When the Home was first started we laid down a few simple rules to
guard and govern it. It should be borne in mind that it is not a home
for criminals, it is a home for men who earnestly desire to do right.
They come there because they have done with the old life, and our
first condition is that those who come to Hope Hall must come direct
from State Prison. This is to guard our family of earnest men from
those who might come to Hope Hall as a last resort after spending
their money in the old haunts. We drew no narrow lines of eligibility.
The Catholic was to be as welcome as the Protestant, the Jew as the
infidel. It was not necessary for a man to have been a member of our
League, though of course we feel that the League can but prove a most
helpful preparation for the Home. Another strict rule that the men
have very deeply appreciated is the exclusion of the public. From the
first, we wished the sacredness of their home privacy to be respected.
All too long have these our friends been marked men, pointed out and
associated with their crimes and made to feel that they are the lawful
prey of the morbidly curious. The rule was therefore made that no one
who had not served at least one term in prison was to have admission to
the Home. Very few of our most intimate friends have ever been there
and they have been selected from among those who, having known the work
within prison walls, were somewhat acquainted with the men. We have no
public meetings at Hope Hall. The family prayers and Sunday services
are often attended by men who have returned for an hour or two's visit.
The testimonies given by such are most helpful and encouraging, but we
do not believe in inviting the outside world to hear these one-time
prisoners relate the history of their crimes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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