e warden was ordered to furnish the candles, though he
allowed only two a week to a cell. Some of the men were amused and some
provoked at the manner of his announcing the change: "I have concluded
to furnish you with candles, for your good, and hope you will use them
as such;" for, it seems, they knew by what means the relief had come,
though how I never understood.

22. _The aid of the Association to released prisoners, and warden's
course._ The Association proved itself as advantageous to the discharged
prisoners as the most ardent laborer for its establishment had hoped. An
unusually large number left prison the present year, forty-two. In warm
weather many would not require pecuniary aid, while others would. Thus,
one required cooper's tools to the amount of six and one-half dollars;
another, a railroad pass to Ohio, for twelve dollars; a third, a pass to
Wisconsin, at thirty-one dollars; a fourth, carpenter's tools at six
dollars; then smaller sums, here and there.

The Wisconsin man left prison sick, and must have been a public charge
here, while his friends would give him a home, if with them, though
unable to pay his fare thither.

The Association had not arranged for furnishing the men with clothing,
supposing the State would properly attend to that, as previously,
through her warden. But as the winter now approached, the society found
itself driven to the necessity of helping in this, too, by the fact that
the present warden would furnish the men with only the same outfit as in
summer, the under-clothes they might happen to have on at the time,
added. And, in making out this summer suit, he would construe the letter
of the law in the superlative degree, which says, "A suit of cheap
clothing,"--he obtaining the cheapest, the most miserably poor. To
illustrate, a man left prison in one of those suits, and, before walking
a mile, was obliged to call and borrow sewing implements to repair them.
The day after, another left, and had worn the shirt furnished him about
one day, when, taking him to a shop for the purpose of trying on a
coat, I found that one sleeve of the shirt had wholly parted from the
body, and the other about half. Another man had worn his pants less than
twelve hours when they needed mending.

I went to the shop-keeper and lectured him for such dealing, to which he
replied, "I have to be governed by the price the warden will pay. He
will not pay for anything better. If he would, I should