--judging from the fitful scraps of conversation
that rise hither--they are assuredly _very_ frail.

I think one of the most exasperating circumstances of this house of
bondage, is the exceeding flimsiness of its defenses. Part of the
inclosure of both yards consists of tall, thin boarding, full of cracks
and crevices, that might be breached with no extraordinary exertion of
foot or shoulder; and there is hardly any part of the stronghold out of
which a man, of average ingenuity, armed with a common clasp-knife--if
unwatched--could not make his way in a couple of hours. But, unwatched
you never are. The passages are not more than thirty feet long, and
there is a sentinel in each who can hear almost every sound from within.
A State prisoner never stirs beyond his room, without an armed guard at
his shoulder.

I soon heard that my reverend neighbor on the right contemplated
evasion, and, considering his opportunities, I rather wondered at
finding him here. In every cell there is a small closet, corresponding
with those on the floor above and below. In this especial one the
ceiling had fallen away, or been removed by some former prisoner;
nothing but plain boards intercepted a passage to the unoccupied
attic-story, where dormer windows opened on to the shingle roof. But,
with all this, it took the parson a full month to make up his mind and
preparations. I often communed with him through the tunnel aforesaid,
and he amused me not a little sometimes.

He looked at all things through a magnifying glass of about eighteen
power. I know that he was perfectly honest in the delusion of
considering himself one of the most important State prisoners that had
ever been confined here. He would have it that half Maryland was in
mourning for him, and ready with ransom of untold gold, but was certain
that the Government would never venture to set him free while the war
should last. Upon the oath of allegiance being proposed to him, instead
of simply declining, he defied the Judge to do his worst, expressing his
readiness to confront either gallows or platoon. The risk of either was
about equal to that of his being tortured at the stake, on the steps of
the Capitol. In spite of all this simple vanity, and flightiness of
brain, you could see that the parson had good strong principles, and
held to them fast; and I believe that his nervous excitability would not
have deterred him from encountering real danger. He appeared thoroughly
court