[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

On this day, Mrs. Fry invited Mary and Elizabeth to visit Newgate Prison. Mrs. Fry organized a handicraft workshop for female prisoners in the prison. In addition to weaving, Mrs. Fry also made some handicrafts. This workshop has been in operation for more than a month, and it will start now Showing some results, Mrs. Fry certainly wanted to invite some donors to check it out.

Alfred came to pick up Mary and Elizabeth early in the morning. They arrived at Newgate Prison at a quarter past nine. Mrs. Fry was already waiting for everyone in the warden's lounge. Some people had already arrived here. Mostly decent ladies, occasionally some gentlemen.Mr. John, the warden, dressed in a decent dress and treated the guests with hospitality. He also prepared thoughtful black tea and delicious snacks to entertain everyone, as if he was holding a dance here, and these guests came for him.

Jane has been here several times during the two months in London, but in order not to arouse Mrs. Bennet's fuss, she did not tell her mother, but only told Elizabeth and Mary.It was not a very pleasant experience. The conditions in the prison were really bad, and some people even found it unbearable, so some donors mostly came once and then they didn't want to come.But Jane persisted because of her kindness in nature. She also gave clothes and books to the children here many times. Because of her courage and kindness, Mrs. Frye praised her, and Mary and Elizabeth Received special attention from Mrs. Frye, she personally took Elizabeth's arm and led her into the gate of Newgate Prison.

Newgate Prison is the oldest prison in London. It mainly detains some criminals. However, at this time, stealing 5 shillings in a store would be punished. In the era when poaching a few rabbits could be hanged, these severe punishments The crime was not so terrible in Mary's eyes.

But after Mary walked in, she realized that the cleanliness ladies who were unwilling to come again could not be blamed. The situation here was indeed as Mr. Alfred said, it was full of stench and the environment was terrible.Mary took Alfred's arm, and was astounded at what she saw; she had never imagined such a place existed in England, even though Mr Alfred had provided her with mint handkerchiefs and smelling salts, She still can't stand the stench here.

Mrs. Frye and Alfred were unperturbed. Mrs. Frye walked in front, and she explained to Elizabeth as she walked: "Originally here, male prisoners and female prisoners are locked together, but after many requests from us, some of them are well-known. The warden finally agreed to separate the men and women through the petitions of the gentlemen and ladies. Moreover, most of these male prisoners did not have bedding and toiletries. After obtaining everyone’s consent, we also donated some daily necessities to them.”

Mary walked behind with Alfred, and the environment here made her feel very uncomfortable. She had been pampered and pampered for many years. Although her social environment was not that high-level, her surroundings were generally positive and sunny, but since Entering here, the more she walked, the more frightened she became. Behind those fences, walls, and doors, there seemed to be many pairs of eyes staring at her maliciously anytime, anywhere.

With a random glance, she would see men in tattered and filthy clothes leaning against the wall, lying or standing, their eyes were all floating in mid-air, gloomy and desperate.When they saw these well-dressed ladies passing by in groups, some stared at them sullenly, some were indifferent, and some whistled and said obscene words.The warden, who had been acting very polite just now, immediately became furious. He raised the crutches in his hand and threw them at the men, shouting angrily, "Shut up, you sons of a bitch! It's simply ungrateful, who made you sleep in a warm bed at night instead of shivering while hugging your shoulders in the cold night..."

Even though she knew that not all the people here may have committed the most serious crimes, and that they were all locked in cells with limited mobility, she still couldn't help feeling a little frightened.Alfred grabbed her hand, and Mary felt the dry warmth of her palm, and felt a little more at ease inside.

After a while, they came to the women's prison. The cells here are connected together. Under Mrs. Fry's persuasion, the warden set aside this area to detain female prisoners, and only locked them with iron chains outside. The warden opened the door, and Mary seemed to have traveled to another world after passing through the door. The situation here made Mary's eyes shine.

Although the cells here are still narrow and dark, and the women's clothes are mostly old and some are tattered, but they are not overly dirty, and they are much cleaner than the male prisoners just now.Moreover, their hair has been washed, and it is not greasy like the men's hair.In addition to the female prisoner, there were a dozen or so children here. Compared with the adults, these ignorant children seemed much happier. They crawled around in the unlocked room, and sometimes laughed because they did some mischief.

