too highly
lifted above, our ordinary pursuits and pleasures, to be compared with
anything that less philanthropic-minded mortals may do. It called for a
far larger amount of self-denial than ordinary people are capable of; it
demanded too much singleness of purpose and sincerity of speech. Had
Mrs. Fry not come from a Quaker stock she might have conformed more to
the ways and manners of fashionable society; had she possessed less of
sterling piety, she might have sought to serve her fellow-creatures in
more easy paths. As a reformer, she was sometimes misunderstood, abused,
and spoken evil of. It was always the case and always will be, that
reformers receive injustice. Only, in some cases, as in this one, time
reverses the injustice, and metes out due honor. As a consequence,
Elizabeth Fry's name is surrounded with an aureola of fame, and her
self-abnegation affords a sublime spectacle to thoughtful minds of all
creeds and classes; for, simply doing good is seen to be the highest
glory.

CHAPTER XI.

NEW THEORIES OF PRISON DISCIPLINE AND MANAGEMENT.

Mrs. Fry's opinions on prison discipline and management were necessarily
much opposed to those which had obtained prior to her day. No one who
has followed her career attentively, can fail to perceive that her
course of prison management was based upon well arranged and carefully
worked out principles. In various letters, in evidence before committees
of both Houses of Parliament, and in private intercourse, Mrs. Fry made
these principles and rules as fully known and as widely proclaimed as it
was possible to do. But, like all reformers, she felt the need of
securing a wider dissemination of them. Evidence given before
committees, was, in many points, deferred to; private suggestions and
recommendations were frequently adopted, but a large class of inquirers
were too far from the sphere of her influence to be moved in this way.
For the sake of these, and the general public, she deemed it wise to
embody her opinions and rules in a treatise, which gives in small
compass, but very clearly, the _rationale_ of her treatment of
prisoners; and lays down suggestions, hints, and principles upon which
others could work. Within about seventy octavo pages, she discourses
practically and plainly on the formation of Ladies' Committees for
visiting prisons, on the right method of proceeding in a prison after
the formation of such a committee, on female officers in prisons, on