"On  Sunday  the  sewing-room  of  the  female  prisoners  is
used  as  a  Chapel,  the  men  attending  services  in  the  morning,
the  women  in  the  afternoon ;  once  a  month  there  is  service
for  the  Eoman  Catholic  prisoners.  The  convicts  have  no
privileges ;  a  sharp,  intelligent  lad  may  become  a  hall  boy  or
get  employed  in  the  mess  room ;  or  a  mechanic  may  be  ap-
pointed to  one  of  the  workshops  and  so  gain  some  slight  re-
lief from  the  monotony  of  their  lives;  but  they  get  no
reward,  beyond  a  little  tobacco  once  a  week  for  chewing;
smoking  is  strictly  prohibited ;  once  a  month  they  are  allowed
to  bo  visited  by  their  friends.     On  entering  the  building  the


THE   SECRETS  OF   THE   GREAT   CITY.  109

visitor  is  forcibly  struck  by  tbe  following  inscription  ovor
the  doorway.
'  The  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard.'

'Such  is  the  greeting  to  the  unfortunate  crirQina>  as  he
nuts  his  foot,  often  for  the  first  time,  within  the  prison  walls.
f  an  inscription  be  necessary,  surely  the  Department  of
Public  Charities  and  Correction  might  have  chosen  one  less
harsh  in  character ;  one  that .  breathes  a  larger  amount  of
Christian  charity  to  a  poor  fellow  creature,  one  that  may
offer  him  some  small  portion  of  that  encouragement  which  is
so  essential  to  his  reformation.  Some  such  epigram  as  '  it  is
never  too  late  to  mend'  would  be  altogether  more  suitable
and  far  more  encouraging."

THE  HOUSE   OF  REFUGE.
"The  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and  Correction,
Iq  their  last  report,  made  the  startling  announcement  that
there  are  no  less  than  thirty-nine  thousand  children  in  the
City  of  New  York,  growing  up  in  ignorance  and  idleness.
