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AN IRISH NEWGATE " IN THE FIELDS." 259
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....
officer of tlie prison can grant any indulgence . The prisoners , by good conduct and industry , earn their right to certain changes in
their work , —to a change from , the lone cell and silent rigor of Mountjoy , to the common industry and less irksome restraint of
Spike Island , and to the comparative freedom here . But all through he is working outwith hard labor and strictly proper conducthis
, , right to these things . If a man behaved badly here , or relaxed in his industry , he would be remitted to Mountjoy Prison ; and as the
_rexy best of them have had eight months of its severe life , they know what to expect . "
presses " I am very surprised hardly on they them keep . ' up their sj ) irits : such an iron system _,
• stern " Yes men , but in brief only authority the system rulin . There g them is harshl no personal y . The despotism convicts — often no
talk to the officers about the rules being hard , but the officers point out that they press equally on all , and that if the rules were relaxed
for 6 never one do convict . ' I have , all could often , claim heard the the same convicts indul say gence , Yes , and I see that ; would that ' s
, fair enough / and go back to their work sad , but satisfied . The system is not secret ; it is open . It is not personal ; it is
self-working . The convict counts up his good marks as eagerly as the officers , and they know perfectly when they are to be moved to Spike Island
, when to Lusk , when on tieket-of-licence , and when they are to be entirely free . I remember hearing a dispute between one of the
higher officials and a convict . The official maintained that the convict had only earned a certain number of marks ; the convict
claimed more—not whining , but firmly and respectfully ; and after some comparing of books and notes , the convict was found to be
right , and went away quite triumphant . It is this characteristic of the system which gives the convicts the energy and tlie cheerfulness
to struggle against the naturally depressing influence of a career that from beginning to , end knows no indulgence . "We have no
pampered or petted prisoners here : all work hard , and feel from _, beginning to end that they are going through a purgatory , fitting
them for the free world . " During my inquiries that day , and during rny stay in Dublin ,
I ascertained the rationale of the Irish system throughout . I visited Smithfieldthe terminal residence of artisan ,
prisoners—, corresponding to Lusk , the terminal residence for agricultural prisoners . All prisoners pass through Mountjoy : on , leaving that
first prison they are sent to _Sj > ike Island , if they are unskilled laborers ; and are sent to Philipstown , if they are artisans . From
• Spike Island the laborer gets promoted to Lusk , as we have seen ; from Philipstown the artisan gets promoted to Smithfield , where he
has privileges corresponding to those enjoyed at Lusk . But in this paper , I prefer to dwell exclusively on what I saw and heard amid
the fields of Lusk . The Eclogues and _Georg-ics of convict life have a pleasant strangeness ; and Bill Sykes sub _tegmineJagi _, and earning
his bread in the sweat of his brow , is quite refreshing .
An Irish Newgate " In The Fields." 259
AN IRISH NEWGATE " IN THE _FIELDS . " 259
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1862, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061862/page/43/
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