDS FKOM EKIEXDS.

Ffr>in H. L, Hastings — Mrs. H. L. Hastings — E. E. Bjrvau Author and Etiitor — Mother of a Prisoner — ^Prisoner "is Daughter — An Editor — Ex-Prisoner — Miseellaneons 477

CHAPTER XXIV.

SKETCHES FKOM PRESS REFCMtTS. 491

CHAPTER XXV.

FURNISHED UNTO EVERT GOOD WOSK.

''Who Will Man the Life Boat?" (poem)— Adaptation Needed — The Masses Not Reached — My Boy in India — ^Preaching the Oospel in the Pesthonsc — How the Lord Provides — Miscellaneous Incidents 530

CHAPTER XXVI.

SELECTIONS FROM MT SCRAFBOOK.

Author of Flower Mission Day — ^Flower Day at the Prison — Lines by a Prisoner — Take This Message to My Mother — Not Lonely Now — Jesus Is Looking On — How God Calls Missionaries Out of Prison Cells — Outside the Prison Walls — If We Knew — Little Graves — The Mother's Warning — Harry's Remorse — Twenty-Thirty-Four — His Mother's Song — Perfect Peace — Sweet Revenge — No Telephone in Heaven— A True Hero — Perfect Through Faith — The Kid — Charged with Murder — Mother's Face — Only Sixteen — The Dress (^estion 547

SONGS.

1. '* Life's Railway to Heaven."

2. '^Meet Me There."

3. ''God Bless My Boy."

4. ''The Great Judgment Morning." fi. ' ' My Name in Mother 's Prayer. ' ' f). 'H)ver There."

7. "This Way."

«. ''She's More to Be Pitied."

0. "Some Mother's Child."

10. "Tell My Dear Old Mother."

n. "When the Death-bell Shall Toll."

12. "The End of the Way."

CONTENTS XXI

APPENDIX. 5m

The Personnel of Prison Management By Warden C E. Haddox Meditatiotja of a Prisoner.

Diacourso on * * The Agony in the Garden. * ^ By a Prisoner, Directory of Prisons and Reformatories*

ILLUSTKATIONS.

Frontispieee

Ohio State Pris*>n _ 27

Giving the Boys Counsel. . 42

Prisoners Mart^hing. ....,., 58

New Federal Prison at Ft, Leavenworthj Kan. ................ 6(5

The Old Tombs, New Tombs, New York. , 80

Persona! Work- S6

Administration Building^ Mitehelville, Iowa ..,,,,.... 115

Campus and P!ay-ground| Girls* Industrial School, Mitchel-

Gronp of Girls in an Industrial Sebool ..,,...,,... , . , 132

Southern Illinois State Prison at Chester 134

Interior of Chapel, Dining Apartmenti and Row of Cells, Chester, in 160

Geo, H, Colgrove 169

Smelter and Work Shops, Chester, III. , 186

Woman Convict at Work in the Field. 1&5

Convicts Getting Out Coal , 198

Prison at Santa Fe, N. Mex. '240

Church of the Redeemer, Baltimore, Md .................. S03

A Railroad Engine ai2

Miss Josephine Cowgill 329

Mother Prindle. , mi

State Prison, Joliet, in 394

Prison at Deer Lodge, Mont f . 397

Criminal Insane Hospital, Cheater, 111 4n>!

Prison at lluutsville, Tex , 410

Group of Delegates at Prison Congress, 1904 414

Industrial R«fqrin Si^hool, Hutchinson, Kan, 416

Industrial School, Whitrier, Cal , 41 H

Prisons at Jackson, Mich,, Deer Lodge, Mont,, and Folsom, Cal . . 430

A Ward in Prison Honpital , . , .44.'j

Kitchen aufl Dining Room 45.5

Drug Department in Prison Hospital 47.5

Rnthena^ India Famine Boy 535

State Prison, Anamosa, Iowa 546

"Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Bise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not the hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friend f For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God."

— Tennyson.

OR

A LABOR OF LOVE.

CHAPTER I. Biography and Call to the Work

I was bom May lo^ 1844, in Wayne County, Ohio. My parents, John and Mary Van Nest Ryder, were honest, hard working people, and were earnest Christian si. One year after my birth, my father died, leaving my mother with five little children— three boys and two girls. Mother married again and had two children. The little girl was buried the day before mother died. My half-brother, J, P. Thompson, still lives in Ohio. Five years after my father's death my mother followed him to the better land, and I, with the rest, was left an orphan. Well do I remember the night my mother died. She was so troubled about leaving her children alone in the world, but continued long in earnest prayer until she had the assurance that God would care for them, and then she sang the old-time hymn,

** There ia a fountaJD filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel *s veina, ^ '

and went shouting home to glory. What a lasting impression is made on a child's heart by the life or death of a godly father or mother J

By mother's death I was almost crazed with grief and could not be comforted. At her grave I was separated from my brothers and sister, and went to live with a family to whom mother had given me before her death. Some time after this, the family moving away, I went to live with my grandparents, under whose careful religious training I remained until married. I received little education, as my opportunities were very limited.

