and unless his friends have managed
to get him sent abroad, he is very likely acting as a "stall" for some
of his old companions now. He never learnt anything in prison except
_knitting_. He was also one of the "readers," but most of his time
was spent in hospital. He could spit blood when he chose, and the
doctor being more liberal to him than many others, for several very
natural reasons, the prisoner used this liberality to benefit some of
his "pals" who could not manage to get the good things they wanted from
the doctor otherwise. In return for this kindness he would get an inch
or two of tobacco, or "snout," as it was usually termed. When other
means failed to procure this luxury, he would write to his friends for
a toothbrush and sell it for the weed, which caused the toothbrushes to
be withdrawn from all the prisoners. Then he would write for a pair of
spectacles, pretending that his eyes were getting weak. These he sold,
and the last were discovered passing into one of the cooks' hands in
fair exchange for mutton chops. They were taken into the governor's
room, and after being examined by that potentate they were laid on his
desk, and next morning they were nowhere to be found; they were stolen,
but _not_ by a prisoner. Of course, P---- knew nothing about his
spectacles, when examined on the subject, except that some one must
have taken them from his shelf. The result was that all spectacles
belonging to the prisoners were called in, and prison "glasses" issued
in their stead. The spectacles were intended ultimately to reach the
hands of an officer for tobacco, and if they had not been removed from
the desk, the officer might have got his discharge and the prisoner a
severe punishment. This was one of the thousand-and-one schemes which
prisoners resort to in order to get "snout," and without the aid of an
officer they can get none.

This youth was intended by his parents for the church, but was trained
in prison to be a thief, as "a warning to others"--and his was far from
being a solitary case.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE ACT OF 1864--CLASSIFICATION OF PRISONERS--THE MARK SYSTEM: ITS
DEFECTS--THE TRUE CRIMINAL LAW OF RESTITUTION--THE ONLY METHOD BY
WHICH CONFIRMED CRIMINALS MAY BE RECLAIMED--WORKHOUSES.

The year 1864 was a marked epoch in convict life. A new Act was then
passed and fresh prison regulations were brought into force. This Act
contained one good clause, viz., the abolition of three and four y