Next to self-confidence and a stoical attitude toward the past, the important thing to a man going out is “purpose.” I do not mean merely purpose to do right—that, of course, will be a conceded essential. What I do mean is a definite, well considered and reasonable aim—something higher and beyond. God alone knows how many men inspired with the best of intentions have gone forth from our prisons and penitentiaries within the past year, who have failed, are failing, or will fail, simply because they have been led into attempting commercial impossibilities! The responsibility for these failure will rest less on the men themselves than upon us. If there is one duty above all others we owe to society, to the men and to ourselves, it is to see that the man going out has not lost his job—but goes out to go into one. In a large measure this may be accomplished by reconciling the man to the necessity of filling any position which will support him until he can catch his balance and soar up to something higher. Where he is employed the prejudice said to exist against ex-prisoners is very much a popular error. I have observed that most business men, for purely selfish reasons, if for none higher, recognize and are willing to pay for ability, nor are they given to looking for or picking flaws in a man’s past record. So far I have spoken only of the three character-traits I regard as indispensable to the present and future of the man going out—self-confidence, emancipation from the past, and purpose. It is our duty as missionaries in the field of prison philanthrophy to devote our uttermost efforts to secure them to him. But character-traits great and invaluable as they are and primarily of first importance in the work we have assumed, should be supplemented in a material way. No ex-prisoner should be turned loose into society unprovided with sufficient funds to maintain him suitably—not in luxury—if you please, but comfortably, for at least thirty days. And to be explicit and not misunderstood as meaning to convert penal institutions into finishing schools turning out embryonic millionaires at the expense of the tax-payers—I will say that no sum less than $50.00 is sufficient for such a purpose. And you, dear reader, with your practical experience, will acknowledge that this sum is not an extravagant estimate. If there is one thing the ex-prisoner should be spared during the period immediately following release it is a financial stringency. I appreciate, as do we all, the noble efforts being made by Mrs. Booth, the Central Howard Association, and kindred organizations, and I am fully aware of the miraculous results being achieved by them every day. And while I am grateful to them, and those who so liberally support and second them, I cannot help feeling chagrined at the thought that the great commonwealths of this country should leave a duty so palpably belonging to them to be discharged by philanthropic associations.