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....

I was reading an evening paper. I glanced over the advertisements. One attracted my attention, and held it so strongly that I read it over and over, again and again. There was nothing unusual in it to ordinary observation. It read, "Wanted.—At the Penitentiary, 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 comprehend the meaning of the words before my sight. Without the intention to do so, I looked again at the a

It was Saturday morning that I became an inmate of the Penitentiary. I was conducted to the kitchen, where I was to oversee the cooking for the prisoners, and to the prison adjoining it, which I was to see kept in order, by the Deputy Master of the institution, who gave me my keys and installed me in my office of Prison Matron. When we first went in he called the six women who do the work in the kitchen, and the three "sweeps" who keep the prison clean, to him, and presented their new mistress,

At seven o'clock, P. M. , came the marching in to supper, and the locking up of all the prisoners. I looked to see, as they filed past me, one by one, if they carried marks of their crimes upon their faces. I saw nothing unusual in the mass; occasionally an individual countenance betrayed the vicious habits which had brought the woman there. If I had not known that they were convicts, I should never have suspected them to be different from the ordinary poor people who are constantly passing alon

There was a small bell hung directly over my head; the wire from it reached into the men's prison. It was rung by the watchman at four o'clock in the morning, to call me up. I sprang out of bed at the first tinkle, threw a shawl around me, put my feet into my slippers, ran down, unlocked my steam woman to make her fire, and my cook to start her breakfast. I let them into the kitchen, and locked them in. Then, I went back to dress myself. Up, up, over the five flights, past the grated doors, over

It was my third morning in prison. I stood beside the mush boiler with Annie O'Brien, who had been scraping it, and was wiping it out with a dry cloth. McMullins came along, and demanded the cloth from her. An altercation ensued. I hushed the noise, and asked,— "To whom does the cloth belong?" "It is my dish-cloth," said McMullins. "You might let me have it a moment just to wipe this out!" "I want it meself, I'm in hurry for it." "Where is yours?" I asked O'Brien. "I don't know, ma'am. I left it

As my orders conflicted, and my work bothered me, I made another effort to find a head manager, or some printed regulations. When the Deputy came in, on his morning rounds, I asked him,— "Is the Master's wife Head Matron here?" "Yes." "Then why does she not come and teach me to manage my department, and see that I do my duty? I go to you, and you tell me the other matrons know. I go to them, and they tell me so many conflicting things that I am bothered more than helped. Then if I ask some of th

The four Matrons took the evening watch, alone in prison, in rotation. It was a rule that one of them was to be always there, when the prisoners were in. They were not to be left by themselves a moment. The one who had charge was to be alone; the other three were at liberty, one to go about the buildings or grounds, two to go out of the prison confines, if they liked. It was my turn to be alone in prison. Immediately after they had been locked into their cells, and the other Matrons had left, Ha

One morning, as I sat warming my feet by the prison stove, I heard a slow, measured tread on the stone walk, like some one pacing off the length of the building. When it came near to me I looked, to see the Master stalking along in pompous dignity. There was what he probably supposed to be authority in his bearing. I arose and stood respectfully before him. I supposed he had commands of some kind, for me, from his appearance. He went along without changing his gait, or turning his head, into the

I had been in the prison but a few days when Ellen, one of my "sweeps," crept softly round to me, and whispered in my ear,— "You must be careful what you say! Mrs. Hardhack has just been in on the other side to listen. She creeps round like a cat, and you never know when she's coming, and there's no knowing what she'll tell, and she'll surely get you into trouble." "Don't give yourself any uneasiness, she can't get me into trouble." "Don't tell what I say; but she do pick a fuss with all the Mat

One night, when the women were coming into the prison, I observed great commotion and disturbance among them. I heard a confused, mixed up, talk about beds being taken out. Two or three of the women stepped out of the ranks, and looked up into their rooms, to see if their beds were taken out of them. Among the number was a woman by the name of Callahan. I had heard of her as being a desperate character; but she had behaved well in the prison. She was a tall, stout woman, with a loud voice. After

