ter. The soothing influence of this part of the
service is, according to the experience of the chaplain, very great
indeed. It was also very evident that the men took great pleasure in the
responses, and one could not but hope that it was not all assumed; that
when they confessed themselves "miserable sinners," that when they
exclaimed, "We have followed too much the desires and devices of our own
hearts," or that when after the chaplain read each one of the
Commandments they prayed, "Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our
hearts to keep this law"--that to some, at any rate, these words were
full of meaning, and did represent actual workings of the mind. In
chanting also they join, and the way in which they find out the proper
places in the Prayer-book, or in which they turn up the portions of
Scripture read, or find out the text, or repeat the Creed, is a model to
others, and gives an illustration of the existence of a very desirable
influence which the men appear to be under. It must be remembered that
they are there by themselves, that no external eyes are on them, that to
many of them the service is an unaccustomed novelty, and that to those to
whom it is not it affords a welcome relief after the monotony of the
week. Be this as it may, nowhere in London or the country, at home or
abroad, have I seen a quieter or better-behaved congregation. If you did
not see the prison garb, and the number on the arm, and the little brass
plate on the breast, you might fancy you were in the midst of an earnest
Christian people, who for purposes of their own excluded women, and
babies, and old men. The chaplain's sermon generally occupies from
fifteen to twenty minutes, and is of a character adapted to his audience;
yet I must confess the attention paid to it was not equal to that which
was shown in the more active parts of the service. The pulpit has yet to
learn to be plain and practical; and chaplains, it is to be feared, with
very remarkable exceptions, are inclined to be conventional. Still, the
preacher did his best, was kind and simple, and when he speaks of such
topics as godly sorrow for sin, and of turning away from it to God, or of
the many ways in which men fall from rectitude, many evidently,
especially of the younger ones, seem desirous to understand and realize
it, and to lay hold of something spiritually soothing and appropriate.
In many faces was to be seen an expression of great earnestness, forming
a co