A PIONEER IN PRISON-REFORM.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XX, Issue XX, 9 August 1919, Page 4

A PIONEER IN PRISON-REFORM.

ELIZABETH FRY (1781-1845). By “X.” (Coinduded). ■ When EUzuhetli Fry was a little over 30, and had returned lo Mildred Court,. some friends who had Had jO'Ccasioin. to visit. one or ‘two cciademiaed criminals in Newgate, Prison, asked her to go and Bee ■ihe destitute state of the, women yhere. it was called, 'bujt ‘“hell open earth” .was the a.wful 'name i;y which it was known ,to many. la one par: of the Imildiug 'was a place known as “the untried wing/’ and here women,, ptioriy dad and fed, shivered in the hitler Fen niary chilli, the children crowding together into the comers t» -cd: . wavmi.h. Many of the prisonerswcr« drunk having go: liquor from the prison tap; and money tp pay for it from -strangers wh > had ventured near tc the double iron gratings which alone separated them 1 from the outside world. Few, indeed, came near, and .he Governor himself, with a military guard, hardly dared to> enter this put. Three hundred were huddled then! tog-eth-er; they talked, clamoured, quarrelled, swore, drank. Li Ah woiukv if five unfouin.iate and loathsome creatures often .hardly looked like women The door dicks. Who h, coming ? What new victim {.-» slnve the food which is already 100 scarce There is. a ,-udden willows. Then a murmur of surprise runs rotund. Into ’this fiiacc t(f lilth, cloamosc, ferocity, -two ; yon no women have entered, Icolth dressed an Oiiakcr-e.-?ses They arc Eliza. 1 ) e.th Fry a.ad her friend Anna Buxton; The mowt hardened fei : a. tluiil as they lea kod into thoise faces—young, uwcrh', s.irong- and mot divine, companionaac Jo-vc where—God forgive us — .hey might have cxpacM scorn and disgust', and into- their dark

■soul's dimly gleaimcd u thought of hc.pe. The next day and the next,, 'they cn'me, hinging, with them garmento for die half-dothed women which Elizabeth and hci’ friends had made, and then their visits had tc cease. Before they left, raid tiiait rabble, they knelt hand in hand, and ].rayed aloud for those whey k)Cc # were Clod’s chi! Iren, Almo*; all knelt —to some childish hours came Lack, while others heard prayer k.r the first time, and they wept', looking up for one 'moment' through the huirian love to the Divine. The visits were renewed when after a short absence Elizabeth re turned tc London. Her quiet, sisterly cehiavicur and words gained I’icr a speedy welcome'. On her second visit she asked the turnkey to leave her' alone with the prisoners. Ilis asticnishment- was extreme Did she know whali die asked? Even he seldom entered alone. But she gained her point; the door .shut' with a bang 1 and the key grab ed in the lock. The poor cie.aLires waited in silence for her to speak; alien they heard the old, evor-iunv

story of “Jesuu and Mis love’’—lth a t 'eve which is the mhy power -'.ih rough which to renew a lost and Hr o-ken hie. “Who is this Jesus”? they ashed. “Can we come? Is it! •too ] a,tie?’ and they learned from 1 tier cl that love which not only waifs hut pleads to- he accepted. Her next act was to form school's lor the children in prison and a young 1 woman,, Mary Connor, was pointed oujtt as witling' to act (as achloiolmiisi ire-s. Mrs Fry appealed to the officials who. gave her a cell for her experimienti, and even 'lierrihilc Was itfeja sight—woman, hall-naked, some pariiallly drunk, struggled wiitlh._ oine another lor a front' place, sho.n|bi'ng : and legging, eagerly the whole timfel. At last las j iha'ny children as and ! .’prisoners’ funder twenjtiy-fiv:e;.,wie,ic gathered into the cell. Thiej work began and the week: piassed on. Almost daily Mrs Fry visited the prison school roote and gradually induced qther friends to accotmlpiany her and '

■help. At this time she viJ •meii condemned 10 death, jj .aaii xO- murder, and 'didy ittuv-.- to cahu and help ais.radted creatures ia tii| •haul’ will: hardly ].y ■■Jhajt then, and until 18l§ f hundred offences wciiej deal'll., She and her fri en^ J an Asscciaition for .the of female and application lor tihe femjale and ah? pjicaaon to the prison Joi ci|ty men for tpermi/ and do. something' for meeting was, held in * on one side were, the cither the woirien; in ' stood Elizabeth 1 Fry. them cl ther desire- to and read qu,t various ing cleanliness, decorum* ramgements as to, a . 4n £ matrons and of monitors e- cj: twelve. Every rule**, l;y the prisoners raisins hands, and in the same t; mcnitrcsses were cho-'ein themselves. Ac the clm e the Sheriffs (ckl .Mrs Frv| had their full approbatin', t mission to do what she old laundry was turned jp /i; reemy and before long a iug sent out to convict t , meats abroad was made t .women prisoners of Ne«r firm; which until this time dertaken the supply, md«i i.y their kind ami readv to the plan

hi addition to providin' held Bide reading. Pul McirJoers of Parlmme.):,.. iu high j c.si:io.i J>ei(iicu! J these reading;-: from nn

h was net an uucomnio hem tiO| go a Way quite h A ]\l era‘l er of I > ai-liaiue:i ' the deeped tragedy lie '■ witnessed. The Lord ]\ j Several members of die \ inspected affairs for ; from lime to time, and ,«| relied a'j the traasforiml ed l:y oine true and com; 3 man More than once si ; whined before a Ho,u,se of Commons. At sS she merer flinched fr«| ing; the disgraceful state If fairs Jicr fro'm siiggeaiij and improvements. | Her visiting- of convict ill ,led tjo* great imp'roveiM rue transport oi womens condition alter their aiiinl various penal seiitlementalj deck .sine pound woim -Jn herded like caJtie, soimfli and cruelly ironed, hi ||J wise and kind care ccffl ilioins and improvements |j leered A.-t the last shew! words no them from the®) kneeling, on the deck wj} them, if’rcm the Umet'af visit till her death sheiEj every convict ship, essijj that left England _ , || ■We have no,: space tn) anything- cl her work jn prisons of. France,, 6edM Russia , Sire was iiiteiv.r|||| vereigns; statesmen a jij{| power and position, tn:|l|j spoil.her; to the end slum; the same true, humiMifi man, giving, herself lrft:|! iugly tei her less happy »?jjj

She was 64 when lid on October 13, 1845. M last Wicji’ds were "it fcai am sale.” Sate li-ojme« deed; safe at the Jdl Whose service she IwdS imremittingly; safe lipWi would meet again taw wcju.ld greet her with tk| wel come—‘ I Th rough yO® | sympathy we are safe