e
cotton bags. My dust-pan, at least, was always well polished, for I
used it as a mirror to see how I was looking, being naturally anxious to
ascertain what _visible_ effect the prison life had upon me. One of
the warders put me up to a very useful "wrinkle." By well cleaning the
dust-pan with whitening, rubbing it up well with the clean rag until it
had a nice surface, and then lightly passing a rag saturated with dubbin
over it, you could produce a beautiful polish by a few slight touches of
the "finisher." After this artistic process the dust-pan shone like an
oriental mirror, and might have served a belle at her toilette.

Every article of furniture has now been described, excepting the stool.
It was a miniature tripod, fifteen inches high, with a round top about
eight inches in diameter. A more uncomfortable seat could hardly be
devised. There was no support for the back, and the legs had to be
stretched out at full length. If you bent them you threw your body
forward, and ran the risk of contracting round shoulders. Whenever I
wanted a little ease, especially after dinner, when a V-shaped body is
not conducive to digestion, I used to rest against the upright plank
bed, extend my legs luxuriously, and dream of the cigar which was just
the one thing required to complete a picture of comfort.

Such was the furniture of my apartment in Her Majesty's Holloway Hotel.
Scantier appointments were impossible. Yet, to my surprise, an officer
came in one day with an inventory, to see if anything was missing.
Rather a superfluous check, when the iron cell door was constantly
locked and there was no opening to the window! A prisoner could hardly
bury his furniture in a concrete floor, and the most ferocious appetite
would surely quail before deal planks and tin pans.

The cell itself was similar to the one I have already described. The
ventilation was provided by an iron grating over the door, communicating
with a shaft that carried off the foul air; and another iron grating
under the window, which admitted the fresh air from outside. This
grating, however, did not communicate _directly_ with the atmosphere,
for the prison is built with double walls. Eighteen inches or so below
it was another grating in the outer wall. This arrangement prevented the
prisoners from getting a glimpse of the grounds, as well as the air from
rushing in too rawly. My cell was one of the old ones. In the new cells
there is a slightly different met