BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE
| No. DCCCLXXXVI. | AUGUST 1889. |
Vol. CXLVI. |
SCENES FROM A SILENT WORLD.—V.
BY A PRISON VISITOR
The revelations from prison life which we have been allowed to bring to light in these pages, have not unnaturally drawn forth various expressions of opinion on the subject, which we are glad to have an opportunity of refuting in so far as we hold them to be mistaken.
The first strong impression conveyed by the recital of scenes from a Silent World seems to have been that work which implies continual association with the lowest and vilest of criminals must be to the last degree depressing and distasteful, and even to some extent demoralising. There is truth in this idea only as regards the pain which must always be felt in witnessing the sufferings and errors of our fellow-creatures, whatever may be their position in the social scale; but there is another aspect of the case which gives to labour among the tenants of our prisons an indescribable charm, such as could hardly be found in any other form of altruism that may be open to us.
The realism and energetic truth-seeking of this nineteenth century have, as we are all well aware, caused a widespread awakening to the inscrutable problems in the condition of humanity which surround us on every side. The complicated evils that beset our race are patent enough to all observers, but the difference of opinion among thoughtful persons as to the remedies which might be attempted for them simply offers to us contrasts of a truly bewildering description. The most beneficent schemes are represented as doing more harm than good—while even the old-fashioned virtues of charity and almsgiving are denounced as mischievous to the recipients, and fatal to the good of the community. There is no