A skinny child jumped out of a prison cell for some unknown reason, and while running back, an angry female voice yelled from the room: "Philip, you bad boy—"

Unexpectedly, this little Philip was quite strong. He knocked Elizabeth down the wall at once, and Elizabeth let out a low cry.

Philip was so frightened that he froze and didn't dare to move.

Mrs. Fry quickly helped Elizabeth up and asked her if she was okay. Mary also came up to check. Elizabeth smiled and said it was all right. She rubbed her shoulders, walked up to little Philip, and asked softly, "Are you okay? Are you Philip?"

The little guy said nonchalantly, "Yes... yes, I'm fine."

At this time, the woman with a loud voice came out of the room. Seeing that Philip seemed to have gotten into trouble, she was very frightened. She ran to Elizabeth and apologized to her repeatedly: "I'm so sorry, miss, Philip didn't mean it, he always So rash, but he's a good boy most of the time... Oh miss, are you all right? You mustn't blame him, he didn't mean to!"

Elizabeth smiled and nodded: "Of course I know he didn't do it on purpose. It's nothing. He's cute, isn't he? Is he Philip? How many Philips do you have here?"

"Yes, miss, he is Philip, and we have only one Philip here."

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose at Philip: "Then I will never blame him, but I will give him a present." Elizabeth took out a book and handed it to Philip, "Jane; Miss Bennet said she promised to give you a book."

Philip was very happy staring at the book. After hesitating for a while, he finally took the slightly heavy book under Elizabeth's gesture. It was an art album with a large paper and many pages. The book is hugged in his arms, but it sets him off even thinner.He blinked and asked Elizabeth: "Why didn't Miss Bennet come?"

"Hmm..." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and told the little boy, "She's engaged, so she needs to go back to her hometown first."

Philip was very disappointed when he heard the news: "Why didn't she wait, I will propose to her when I grow up!" Saying this, he suddenly burst into tears and left.

Elizabeth stared blankly at the direction he was leaving, and couldn't help laughing.

Seeing this situation, Mary at the back whispered to Alfred with a smile: "I didn't expect Jane to have a little admirer here."

Alfred shrugged: "There will never be a shortage of smart people in this world!"

Before the two of them had time to chat and laugh, the woman with the loud voice started to humbly apologize to Elizabeth for Philip's rudeness.

Mr. Alfred told Mary softly: "This woman is the superintendent here, and is in charge of this prison workshop."

Mary's miraculous observer, that woman, can make her head in the New Gate Prison where ghosts are rampant. This woman must have extraordinary abilities. Mary observed for half a night and did not see anything extraordinary about her.She is very thin, of course, there are almost no fat people here, but she is very energetic, with quick eyes and quick movements, and her attitude towards Elizabeth is very humble, which makes Elizabeth feel embarrassed.With a blink of an eye, Mary was able to make Elizabeth, who has always been generous, be at a loss. Perhaps this is the specialty of this female executive?

In the room Philip ran into, a few little heads poked out occasionally to observe the corridor, and when Mary glanced over, those little heads would immediately retract.

Alfred explained: "The children who were mostly born in prison, there were also a few who had nowhere to go because their parents were arrested, so they had to go to prison with adults."

Mary asked curiously, "The warden actually allowed it. I always thought there wasn't enough space here?"

"He's a philistine, but he's kind-hearted occasionally, although that's not common." Alfred pointed to the warden who accompanied Mrs. Frye: "He's a person who likes to please people, although The environment here has made him a bit hard-hearted. These children are not considered criminals, and most of them can go in and out of prison freely. However, there are also a few who have been sentenced to prison. Most of the perpetrators will not care too much about them, and their sentences will not be too long."

Speaking of which, they walked into a larger room, which had two huge windows that were not found in other prison cells. There were several looms under the windows, and several female workers were weaving. They saw Mrs. Fry leading the As a group of people came in, he immediately stopped what he was doing and hurriedly stood up to salute.

Mrs. Fry didn't bother them for too long, and took Mary and the others to another room. This room was a little messier than the room just now, but there were more female workers, and they were busy without saying a word. Several female workers were knitting or sewing, and some goods had been piled up on the shelves beside it, including handbags, small purses, two women's hats and a few yarn flowers.

Mrs. Fry said that she hired several experienced craftsmen to teach these female prisoners how to work. The things they made at the beginning were a bit horrible, but now they are very attractive.Edwards Firm has already sold a batch of their goods. Although the profit is not much, at least it has made a small profit.

