The Prison Chaplaincy, And Its Experiences — John Shaqi
The Prison Chaplaincy, And Its ExperiencesQuinby, Hosea
Religion
The Prison Chaplaincy, And Its Experiences
Quinby, Hosea
Prison chaplains; Prisoners -- Religious life; Prisons -- New Hampshire
Having heard the warden say that the water in their reservoir was low,
causing him fears of its failing, and meeting the governor, to his
inquiry about our prison affairs, I alluded to the coldness there and
the warden's remark, and received the reply, "Why, it won't do to let
the men suffer with the cold. If need be, he must haul water from the
river," and he sent the warden a letter to that import. But no water was
hauled, and no amelioration had from the cold till, at length, when the
severest weather had nearly passed, one of the council visited the
prison and ordered a coal stove to be placed in a part of the hall,
which gave a measure of alleviation. Still the men continued to suffer
more or less till the change of weather brought the desired relief. They
will ever look back to that as a suffering winter.
The women probably suffered less from the cold than the men. Still, they
were put on short allowance and were obliged to carry their wood up
those two flights of stairs, taking it from quite a distance out of
doors, some of it being very large. One of those cold Sabbaths, entering
their room for meeting, I found it so cold as to endanger my health,
and, not then knowing the restrictions, I attempted to kindle the fire,
but found only a few coals in the stove and one large stick in the box,
which I placed with the coals, but with little effect. We had short
exercises, and I left them to endure this temperature as best they
could.
The women would watch the warden and steal a little extra, when he
stepped out of sight, thus occasionally enjoying the genial warmth; if
detected, however, to receive a gratuitous lecture. Finding, at length,
that this extra labor was preying sadly upon their health, and having
repeatedly importuned the warden for relief in vain, they turned to his
wife, who informed him of the real effects being produced, with the
assurance that the continuance of this drudgery would shortly bring the
sufferers upon beds of sickness, requiring him to hire outside help, to
care for them and perform the tasks in which they had failed. This
gained the victory, but not till great injury had been done to the
victims, the strongest, on whom the burden of carrying the largest had
fallen, having thus laid the foundation for weeks of severe sickness and
leaving prison an invalid, though previously a robust, healthy woman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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