A few days ago I went to your city to secure the release from Central Police Station of a young lady about twenty-one years of age, who had been in Philadelphia but a few months. She had been accused by her employer of stealing. Whether so or not, the judge, Hon. David S. Scott, and the officials did not seem to believe it. That very efficient officer of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, Mr. Fred J. Pooley, telegraphed her brother in this county to send some one to Philadelphia to look after her interests. I went and found that Judge Scott had the right idea of treating uncertain cases of first offenders. He told me that he always gives the prisoner the benefit of doubt, and so metes out justice that supposed offenders might have a chance to reform, if guilty, and not be made hard-hearted criminals. In this case he turned the young lady over to me, and I took her to her home, where a heartbroken father and mother awaited her. I want to congratulate your city upon having such just and humane officials as Judge Scott, Reserve Officer Runner, Matron Cooper--the right woman in the right place--and Mr. Pooley is moving in the right direction in helping to save accused criminals. His is a great work, and no better man could be found for the position. WILLIAM G. KERBIN, _Attorney-at-Law_. Snow Hill, Md., Sept. 22. --_From The Philadelphia Record._ A STRIKING CONTRAST. Westmoreland County is one of the prosperous and wealthy counties of Pennsylvania. An evidence of its ability to spend money for public improvements is its splendid courthouse. This cost a million and a half. It is a magnificent structure, rich in its art work and furnishings, and spotlessly clean. Few county officers in the United States are more comfortable and luxuriously housed. Within a block or two of this fine pile stands another county building. It is the jail. What a contrast! Here, too, human beings are found, not, however, for a few hours of the day, but by day and by night, for weeks and months and years. But was there no thought for their physical well-being when this jail was built? Is there none now for their bodily and spiritual health? Not only is this jail an example of an altogether faulty type of prison construction, but as at present conducted it is unclean, and therefore unsanitary; it is shamefully overcrowded; young and old, first offenders and hardened criminals, are allowed to congregate indiscriminately in the corridors; no attempt at classification or reformation is apparent, and thus the history of many another county jail is repeated in the midst of a community that by reason of its Christian character, intelligence, and wealth ought to be among the first in penal reform. It is still true that many county jails are a blot--a very dark blot on our civilization. When will reform begin where it ought to begin, namely, at the bottom of our penal system? AN OFFICIAL VISITOR. COUNTRY LIFE FOR CONVICTS.