The various officers of the Penitentiary, by their general kindness and good temper in their care of and intercourse with the prisoners, evidence their fitness for their position, and as “like begets like,” similar deportment is reciprocated by the prisoners towards them. This is one of the excellent features of our System, which rarely, if ever, calls for the exercise of harshness by the keepers, and, consequently, instead of vindictive or bitter feelings being excited towards them, on the part of those under their control, a mutual feeling of sympathy is frequently brought into action. This was recently very pleasantly exemplified in the presence of a member of our Committee. A keeper, who had charge of about thirty prisoners in one of the corridors, received intelligence of the death of a son in the army, and having obtained leave of absence for a few days that he might go to Virginia to bring home the remains, before leaving, called at the cell of each of those under his care and bade them farewell. Both the words and deportment of the prisoners evidenced that they sympathized with their caretaker in his bereavement. It is also a general practice with the keepers in the evening, as they pass from cell to cell to hand in a light and lock the doors, to exchange a parting salutation with the inmates. We think it must be self-evident, that such a condition of things is much more favorable as a school of reform than that where the harshness of discipline prevails, which is said to be inseparable from the _Silent_ System. The former is like the mellow soil moistened by the gentle shower, which receiving the seed kindly, when deposited by the hand of the husbandman, it soon germinates, and in due season brings forth fruit, which abundantly rewards him for all his toil. Whilst the latter is like the arid, indurated clay, upon which equally good seed may have been scattered, but being dry and impenetrable, it either never springs up, or at best it has a stunted growth, and its yield never compensates for the labor bestowed upon it. The entire number of prisoners in the Penitentiary during the year 1862 was 586. The largest number at any one time was 451, on the first day of the year, and the smallest 353. The number in confinement there on the first day of this year (1863) was 369, to wit: white males 297, white females 18, black or colored males 51, and black females 3. There were 6 deaths and 18 pardons in the course of the year.