Elizabeth and others expressed their sincere admiration for her achievements.

The room at the end is the largest, with a small blackboard on the wall and piles of hay underneath. Mrs. Fry even introduced that this is a small classroom. She picked out a woman who could read and write among the female prisoners. To teach other women and children how to read, she even had them re-enact the process.So a little woman came in with a group of children and a few women, and the little woman went to the blackboard and picked up chalk to write on it, and the rest of the people sat on those haystacks and followed the woman to read, and then they went one by one Go to the blackboard and write down the letters you learn.

Mary noticed that the boy named Philip was very active, he was very bright, and he learned the words without difficulty, which caused him to be less interested in these studies than the other children. After opening a page, she began to look at it carefully. The female teacher found that he was not serious about class, so she kept asking him questions. It was amazing that the child could always answer the questions correctly, which amazed the onlookers.Mary thought that this Philip was probably a student, a very smart one. It is rare to see them study hard, but they always rank at the top of the exam!

Elizabeth had noticed the child for a long time, and she asked others about the child, and the steward said, "Philip's is a prison-born child, and his mother died last year, but he is lucky, and his guardian aunt has started to live in this house again." Jail in jail, so he wasn't kicked out."

"It's unfortunate enough, I suppose," said Elizabeth pityingly.She asked the hostess if she could help the poor boy.The hostess said to her respectfully: "You are already helping him, kind lady, it is because of your support that he has the opportunity to learn spelling, which will help him find a job outside to support himself when he grows up." work without having to be reduced to stealing and grabbing and coming back here like the kids used to be.”

"I think maybe we haven't done enough."

Elizabeth was silent for a while, feeling extremely heavy in her heart.

The visit was not long, and Mrs. Fry took everyone away, and the female workers saluted them. An elderly lady said to Mrs. Frye with emotion: "When I came last time, they were like It's a miracle that a bunch of uncivilized savage beggars, dirty, smelly, and uneducated, have become polite in a short time, Mrs. Fry!"

Mrs. Fry showed a gratified expression on her face: "Yes, Mrs. Sarah, these girls were originally good children, but they fell here only after encountering misfortune. I think there are two important points in our help to them First, we give them the opportunity to receive education so that they know etiquette, but they can work here so that they can feel the hope of life.”

Everyone expressed their admiration for Mrs. Fry's efforts.

Mary said to Mrs. Fry: "I would have thought I had come to a school and a women's workshop if I had not known clearly that I had passed through the gates of Newgate Prison."

Elizabeth asked, "Who is that woman who taught everyone how to read?"

Mrs. Fry replied: "That is a poor woman. Her drunken husband beat her and her child inhumanely. She pushed her husband down the steps and was sentenced to murder. The judge was sympathetic to her and only sentenced her to deliberately Assault, she needs to spend 12 years in Newgate Prison."

"Her writing is beautiful."

"She was a clergyman's daughter, and was once a respectable young lady, well educated."

Everyone felt sorry for the poor woman.

A stern lady said angrily: "The law should prohibit alcoholism! I am sorry that we have lifted the prohibition on gin. It is simply encouraging people to commit crimes!" She turned to Mr. Alfred. : "I dare to say that there must be a lot of cases caused by alcoholism. Those violent, sexual, and appalling human tragedies, alcoholism encourages crime."

"I completely agree with you, my dear lady. Drunkenness can arouse the evil desires in people's hearts that are hidden in the open, thus prompting crimes to happen. Some of the cases I have handled have indeed come from this." Mr. Alfred said respectfully explain.

"But it's okay to have a drink." A gray-haired gentleman said, "The key is that people have to learn restraint, which is the quality that a real gentleman should possess."

"There are not many gentlemen among those low class people!" retorted the serious lady.

"So they should learn restraint before they learn to drink!"

When everyone was about to leave, Philip suddenly ran over shouting Elizabeth's name. Elizabeth was very surprised and had to stop and wait for him. It turned out that this cute little guy had drawn a small pencil portrait for Jane.

"Please give it to Miss Bennet, I wish her happiness!" said the sallow and emaciated child pitifully, which made Elizabeth's heart soften. She repeatedly expressed that she would give the painting to her sister, and then this little guy Just like his first appearance, tears ran away.