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and what improvements have been made through the efforts of this Society; we shall now consider some of the remoter benefits which may result from its labors.

ence.

1. Improvements in the criminal laws may be hoped from its influThe Society has shown that these laws need to be revised; and when men discover obvious defects in whatever seriously affects the welfare of any class of the community, they will endeavor to remove those defects. Hence it is reasonable to expect, that, if the defects of the criminal codes have been made sufficiently apparent, important changes may be made in them.

Experiments prove that reformation among prisoners greatly depends upon the construction of the prisons, thereby showing an important "connection between architecture and morals," which may be employed with the happiest effects in alms houses, manufacturing and other establishments, where large numbers of individuals are collected together, and exposed to various temptations. And even in colleges, academies, boarding schools, and large families, the same principles might be applied greatly to the promotion of purity and order. These principles of architecture are applicable not only to dormitories, and other private apartments, but also to dining halls, workshops, and school rooms. These should be adapted to the most economical division of time, to order, and to good impressions on the mind. Such a construction as shall present the least impediment to the regular and necessary movements of those who are to occupy them; shall prevent the possibility of escaping inspection; and make the rooms light, airy, symmetrical, and neat, will have great influence in securing these desirable objects.

2. The inquiries of "this Society show the value of labor not only as a means of support, but as an auxiliary to virtue." This is forcibly illustrated by contrasting those prisons whose inhabitants have been kept in idleness, with the reformed prisons where labor has been introduced and systematically prosecuted. The former are expensive; the latter, support themselves. The one is profligate and abandoned; the other comparatively moral and orderly. Of this class, the prisons at Auburn, Wethersfield, and Sing Sing, and the houses of Refuge at Boston, New-York, and Philadelphia, are delightful instances; of the other, most of the old State prisons and county jails, are true, but dreadful examples. It is the testimony of experience, that evil can be prevented more easily among one hundred men who are busily employed, than among one tenth of that number who have nothing to do.

3. We are here furnished with instructive facts in domestic economy. Among the interesting facts which have been brought to light, we select the following. The boys in the House of Refuge at South Boston are neatly clad, and each suit costs but ninety

eight cents; and the daily expense of food and clothing for each is estimated at nine cents, while a considerable number of them earn ten cents a day, during the seasons for labor, which occupy only five hours and a half of each day. The whole daily expense of supporting the prisoners at Wethersfield, including medical attendance, instruction, and pay of officers, as well as food, clothing, and bedding, is thirteen cents and four mills each; while in the House of Refuge in New-York, one hundred and forty boys, from six to nineteen years of age, earn twelve and a half cents each per day. These and similar facts are the "results of invaluable experiments on man," from which individuals, families, and institutions may derive important benefit. Were the principle, so far as it may be applicable, introduced into colleges, academies, and other public institutions, many might obtain an education who are now debarred from the privilege by the want of means. And many families might be greatly relieved from a heavy burden of expense for the support of children in public schools.

4. In the facts before us we see the importance of unceasing vigilance in government. In all instititutions whether for instruction, or labor, or punishment, it will be found that, other things being equal, the order and prosperity of the subjects, will be in proportion to the vigilance and promptitude of the government. This may be seen in the family, in the common school, and in almost every establishment where any control is necessary; and it is most forcibly illustrated in prisons. We have only to contrast the old prisons where the government was lax and inefficient, with some of the improved prisons, to be fully convinced of the truth of this remark. The keeper of a county prison may, and generally does pursue some occupation which requires him to be absent a considerable portion of the time. The prisoners are therefore left to the unrestrained indulgence of their vicious propensities, and the consequence is, "confusion and every evil work." And yet vigilance in county prisons seems to be generally considered as unnecessary. But this is a mistake which greatly needs correction, for these prisons are too often "nurseries of vice." Let a vigilant government be maintained in families and schools, factories and workshops, as well as in prisons, and idleness and disorder and profaneness would soon disappear.

In the inquiries of this society are exhibited also the necessity of family government. Neglect of this has been the ruin of many, and " among the causes of crime, stands next to intemperance," and is not unfrequently the cause of it. Many a convict in the State Prison, commenced his career of vice in filial disobedience or parental neglect. The confessions of some, and the known circumstances of others, place this beyond all doubt. The fact also,

that about one third of all the youth in the House of Refuge in Boston have been committed for contumacy and disobedience, (and the commitment of a large portion of others might probably be traced to the same origin) shows how extensive and calamitous is the influence of this evil.

5. The cause of temperance is also promoted by this society. We are not prepared fully to appreciate the value of temperance, without taking into view at the same time, the destructive consequences of intemperance. In the interior of prisons may be found fearful evidence of the ravages of this evil. Here are annually confined thousands of its victims, where they are hid from the observation of the community, and but for the researches of this society many of the evils of intemperance would have remained in obscurity. The facts which have been disclosed, furnish the most weighty arguments in favor of temperance. We will briefly notice a few of these facts. It appears from the records of one prison in Boston, that twenty-eight individuals of both sexes, had been committed for drunkenness eighty-seven times in less than one year; some of whom had been committed from two to seven times, and not unfrequently they were arrested within five days after their discharge. The time lost in prison in these cases, was thirty-two years, and the expense of supporting these twenty-eight drunkards, at two dollars a week, for the time mentioned, was three thousand three hundred and twenty dollars. It is calculated that the number of individuals annually imprisoned for debt in the United States, principally in consequence of the intemperate use of ardent spirits, is fifty thousand; and the whole expense attending their imprisonment, is reckoned at one million seven hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Of the one hundred and twenty-five thousand criminals annually committed to prison in the United States, not less than three fourths owe their imprisonment directly or indirectly to intemperance; and the whole expense incurred by thirty days confinement of ninety three thousand seven hundred and fifty criminals, is estimated at three millions six hundred sixty thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine dollars.* These overwhelming arguments against intemperance are found in prisons. "A society whose constant endeavor is to trace the connection between intemperance and crime, is useful in promoting temperance."

