MIDNIGHT IN A PRISON.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2750, 16 January 1882, Page 2

MIDNIGHT IN A PRISON.

There is something yery solemn in a convict prison at midnight. A faint sound of healthy slumber comes from the cells where the convicts sleep. Perhaps there are a thousand, perhaps five hundred undergoing sentence | but whatever may be the number, one is conscious that nowhere else, save in a convict prison, could so many human* beings sleep with so little to interrupt the sense of calm repose. In the same, number of people taken from the ordinary world, there would be slight sounds arising from nightmare following on indigestion perhaps from some reminiscence troubling the conscience, on the question whether’ the strong steps taken for payment of that, bill were not in the circumstances slightly harsh, or some other disturbing recollection ; there might also be uneasy thoughts and dreams creative of restlessness. None of these troubles disturb the sleep of the habitual. criminal.. This is not because his conscience lies easy on him, but because he does not possess the article known to the rest of the world as a conscience. Hence he neither enjoys the satisfaction of its healthy and genial condition nor the troubles attending on its infliction, and it is with him that the “ Prayer for Indifference,” by Greville, as it may be found in the old “ Elegant Extracts ” is granted.- “ Blackwood’s Magazine.” . ■