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MANCHESTEPv AND SALFORD REFORMATORY. 409
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.
Pijkasanttiit Situated On Rising Ground ...
administered , this Hogging process seems at once to decide who is to be the masterand being- followed up by extreme tenderness in
, sickness , and judicious praise when due , is regarded more as an exertion of proper authority than in any other light ; which view of
the subject , on the part of the boys , is probably a natural result of their previous life .
There are two cells for solitary confinement , one tolerably lighted by a small windowthe other totally dark , for extreme cases . The
term of incarceration , is dependent upon the offender himself ; he is removed as soon as he expresses liis contrition . One lad "was lately
confined eighteen days , for attempting to abscond . Eighteen days of obduracy passed in solitary wretchedness , till at length the
remonstrances of a little brother in sin touched his stony heart and he repented . The boy whose pleadings effected this change was ,
and still is , an invalid , from the effects of a blow from a cricket ball striking the region of the heart- I felt much interested in this
lad , who looks fearfully ill ; indeed the excitement of being present during the singing lesson on the day I was there , affected him so
deeply that I thought he was dying , but the attack passed off again . The governor informed me respecting this boythat during a
con-, vulsion his hands were brought slowly forward and clasped in a peculiar manner . When the fit was over , he was asked to account
for this . He _acknowledg-ed that he had been praying , the first time he had ever been known to do so . But the next day he exclaimed
" S . threw that cricket ball , and I'll never forgive him as long as I governor live . " " John read , " to said you a this lady morning present , about " do you the remember crown of what thorns the ?
Forgive us our trespasses , as we forgive them that trespass against us . " Tliere was no reply from the sick boy , who seemed to be
sinking into a state of insensibility . Some hours after , he requested to see the boy who threw the ball . " S ., " he said , " I think I am
going to die , and I think that ball was the cause—but I forgive you from my heart—I have been very wicked , and I believe God has
laid me on this sick bed for my good , and I want you to be a better boy too . " Then he read a chapter from the Bible , making his own
simple comments as they proceeded , after which he requested his master to pray . Nor did his efforts end here , other boys were at
his own request admitted into his sick-room , and all who went were touched by his earnest appeal , until , through his instrumentality , a
large majority of the inmates became earnestly concerned about religion . These have formed themselves into a class , which , by the
governor ' s permission , meets in the pxobation-room , for . reading and religious exercises . But these religious movements have to be most
carefully watched , and in a large measure checked . Feeling must be kept downand principle insisted upon . We all know what
, harm has been done , and what pestilent characters have been lefc loose on society under the garb of religion ; and in an institution
for the reformation of criminals , wo can readily understand how
vol . in . 2 a
Manchestepv And Salford Reformatory. 409
_MANCHESTEPv AND SALFORD REFORMATORY . 409
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1859, page 409, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081859/page/49/
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