into the stonework.
There was a thin pallet and two blankets rolled up together during the
day in a corner of the cell that served for bedding, but so thin and
hard was the pallet that one might almost as well have slept on the
board. For the first few weeks this bed made my bones ache. Most men
have little patience and small fortitude, and this bed kills many of
the prisoners. I mean breaks their hearts, simply because they have not
the wit to accept the matter philosophically and realize that they can
soon become used to any hardship. It took six months for my bones to
become used to the hard bed, but for the next nineteen years I used to
sleep as sweetly on that oak board as I ever did or now do in a bed of
down, only, like Jean Valjean, in "Les Miserables," I had become so used
to it that upon my liberation I found it impossible for a time to sleep
in a bed.

On a little rusty iron shelf, fixed in the corner, was our tinware.
Although called tinware, it really was zinc, and was susceptible,
through much hard work, of a high polish, but this "polishing tinware"
was a fearful curse to the poor prisoner. It consisted of a jug for
water and a bowl for washing in and a pint dish for gruel. There were
strict and imperative orders, rigidly enforced, that this tinware should
be kept polished, the result being that the men never washed themselves,
and never took water in their jugs, for if they did their tinware would
take a stain--"go off," as it was termed--the result being that if the
poor devil washed and kept himself clean he would be reported and
severely punished for having dirty tinware.

A prisoner is not permitted to receive anything from his friends or
communicate with them in any way, save only once in three months he is
permitted to write and receive a letter, provided he is a good character
and has not been reported for any infraction of the rules for three
months; for if reported for any cause, however trifling, the privilege
of writing is postponed for three months, and, as a matter of fact, more
than half of the men never get a chance to write during their
imprisonment.

A visit of half an hour once in three months is permitted, but this is a
favor that is only granted upon the same condition as the privilege of
letter writing.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

WHAT, THESE TEDIOUS DETAILS AGAIN.

It will be well to present here some account of those who were to rule
my life for so many years.

The Board