anion, having twenty-five stretches, was carrying about with him a
twenty-five years' sentence. A quarter of a century in prison! This was
a young man. He had been in the prison for three years. When he entered
this living tomb he had the bloom of youth upon his cheek. When he goes
out, at the end of his term, if he lives so long, he will be an old,
broken down man. He will not be likely to live that long. The average
life of a convict is but fourteen years under the most favorable
surroundings, but in the coal mines it cannot exceed five years at most.

Let me tell you of this man's crime, and then you can determine for
yourself how easy it is to get in the penitentiary. This young fellow is
the son of one of the most respectable farmers in the State. He attended
a dance one night in company with some of the neighbor boys at a village
near by. While there, he got under the influence of strong drink, became
involved in a quarrel over one of the numbers with the floor managers,
and in the fight that ensued he drew his knife and disemboweled the man
with whom he was fighting. In a few moments the wounded man died.
The young fellow was tried, convicted of murder, and sent to the
penitentiary for twenty-five years at hard labor. It is awful to
contemplate. Young man, as you read this, had you not better make
up your mind to go rather slow in pouring whisky down your throat in
future?

As we passed along through the mines I thought about that word
"stretch," and as I did not like the idea of having jobs put up on me,
came to the conclusion that I would render myself popular by telling the
prisoners in the mines who might ask me as to my sentence, that I had
eighteen "stretches." I did not think that calling a month a "stretch"
would be "stretching" my conscience to such a degree as to cause me
any particular distress, for I knew that by the time I had served out a
month it would seem equivalent to a year on the outside.

After following along the entry for some distance, almost a mile, we
came to that portion of the mines where I was to work. Coming up to the
place where the officer was seated, the headquarters of this division,
my guide made a low bow, and informed the officer in charge that he had
brought him a man. Then bowing himself out, he returned to his place at
the foot of the shaft.

The officer in whose division I was to work now signaled his messenger,
and there came out of the darkness another convict, stripe