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254 AN IKISH NEWGATE " IN THE FIELDS."
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
O I Had Lieard A Great Deal Of An Irish....
picking daisies ; tlie thought is too affecting !) "Walking amid the " alien corn "—alien unhappily to London longings—I got peevish
at thoughts of the town life to which 1 must return , and turning sharply to my friend , I said :
" Who are the prisoners sent here : — -interesting offenders , men convicted of light larceniessentimental fathers of familieswho
stole a loaf for their children , ' s sakes , young men who have , seen better days , and who never before knew sin?—eh ?—and why should
they be selected for the boon of a prison in such fine fresh air ? " " No" he said ; " all the men here are men who were convicted
, of serious offences , and who received sentences of penal servitudesentences equivalent to the old transportation sentences . There are
liere thieves of all kinds ; men convicted of felonious and brutal assaultsburglarsand habitual pickpockets . "
, , Pretty Arcadians for such a scene ! "We were walking up a gentle incline : in the distance the sea
_anelted into the sky , and the half-ruined , ivy-clad tower of Lusk church made a kind of point to rest the eye traversing the
landscape . _" This way , through the hedge , " said my companion , and through a low wild hedge we pushed our way .
cc "What do those rusticated burglars do , then , down here ? " said I . _" Are they allowed to play with centre bits in leisure hoursor
, are crowbars entirely kept out of sight ?—of course you have a strong body of police on the premises ? "
" There are no police , " rejoined my informant . _, " _jNTo police ?—convicts in prison and no police near . A strong
force of warders then ? " " There are two warders to fifty-four convicts . "
" Old burglars amongst them ! " I exclaimed . "Yes . "
At this , I thought I had heard quite enough of the Irish Convict System . I hurriedly inquired when did the train return to Dublin
and I anxiously glanced towards the two large hut buildings . The , train did not return for two hours ; but I felt rather hungry , I
pleaded , and luncheon at Spadacinni _' s would be waiting . "O _\ we might manage to get some tea at the huts . " My feelings were
( as some great prose writer has previously remarked ) of a mixed nature . My companion was an enthusiast about the reformation
of Irish convicts ; he thought that even very " bad" specimens could be reformed ; but could I share his enthusiasm , or was I
bound to run his risks ? Every man is not an Allen Gardiner , to face a horrid death in Patagonia \ the spirit of John Howard is
not in me , or , as I thought , more aptly , I am not a Van Amburgh of . tamed burglars .
My companion , reading my thoughts , said , " Why , you are on the farm now . "
" The farm ! "
. " Yes : the convicts do all the farm-work , —some are now making
254 An Ikish Newgate " In The Fields."
254 AN IKISH NEWGATE " IN THE FIELDS . "
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1862, page 254, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061862/page/38/
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