WOMAN IN PRISON.
BY
CAROLINE H. WOODS.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON.
Cambridge: Riverside Press.
1869.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
Caroline H. Woods,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY
H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.[iii]
WHY WRITTEN.
I was reading an evening paper. I glanced overthe advertisements. One attracted my attention, andheld it so strongly that I read it over and over, againand again. There was nothing unusual in it to ordinaryobservation. It read, "Wanted.—At thePenitentiary, a Matron. Inquire at the Institution."
I turned the paper over to read the general news;but could not place my thoughts so as to comprehendthe meaning of the words before my sight.Without the intention to do so, I looked again at theadvertisement. It became a study to me.
Said Thought—If you were to answer that advertisement,and obtain the situation, it would placeyou upon missionary ground, and at the same timegive you employment which would afford you a supportwhile you are teaching the ignorant. Youwould get knowledge in the position. A new phase[iv]of life would be opened to your view. You wouldhave an opportunity to observe, practically, howwell the present system of prison discipline isadapted to reform convicts, and repress crime. Butthe cost is too much. I cannot become a Matron ina Penitentiary.
I laid the paper down, without reading it, becauseI could see nothing in it except that advertisement.
The next day I went in town, sat down in theoffice of a friend, and took up a morning paper. Nosooner had I opened it than that advertisementspread itself out before me. It changed the formof its appeal; left out what my selfishness mightgain, to enlist my compassion and aid, entirely, inwhat I might accomplish for others. It called tome, in piteous tones, to go work for the prisoner.It was the echo of a voice that I long ago heard,Come into our prisons, and help us, we beseechyou!
I cannot! I have other things to do, and theyare as much for the benefit of humanity as anythingI may be able to accomplish for you. My spiritdarkened as I made the answer; a cloud of guiltsettled down upon it. I threw down the paper inorder to dissipate it, and to avoid the plea.[v]
I turned and talked with my friend; but mythoughts were not in what we were saying. Thatadvertisement followed them, and filled them to theexclusion of every other subject.
In the abstraction which it caused the hour inwhich I was to leave the city passed, and I missedmy train. I must remain and avail myself of another.
While I was waiting, that advertisement returnedto my reflections, and urged its cause imperativelyas a command. It was a call, to me, resistless asthe voice that awoke the young Israelitish Prophetfrom his slumbers. In another moment the strugglewith my pride was over, and my spirit answered,—Iwill go, even to lust-besotted Sodom if thou leadest,Light of my path!
I seated myself in a street car, went to the prison,applied fo