From my earliest recollection I was deeply convicted of sin. This conviction followed me until at the age of twelve years I gave my heart to God and received the witness that I was His child. I united with the people called Methodists and tried to walk in the light I had, until God called me into His vineyard.

MARRIAGE.

At the age of eighteen I was married to Mr. J. A. Wheaton. We lived happily together, but in two years I was called to give up not only my dear husband, but also our little baby boy. They were buried in one grave, and I was again left alone in the world. O my breaking heart! I was in despair! I did not know then God's wonderful comforting power as I now do. I was scarcely more than a nominal Christian, a fashionable proud woman, moving in high society, left to face the battle of life alone. To try to drown my sorrow I rushed deeper into society and fashion — only to be plunged into deeper despair. What I suffered during those years is beyond the power of tongue or pen to describe. My anguish of heart and mind were so great that at times reason almost tottered on its throne. And had it not been for the goodness and mercy of God in sending me timely aid through true Christian friends, I should never have been able to have triumphed over it all.

Soon after I was converted, I felt the call of God to His service. I longed to be a missionary. My heart especially went oiit to the colored people and the Indians, and to the poor unfortunate ones of my own sex. Their sufferings touched my heart, and it was this class with which I did some of my first prison and missionary work in after years. But in those days there was very little encouragement tf» a woman to do such work. O how those who are called of God now should appreciate their privileges !

Though hindered and discouraged, this call did not leave me, I lived in the church for years, always doing my part in church work, T was proud and vain, but knew no better; yet I tonged to be all the Lord's.

SANCTIFICATlOiS',

Several years after my conversion I heard of holiness or entire consecration to God, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit for service. After this^ for about ten years, I was under conviction for a clean heart, seeking for a while and then growing careless, receiving little help from the formal professors around me. As I counted the cost, at times it seemed too great I knew it meant to giv^ up fashionable society, home, friends, reputation and all: and to take the way of the lowly Kazarene, I heard at this time of a holiness meeting about forty miles from home, which I attended. Here I heard the pure gospel preached, and !ight shone upon my soul. I saw that none but the pure in heart could see God in peace. After wrestling m prayer until about three o clock in the morning, I seemed held by an invisible power, pure and holy, and was so filled with aM'e that I feared to speak or move. Soon I heard a wonderful sound, soft, sweet and soothing, like the rustle of angels' wings. Its holy influence pervaded my whole being; a sound not of earth, but distinctly audible to both myself and the sister who was in the same room J I listened enraptured. I feared it was death, and my breath grew shorter and shorter. I did not move nor open my eyes. Presently Jesus stood before me, and O the wonderful look of love — so far above the love of mortals, so humble, meek and pleading ! In the tender voice of the Holy Spirit came these words: "Can you give up all and follow me? Lay your weary, aching head upon my breast. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Lo, I am with you alway even unto the *nd of the world." I was enabled by the Holy Spirit to say, "Yes, Lord Jesus." I knew it was Jesus. When I said "Yes, Lord," the power of God fell upon me, soul and body, and I was bathed in a sea of glory. When I had recovered from my rapture, Jesus had vanished as silently as He came; but the blessing and power remained. The sister whispered and asked, "Did you hear that sound?" And then she told me that this was for my benefit. This occurred November ii, 1883. That day the people looked at me and wondered, seeing the great change God had wrought in me by His power. The night following we had an all-night meeting. Again God spoke to me by His Holy Spirit, saying, "Go and honor my Son's name, and I will go with you." I prayed, "O Lord, if this is Thy voice, speak once more." The same words came again. I obeyed and God did most wonderfully reveal Himself to me, I knew I was called to His service and to work for lost souls.

MY CALL TO PRISON WORK.

The question is often asked me, "How did you become interested in this work, and learn to understand the needs of the prisoner?" It was through this call from God. None of my relatives or friends were ever convicted of crime. When I was a young woman I attended the state fair at Columbus, Ohio, and with a delegation visited the i

s p

G C

o state-prison at that place. While waiting for a guide to show us through the prison a young man was brought in by an officer. I saw him searched, and later as thn heavy iron doors dosed behind him with a clang, my sympathies were aroused. While being shown through the prison I saw this young man with his hair close cut, dressed in prisoners' garb, placed by the side of hardened criminals. There my first interest was awakened to try to make the burdens lighter for the prison-bound. As we were leaving the prison I noticed some small articles which had been made by the inmates in their spare moments. Among these I saw and was especially impressed with a miniature statue of a prisoner dressed in stripes, holding in one hand a ball and chain^ the other hand shading the eyes. Upon the pedestal of the statue were these words, '*What shall the harvest be?" I shall never forget the impression then made upon my mind. It is still fresh in my memory.