2. _Not keeping a proper distance in walking._ The laws require the prisoners to keep six feet apart in going to and returning from their cells and meals. This requires no small share of practical _trigonometry_, and if a prisoner should not be pretty good to learn, before he can possibly keep in the right spot, the guard will have an opportunity to give him a number of _solitary_ lectures. Many a man, who thought he was exactly right, not knowing so well as the more learned guard, has been sent into punishment, and made to feel how sad a thing it is, not to understand the six feet trigonometry. 3. _Insolence_ is another crime. This is committed very frequently, as an _accent_ or _emphasis_ is sufficient for this purpose. The keepers and guard are very tenacious of their dignity, and what the governor of the state would consider respectful language, if addressed to him, they consider _insolence_. If one should turn over the pages of the _black book_, he would find this crime written to the sorrow of many a prisoner. 4. _Not performing the task._ This crime is generally found against learners, who have not had time to become masters of their work. This, however, is no excuse, the task is fixed and must be done. Nor is it of any avail that the materials have been poor, the complaint is,--_the work is not done_, and nothing but the _grave_ can hide from, or avert the penalty. 5. _Speaking together without liberty._ Many are punished for this crime, and very justly in many instances no doubt, but not in all. If a prisoner is seen to move his lips this crime is written against him, and suffer he _must_. 6. The other crimes might be ranged under the heads of "_wasting the materials_"--"_attempting to escape_"--"_resisting the authority_," &c., all of which are frequently found in the books against the prisoners; and I know not that any criminal of these stamps has had much reason to complain, that his sufferings have been too severe. This is the proper place to state the absolute authority of the keepers and guard over the destinies of the convicts. If one is _reported_, he _must_ be punished, and that too without a _hearing_, and often without knowing the crime alleged against him. If he should ask the officer what his crime is, the answer would be, "_you_ know what it is." After he finds out the crime, and desires to be released from punishment, the one who reported him must be consulted; and after _he_ is willing, the sufferer must avow that he is guilty, and promise to reform, before he can get out. Innocent or guilty, it makes no difference, he must say--"_I am guilty_," or he will plead in vain to be released; and many a one has _lied_ by _compulsion_, in order to get rid of further suffering. This was his only alternative, he must spot his soul with falsehood, or die a martyr to truth.