Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/328

 MRS. FRY S FIRST VISIT. 303

their banishment, as a voice turning many to right eousness.

After our departure from this scene, and during a drive in her own carriage, Mrs. Fry inquired of me much respecting American prisons, and expressed great interest in the results of those systems of disci pline among us, which have in view the reformation of the offender. A young lady, who seemed to be an active assistant in her plan of benevolence, presented me, at Newgate, with a book detailing the progress of these efforts in behalf of female prisoners. It seems that the first visit of Mrs. Fry to Newgate was in 1813, and that she then found, in an area of less than two hundred square yards, three hundred incarcerated females. Such were their ferocious manners and aban doned conduct, that it was not thought safe to go in among them. The governor, perceiving that she had determined to venture, deemed it expedient to request that she would leave her watch behind her, acknowl edging that even his presence might be insufficient to prevent its being violently torn from her. Almost every discouragement seemed to oppose the outset of the benevolent effort of Mrs. Fry. It was felt neces sary to have a guard of soldiers in the prison to prevent outrage ; order and discipline were utterly set at defi ance. But her presence, and the kind interest she manifested in them, made a great impression. At her second visit, she was, by her own desire, admitted into the wards, unaccompanied by any turnkey. She then proposed to them a school for the children and younger

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