The windows of the kitchen were of ground glass. They were made to let down at the top, but could not be raised at the bottom. When they were let down, I noticed that the younger women, if I were out of the way a moment, sprang upon the window-seat, which was a deep recess, and stood looking out. I inferred from the manner of doing it, and the apprehensive look they gave me, when detected, that it was breaking the rules to do so. But no one informed me of such a rule, and I did not think it nece

In deciding upon the capabilities of the prisoners Mrs. Supervisor made herself useful. Her first care was to find out how long a sentence a woman had. That determined one qualification for her own service. If the sentence were for two or three years, and there was to be a vacancy in her own family, the woman was eligible to a place there, provided she could be trained into the work required. This care was taken to save herself and her Housekeeper the trouble of changing. To oversee her housekee

It was Sunday morning. Sunday was our busiest day, because our meals came so near together. We were allowed one hour more of sleep on this morning than on the others. I had waked at the usual hour, but settled myself comfortably to rest again hoping to obtain it. Tinkle, tinkle, went the bell over my head. I paid no heed to it for a moment. Rattle, rattle, rattle went the noisy thing for full ten minutes. By that time, vexation had expelled all drowsiness. I vowed, in my own mind, that I would m

After the kitchen was put in order, that Sunday afternoon, I gathered the women around me, and read a story to them, from a religious newspaper. I also read them one of the Saviour's parables. Then, I talked with them so as to find out what ideas they entertained of themselves, and the lives they had led. "What are you in here for, Sarah?" I asked of a smart, bright, active woman. As she was among convicts she was called bold; but if she were working outside she would be called a smart, capable

It required the exercise of a large share of physical courage to enter, and examine into the condition of the private apartments of my boarders. I shrank away from the task in loathing. Low, narrow, confined, they were like the cages of wild animals. The human odor of the occupants had penetrated the walls and made the air noisome. They were ventilated through the bars of the door, and an aperture of five or six inches in diameter in the inner wall of the cell; but being used for all purposes, t

The day commenced at odds. In the morning Mrs. Hardhack came flying into the kitchen, and demanded, from O'Brien, something for one of her girls to eat. "She has fainted away for the want of food! She has had no breakfast! How did you dare to keep her breakfast from her!" O'Brien kept her temper wonderfully. She answered very quietly,— "I'm sure she had the same as the rest if she had been a mind to taken it." "How do you dare to stand there and answer me in that way? I'll have you punished if y

Supernumerary was in the habit of sending to me for my No. 5 key occasionally. She said it let her through from the house into the attic of the prison. I could not imagine what she wished to go through there for. I finally settled down upon the supposition that she wished to supervise the prisoners' rooms at her convenience, and see if I kept them in order, and made the poor things as comfortable as possible. The mystery was unraveled when she took me up to show me the room of the Receiving Offi

Visiting day, which came every fourth Wednesday, was a great occasion in the institution. For two weeks before it was due, the question was continually asked me,— "Is it next Wednesday, or a week from next Wednesday, that is visiting day? I wonder if my husband will come! I wonder if anybody will come to see me! I want to see the old man so much! I want to hear from the childer so much!" For a day or two it was my constant care to repress the talk occasioned by the overflowing of their expectati

I stood by the mush-boiler, one morning, calculating the probabilities of having that delicacy well cooked by eleven o'clock, so that a second edition might be issued before night, when I heard the cry out in the prison,— "Callahan is coming! Callahan is coming! they've had an awful row at the shop!" I had some idea of what a row with Callahan meant. I had been told that she had snatched the Master's wig from his head, torn it in bits, and scattered it to the winds; that she had pulled the Deput

A very few days after I entered the institution, I gave up looking for any consideration from any one but the Deputy. It was a rule of the place to shift every labor, when it could be effected, by the one to whom it belonged, upon some other person. That is, in the female department. The example set by the Head Matron was considered worthy of imitation, and copied with an accuracy deserved by a better one. To impose upon an officer, ignorant of the ways of the place, was a favorite entertainment