246 STATE PRISON AT AUBURN. 



room, which they enter at two different doors, face around by 

 their plates, standing till all have got their places, when a bell is 

 rung, and all sit down to their meals : but, as some eat more, 

 and some less, waiters, provided with large vessels, pass along 

 constantly between the tables, taking food from those who raise 

 their right hand in token that they have it to spare, and giving to 

 those who raise their left hand to signify they want more. The 

 tables are narrow; and the convicts, sitting on one side only, are 

 placed face to back, and never face to face, so as to avoid exchang- 

 ing looks or signs. 



When the steward perceives that the convicts have done eating, 

 or have had sufficient time for it, generally from twenty minutes 

 to half an hour, he lings the bell, when all rise and march to 

 their work-shops, those going out first who came in last. Twelve 

 o' clock is the hour of dinner. The proceedings the same as at 

 breakfast. Before quitting labour, the convicts wash their faces 

 and hands, — form line, according to the number of their cells, — 

 and proceed, in reversed order, from that in which they come out 

 in the morning, to the wash-room, where, without breaking their 

 step, they stoop, and take up their supper vessels and water cans, 

 and march to tlieir galleries, enter their cells, and pull their doors 

 to. Each galleiy is occupied by one company, which is marched 

 and locked up by one assistant keeper. 



Assistant keepers are constantly moving around the galleries, 

 having socks on tlieir feet, that they may walk without noise, so 

 that no convict can feel secure, but that one of the keepers may 

 be at the very door of his cell, ready to discover and report next 

 morning for punishment the slightest breach of silence or order. 

 The house, containing between 300 and 600 convicts, is thus 

 perfectly still. The convicts are required, by the ringing of a 

 bell, to go to bed upon their framed flat canvass hammocks, with 

 blankets, and are neither permitted to lie down nor to get up 

 without a signal. After the convicts are rung down at night, all 

 the locks are again tried by the assistant keepers. 



On Sundays the arrangement is the same, with this difference, 

 that, instead of working, the convicts are marched to the chapel, 

 where divine service is performed by the chaplain. Such of tliem 

 as are ignorant attend the Sunday school, which is admirably 

 taught, and gratuitously, by students belonging to the theological 

 seminary at Auburn. The keeper and assistant keepers must be 

 present at divine service, and at the teaching in the Sunday 

 school. 