6. This society also promotes the better observance of the sabbath. If we go through the United States, we shall find it true to a lamentable extent, that in prisons and jails, there is no sabbath. This day is not only not observed as it should be, but is profaned and polluted to an alarming degree. Were all the prisons con

*The statements may be found more at large, on the 65th page of the Report.

structed and governed like those at Auburn, Wethersfield, and Sing Sing, the ten thousand human beings who are constantly confined in them, would be, found seriously and profitably spending the sabbath, in attending the sabbath school or on public worship, or in reading the bible, instead of abusing this sacred day, by gambling, profaneness and profligacy. And the two hundred thousand who are leaving our prisons every year to go abroad in society, would exert upon others a favorable, instead of a pernicious influence. Will any one say, that prisoners cannot be expected to pay much attention to the sabbath, and that it is of no great consequence whether they regard it or not? True, it cannot be expected of them, while they continue to be neglected as they have been. But is it of little consequence in the view of Him who sees alike those that are in prison and those who are not, whether ten thousand of his creatures sanctify or profane his holy day? And is it of little consequence to the interests of society, whether two hundred thousand of its members have been taught to reverence or to abuse the sabbath?

7. We here see the value of solitude. The facts in regard to the importance of solitary confinement at night, and the remarks on the connection between architecture and morals,* are also illustrative of this point. The fact that "the great and the worthy, the pious and the virtuous, have ever been addicted to serious retirement," testifies to the importance of occasional solitude. But there are not a few who seem to consider solitude as an intolerable burden instead of a delightful privilege; as necessary only for the student, the philosopher, the statesman, the ecclesiastic; forgetting that, as intellectual and moral beings who are bound to make the highest attainments in every excellence which their circumstances will permit, it is equally necessary for themselves. Such individuals are most in danger of suffering from the want of solitude, and could any considerations be presented to lead them occasionally from the bustle of life, into the silence of retirement, it would be putting them in possession of a most valuable blessing. Whether it is true or not in all cases, that in solitude the mind is necessarily led to meditation, and accustomed to think; that the charms of truth are unfolded with "superior splendor," and "the important value of time" taught "with the happiest effect;" that the taste is refined, the conceptions of the mind elevated, and its powers enlarged; that the force of those tormenting passions which disturbed the tranquillity of the soul is diminished, and the mind rendered superior to the vicissitudes and miseries of life; whether, in solitude, all this is accomplished for the other members of the

* See Report, pp. 54-60.

human family or not, "it is now admitted as an axiom, that little or nothing can be done for the benefit of those who are found in prison, without a time and place for solitude." The value of it to this class of individuals, is very great, and the effects of it upon their hearts, as those have testified who have visited the reformed prisons, are beyond any thing they had before conceived. Were there no other result from these admirable institutions, than a deeper impression upon the public mind of the value of solitude in leading vicious individuals to reflection and remorse for the past, to form resolutions of living a better life, to study the bible and to listen to good advice, they would be of great use to the world. 8. We see here exhibited THE EXCELLENCE OF THE BIBLE. In those prisons where the bible has been introduced and accompanied with proper instruction, there is evidence that this is the best of books. What other book, from its simplicity, is so well adapted to the capacity of the ignorant? What other, from the nature and variety of the subjects, the history, the poetry, the beauty and sublimity, the warnings and consolations, the threatenings and promises, which it contains, and above all, from the solemn sanctions with which it comes to men, can compare with the bible? The answer is plain. "No other book, nor all other books together, could supply the place of the bible in prison." None could subdue these rebellious spirits, nor impose restraints upon them, nor teach them their ruined condition, nor excite in their wretched bosoms the hope, "full of immortality," like the bible. Take from prisons the bible, and you leave a void which nothing else can fill. The prisons at Auburn, Wethersfield, and Sing Sing, are living witnesses to the truth of this remark. A large proportion of the prisoners may be found on the sabbath and at other times, reading the scriptures in the solitude of their cells. In the prison at Wethersfield, a person, from curiosity looked into the cells of thirty-six convicts, and all without exception, and without the knowledge of each other, were employed in reading the bible. So great was their interest in this employment, that they had deferred their supper in order to occupy the time in reading, till the darkness of night prevented them-thus preferring the word of God to "their necessary food." If the bible has power thus to charm the most heedless, and subdue the most obstinate, and reform the most profligate, and inspire with hope the most forlorn, and cheer the most wretched of human beings, it possesses a value pre-eminent above all other books.

9. The labors of this Society show the importance of sabbath schools. On inquiry it is ascertained, that very few who have been regular members of sabbath schools, are to be found in prison. We learn from those who have much to do with criminals, both in Europe and in this country, that these schools exert a

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