Let us now take a look at the jail itself and its inmates. It is well secured with solid walls, iron doors, and prison-bars. There are a few private cells, a broad hallway, and large room into which from five to fifty persons are confined. Sometimes even a greater number are thus imprisoned without grade or discrimination of crime. The tender youth must intermingle with those who are steeped in sin and hardened in crime. He is here taught to play cards, read novels, use vulgar and profane language, practice the most vile habits, plan for burglaries, and comes forth a rogue at heart, and a hardened criminal. Otherwise, had there been the proper discrimination, separating those who are just starting on the downward course from the hardened criminals, there would be a reformation in their lives instead of a degeneration. These are facts that can not be denied—facts that stare us in the face, and are sad truths that will continue to hover over us, as it were, until the good people rise up and protest against it for a proper reformation on this line. The good people of our land would be surprised, yea, stricken with consternation, were they to visit most jails and work-houses and make a thorough investigation, to behold the filth and general sanitary condition of the place, which is infested with lice and other vermin. It is right and proper to send people to jail or prison who will not behave themselves. They need both punishment and reformation. This can be done effectually and with good results if the proper course is pursued. _HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY._ WRITTEN BY A PRISONER. In 1863 the state was admitted as one of the constellation of states of the union. Virginia had seceded from the union by a majority vote. The strong and indomitable minority citizens of the Old Dominion residing in the western part of it, many of whom were Scotch and Irish descendants and natives of the adjoining states, who had taken up their homes in the valleys and on the hillsides, were loyal to the Union, loved well the flag, and reverenced with an undying affection the builders of the union of states for the greater blessing of the people, and stood firm and unyielding for an indivisible united country. By their hands and brave hearts they built a state stretching from the Potomac to the Ohio river, carved out of the Old Dominion. The war-born daughter of the historical commonwealth proved, in the subsequent years, to be rich in the production of materials in active demand in the marts of commerce, and she now outstrips her mother state in the race for greatness, prosperity, and happiness.