at stimulus to the
appetites of new comers. One man who was lashed told me it was weeks
before his flesh healed. I do not believe that the cat and the dark
hole are necessary to prison discipline. They brutalise and degrade both
prisoners and officials.

The doctor was astonished one morning by my application for a
tooth-brush. Such a thing was never seen or heard of in a prison. I
was obliged therefore to use my middle finger, which I found a very
inefficient substitute. Another difficulty arose on the shirt question.
The prisoners are allowed a clean outer shirt every week, and a clean
inner shirt every fortnight. I explained that I would prefer the
order reversed, but was told that I could not be accommodated. But I
persisted. I wearied the upper officials with applications, and finally
obtained a clean kit weekly. Even then I found it necessary to badger
them still further. The fortnightly intervals between the baths were too
long, and at last I got the Governor to let me have a tub of cold water
in my cell every night. This luxury of cleanliness was the best feature
in the programme, although my fellow-prisoners appeared to regard it as
an unaccountable fad.

One or two brief conversations with the Governor were also an agreeable
variation. I found him to be a disciple and friend of the late F. D.
Maurice, one of whose books he offered to lend me. He was astonished
to find that I had read it, as well as other works by the same author,
which he had _not_ read. Colonel Milman expressed a good deal of
admiration for Mr. George Jacob Holyoake, and he was still more
astonished when I told him that this gentleman had occupied a
blasphemer's cell in the old stirring days, when he fiercely attacked
Christianity instead of flattering it. "Nothing would give me greater
pleasure," said the gallant Governor, "than to hear from you some day as
a believer." "Sir," I replied, "I would not have you entertain any such
hope, for it will never be realised. My Freethought is not a hobby, but
a conviction. You must remember that I have been a Christian, that I
know all that can be said in defence of your creed, and that I am well
acquainted with all your best writers. I am a Freethinker in spite
of this; I might say _because_ of it. And can you suppose that my
imprisonment will induce me to regard Christianity with a more friendly
eye? On the contrary, it confirms my belief that your creed, to which
you are personally so superior, is