38 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.

The convict was quite ready with his answer.

“There is really very little to complain of,” said the hap-
less prisoner. ‘The food is wholesome and ample; we are
not overworked; our cells are clean and not wholly devoid of
comfort; we have plenty of books to read; but I have ceased
to be a man. I have now no name; I am only a number in
striped clothes. One thing I suffer from very much is the
absence of children. I was always fond of children; my young
life was spent amongst happy boys and girls, and now I never
see the sweet young face of boy or girl. Oh, sir, it’s terrible!
You don’t know what it is to be days, and weeks, and-months,
and never see a child! Many of us here are young—much
too young—but we seem so old! Oh, how I long to see a
group of merry children! Thank God the day is coming
soon when I hope once more to see boys and girls at their
play.”

This is not the common feeling of convicts, perhaps, but
the answer of this poor fellow left a lasting impression on the
mind, and when Sunday came, and hundreds of these striped-
dr eet numbered men—many of them comparatively young
in years, but old in crime—gathered for worship, the absence
of young faces in that sad assembly was very marked.

Even Paradise without children was Paradise imperfect.

The Garden of Eden soon became a desolation. Sin
entered, and with sin came fear and shame. Adam and Eve
preferred their own way to God’s.

God said: “Thou shalt not eat of the tree that is in the
midst of the garden, for it is not good for thee; therefore
thou shalt not eat of it.”

But our first parents heeded not. God ‘warned them
tenderly and kindly. He did not say: “I command you not
to eat of the fruit of this particular tree. Never mind why.

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