Penitentiary of the State of West Virginia. 105 The Younger Brothers. 145 _BEHIND THE PRISON-BARS._ [Illustration: Decoration] IN PRISON. Our country is called the land of the free, but could we at one glance behold the thousands and tens of thousands now behind the prison-bars and know their irksome lives, there would be an awakening in hearts that have never known the bondage that exists in our midst. A crime is perpetrated. Some one is arraigned before the court to answer the charges as to whether he is guilty or not. The jury renders a verdict, “Guilty.” The judge pronounces the sentence a term in prison. The poor unfortunate is now considered a convict. Shackles are brought to make him secure, in order to prevent his escape. An officer accompanies him to his prison house, where he is to be in servitude according to the length of his term of sentence. No one but the prisoner realizes the awful feelings as the prison door shuts behind him with a clang, and he hears the click of the lock fastening him in an iron cell. Whether innocent or guilty, he feels the awful disgrace upon himself and his friends. It would not seem so bad if only the guilty were brought to justice in this way, but ofttimes the facts reveal that not only hundreds, but thousands, of innocent persons are thus sentenced and brought into disgrace, many of them serving a life sentence. There are two sides to prison life—a bright side, and a dark side. It may be a query in the minds of some how there could be any enjoyment or any bright side to such a life, but this will be clearly shown in other chapters in this book. There are many things that go to make the prison life a dark one. Viewing the matter from a natural standpoint, with no one to look to but human help, the way does truly often look dark and dreary. There are prisons where men are cast into dungeons and left to almost starve to death, or they are bound hand and foot and beaten with the cat-o-nine tails, or hanged by the thumbs, or made to pass through some severe ordeal of punishment that is almost beyond human endurance. Even in our own country there are yet stockades wherein prisoners do not receive treatment that would elevate them nor fit them for the higher circles of society. Many of these stockades wherein prisoners have been kept during the years past have been but little, if any, better in many respects than were the Andersonville or Libby prisons during the Rebellion. There are exceptional cases to be sure. During the past year a number of the states have not properly provided for their prisoners. It has not been an uncommon thing in some of these stockades to see a gang of men shackled together with chains, obliged to go about with the clanking chains to their feet, under rigid rules, and having to suffer the severe treatment of wicked and ungodly guards.