Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/429

Rh “I have been servant with many Christians; I have seen many things: I cannot turn to a Christian.”

She would give no other reason.

During our conversation with these women, I could not but observe that they were attentive, and as it were, struck by every rational word which was spoken to them in a calm and kind manner. Opposition and boldness of expression in all instances gave way, and a better, more thoughtful expression took its place. These souls were evidently not hardened, and would open themselves to receive the again and again recurring rays of light.

We found a great number of the prisoners out in the large court which surrounded the interior of the prison, and among them a boy of about ten years of age.

“What had he done, to be a prisoner here?”

“Nothing,” was the reply, but he had been found at night in the streets, lying now here, now there, and could not give any account of a residence, and as they did not know what to do with him, they had brought him in hither, where he had been for a long time. Whilst we talked with the little boy, many of the prisoners collected round us, all speaking kind words to the boy, and praising him greatly. I saw tears flow from the eyes of the motherly lady over the neglected motherless boy, and I heard her softly promise to take charge of him, and come and take him out.

Whilst we were thus standing here, we perceived a movement in the court. The gates were heard to open, and the words “The black Maria, the black Maria!” passed through the crowd. And in came, through the gates of the prison court, a large sort of wooden chest, or caravan, painted red, and drawn by two horses. This was the vehicle which each day fetched from the various stations in the city such persons as having been found by the police out in the streets during the night, had been conveyed to station-houses. They were carried to the Tombs to undergo