THE ALUMNI JOURNAL, 



79 



son who thought he would rather steal 

 than work, and he stole a pocketbook 

 from a woman. The book had 25 cents 

 in it. He was caught and sent up for 

 three years, and on good behavior he 

 released I believe, in about three or four 

 or five months less than that time; 

 and after he got out he was a citizen 

 for three days- He did the very same 

 thing again, and he was sent up for 

 six years. That man is going to 

 to have about six years of punishment 

 for three or four days of liberty. I don't 

 see how they get any enjoyment out of 

 that; but still, it seems to be the life that 

 they care to live. 



This was a snap shot taken in the cel- 

 ery beds up there. Now it is not all 

 comfort you can see up in .the penitenti- 

 ary ; but I will show you some other 

 pictures. 



There they are in full uniform. They 

 seem to have a fondness for stripes rather 

 than checks. You see them going to and 

 from their work. 



Now we have another picture, which 

 is the best picture of the lock step I have 

 ever seen. It was hard to get, because if 

 you go and ask to take photographs of 

 the prisoners you are not allowed to do 

 it. But as we were going home we saw 

 a gang coming and we waited until they 

 got near and we had a fine snap shot ar- 

 rangement and we snapped it at them. 

 You can see the very step and one leg 

 I'ust meeting as though it were going to 

 fit right where the other one had been. 

 You can tell it almost always. You can 

 tell it on a man even if he is alone, and 

 it is said that clever detectives, even if 

 they do not know a man has been a 

 prisoner, can tell it by his walk. They 

 even get the walk of a prisoner after a 

 time — the walk of a criminal. 



There is a picture of a Charity Hospital 

 nurse, with a tendency to smile, and at 

 the same time she was quite pleased to 



have her picture taken. That is in one 

 of the wards of the Charity Hospital on 

 Blackwell's Island. 



Now we pass away from Blackwell's 

 Island for a little time and come to a 

 picture that many of you are familiar 

 with and that is the grand Insane Asylum 

 on Wards Island, (laughter.) I mean 

 you are familiar with on account of hav- 

 ing ridden by it so many times on your 

 way to Glen Island in the summer, 

 (laughter.) That is a picture of one of 

 the largest buildings in the State, but 

 not to be compared with some of the 

 State hospitals, especially the one at Og- 

 densburg. This building has been used 

 for males alone, but recently there is an- 

 other building on the same Island where 

 they have taken some female insane 

 patients. Now you know that just with- 

 in a few weeks the care of the insane in 

 the city of New York has passed over to 

 the State. Formerly we had the pleasure 

 of taking care of our own insane people, 

 and at the same time paid taxes to the 

 State ; but we now have sense enough to 

 throw the burden onto the State, and it 

 will be better done, T am sure, than in 

 the past. 



But just think of the difference between 

 the treatment of the insane people to-day 

 and that of a century ago. Why, it was 

 only in 1736, in the reign of George the 

 III., in England, that the laws governing 

 the killing of those who were insane were 

 repealed. But those laws were not re- 

 pealed in England until they had murder- 

 ed 30,000 insane people, in France 20,000 

 people, and even our own country is not 

 altogether free from a burden of that 

 kind, as you will recall the history of our 

 own Salem a great many years ago. Now 

 we look upon insane people entiiely dif- 

 ferent than we did in those days. Let 

 me tell you some of the deeds they did 

 in England in some of their insane 

 asylums during those early days. Now 



