Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/430

Rh examination and receive sentence. This red vehicle has received the name of the Black Maria, from its having first driven a black woman of that name to the Tombs.

The red omnibus drew up before a gate of the prison the door was opened, as in any other omnibus, and out came boys, and women, and men, many of them resembling the personages of the Old Brewery. They disappeared within the prison, and the vehicle was then immediately refilled with a new load, which was now to be conveyed from the Tombs to the house of correction on Blackwell Island.

We were shown within the court, the place when criminals are executed.

Before I leave the Tombs, I must give a parting glance at Miss Foster—that living, genial, bright form among the Tombs; for her face, her cordiality, her patience, and good humour, the vigorous strength and perseverance with which she has lived for many years among the population of the Tombs, was a heart-strengthening sight. She had had within the court of the female prison a little flower-garden laid out, and planted with flowers; and mignonette diffused its fragrance around, geraniums were in blossom, and Provence roses in bud; to such prisoners as behaved well, or were very much dejected, she gave some of these flowers. I received from her hand a Provence rosebud, which I have kept in memory of her, and the hope of the Tombs; for within these Tombs I had beheld the work of resurrection.

Yet still I received a gloomy impression from them. And I heard that in the great prison of Sing-sing, dark scenes and abuse in the wardship of the prisoners have lately occurred. The society for the visiting of prisoners, of which Isaac Hopper is a member, has within a short period revealed several such facts. This society exercises a salutary control over the wardens of prisons, and their conduct and government; and it performs its work without hostility or opposition.