Were they made of wood or horn, the convicts would soon break off the
handles and make trinkets out of them. This waiter, passing along,
drops a knife and fork on each table. He is followed by another who
drops down a piece of corn bread; then another with a piece of meat
for each man, which he places on the pine board. There is no "Please
pass the meat," or "Hand over the bread." Not a word is spoken. After
the knives and forks have been passed around this waiter returns and
gives each man a quart of water. THIS IS DINNER. The bill of fare is
regular, and consists of cold water, corn bread and meat. Occasionally
we have dessert of cold cabbage, or turnips or cracked corn. When we
have these luxuries they are given to us in rotation, and a day always
intervenes between cabbage and turnips. In the coal mines the prisoner
never washes himself before eating. Although he gets his hands and
face as black as the coal he has been digging, yet he does not take
time to wash himself before eating. Reader, how would you like to dine
in this condition? The old saying is, we must all eat our "peck of
dirt." I think I have consumed at least two bushels and a half! I can
never forget my first meal in the mines. I was hungry, it was true,
but I couldn't manage to eat under the circumstances. I sat there on
the ground, and in silence watched the other prisoners eat. I thought,
" You hogs! I can never get so hungry as to eat as you are now
eating." In this I was mistaken. Before ten days had gone by I could
eat along with any of them. The first day I thought I would do without
my dinner, and when supper time came go to the top and enjoy a fine
meal. I imagined that after digging coal all day they would surely
give us a good meal in the evening. My mouth "watered" for some quail
on toast, or a nice piece of tenderloin, with a cup of tea. Think of
my surprise, when hoisted to the top at the close of day, after
marching into the dining-room and taking our places at the table, when
I saw all that was put before the prisoners was a piece of bread, a