ack is getting shaved I work on steadily, chatting with
Stuhlmiller, "Blackie," whose name I find is Laflam, and Jack Bell, who
marches second in line on the right, and who has a pleasant voice and
seems like an exceptionally intelligent fellow.

We return to the cell house at the usual time; and fortunately the rain
has ceased, so I do not have the experience of a wet day--an experience I
am quite willing to forego.

At dinner we have pork and beans, the beans not at all bad. We also have
tea instead of coffee. I can make out but very little difference in these
two beverages. I should say they must both be prepared in some such
apparatus as is described by the boy in "Mugby Junction": "A metallic
object that's at times the tea-urn and at times the soup-tureen, according
to the nature of the last twang imparted to its contents which are the
same groundwork."

After dinner I have a long talk with Roger Landry. He grows confidential,
telling much about himself--completing the story, part of which he gave me
yesterday. It interests me greatly. And it is just this vital human
element that is making my experiment so much more absorbing than I had
expected.

At the usual time we march back to the shop, where I have two new
experiences.

The first is a glimpse of the school. I am working away steadily with Jack
when an officer suddenly appears at my elbow. "Is this Thomas Brown?"

"Yes, sir."

"The Professor wants to see you at the school."

Meekly putting on my cap and coat, I follow the keeper out of the shop. At
least I prepare to follow--I wait for him to lead the way, but he motions
me to go ahead of him. Then I realize that an officer escorting a convict
always walks just behind, where he can keep a watchful eye on every move
of his charge.

The school is only a few steps away, in fact in the second story of the
very building of which our shop occupies the ground floor. I ascend the
stairs, and passing through a hall find myself in the principal's office.
Here I am told to wait until the Professor is at leisure. I wait a long
time. When he arrives he gives me a single sheet of paper, and tells me to
write a composition on the subject of My Education.

I sit down and quickly fill two pages with a succinct account of my stay
at different institutions of learning, ending with my graduation from the
university. Then I simply add that, while this has been the end of my
schooling, I hope my education is still going