been very kind to me, and
I've been thinking several times of going home and getting work from
him. He is the only man who ever did me a kindness since I was fourteen
years of age, and I love and respect him very much."

This man had been longer in prison than any other I met with. He had
been five times a convict. I considered him the very worst of a certain
class of prisoners that I ever knew, and feel quite convinced that he
will not be many weeks out of prison. He was constantly trafficking
with his fellow-prisoners, and when he could get a chance to steal, his
hands _would_ be at work. I remember his being in the cook-house for a
time, and almost every day he stole several pounds of mutton or beef.
He would steal anything for an inch of tobacco. He was turned out of
the cook-house on suspicion, but they never could punish him for theft
except on one occasion, which happened in the following manner.

The prisoners were in the habit of getting a pint of oatmeal gruel for
supper. This pint of gruel was supposed to contain two ounces of meal;
but in order to make it part better it was made thinner, so that every
night there was a surplus. This surplus the prisoners thought belonged
to them, and some of the officers permitted the orderlies for the day,
who served it out, to divide whatever remained amongst the prisoners in
their own wards. The authorities, however, did not allow the prisoners
more than a pint:--no matter whether it was thick or thin, no matter
whether there was only one ounce of meal in it, back to the cook-house
and the swill-tub the surplus must go. Some officers adhered to the
rule, others did not. The officer in charge of the prisoner referred to
was one of those who did, and when my friend helped himself to a pint
out of the surplus gruel he was "reported" the same evening (which
happened to be a Saturday). On Sunday the governor, departing from his
usual custom, came to his cell, and passed sentence on him there. When
the prisoner came out of 'Chokey,' as the punishment cells are called
by the prisoners, he came to me about the Sunday sentence of a hungry
man for taking a pint of gruel, which in some proportion belonged to
himself. He fancied it was not legal to pass sentence on a Sunday, and
thought he might get back the time he had forfeited, by appealing to
the director. I told him I did not approve of the conduct of the
governor, but at the same time expressed the opinion that the director
wo