CARE OF WOMEN IN STATE PRISONS.                    433

side work and a dairy which is a source of profit. In the
prison garden vegetables and flowers are grown. The work
of gardening has a most salutary effect upon the women--
the work in the open, the planting, weeding and gathering
of fruits and flowers, pruning trees and shrubs, caring for
the lawns, gathering flowers for chapel and dining room, all
prevent illness and insensibly give nutriment to hope and
aspiration.     Most of the women  released from  Sherborn
Prison do well in the situations found for them, often re-
turning to express their gratitude personally. In the report
of last year, Miss Elizabeth Quirk, the agent, writes:
  In reviewing the work of the past year, and in the face of numerous
discouragements, I am gratified at the unusually large number of re-
leased prisoners who are doing well, and who are pleased to visit the
office to prove their success.
  It is surprising to see what a few words of encouragement may
often accomplish for a woman who intends to reform.
  Many applications from private families for domestics have been filled
directly from this office, and those placed have as a rule proved effi-
cient and trustworthy. As a consequence, the supply does not nearly
equal the demand.
  It seems desirable and useful to note a few of the many cases which
have been most encouraging to one engaged in the work of helping
unfortunate women.
  M. came from prison in a very hopeless frame of mind, as her hus-
band had taken their two children to an .unknown locality. Being a
capable worker, she was easily placed in a good paying position, and
almost at once began the hunt for her family, which ended in Provi-
dence, where the happy meeting occurred. She had worked steadily
for several months and provided well for the children, always with
the idea of a permanent reunion.
  Another girl was placed far from cities, and after two intervals in
Boston, where many arrests had caused her to be too well known, she
settled down to regular work, which only terminated at the end of
two years, when she came home to be married. She is now a useful
woman, finding happiness in keeping a good home for her husband and
his mother, who is an invalid.
  Another former inmate of a prison is the trusted employee of a
large hospital, where the memory of her former serious mistake is
all but forgotten.  Two young women have passed the probationary
stage, and expect to finish the course in nursing, and still another has




			

OHS/National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center Serial Collection

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 28, Num. 1

Volume:  28
Issue Number:  01
Date:  07/1911