cup of tea without sugar or milk, and two tablespoonfuls of sorghum
molasses. It did not require a long time for me to dispose of the
molasses, as I was very hungry, and handed up my cup for an additional
supply; this was refused. It is considered in the penitentiary an
excess of two tablespoonfuls of sorghum is unhealthy! There is danger
of its burning out the stomach! So at each supper after that I had to
get along with two spoonfuls. As far as the tea was concerned, it was
made of some unknown material whose aroma was unfamiliar to my
olfactory; the taste was likewise unfamiliar, and in consequence of
these peculiarities of the prison tea I never imbibed of it but the
one time, that being amply sufficient to last through the entire
period of my confinement. From that day on I took cold water, which,
after all, is God's best beverage for the human race. The
penitentiary, so far as I know, is the only place in the State of
Kansas where prohibition actually works prohibition as contemplated by
the laws of the State! There are no "joints" in the Pen. No assistant
attorney generals are necessary to enforce prohibition there. I never
saw a drunken man in the prison. The Striped Temperance Society of
Kansas is a success.

For breakfast in the prison we have hash, bread, and a tin cup of
coffee, without sugar or milk; no butter, no meat. The hash is made of
the pieces of bread and meat left over from the preceding day. We had
it every day in the year for breakfast. During my entire time in the
prison I had nothing for breakfast but hash. One day I was talking to
an old murderer who had been there for eighteen years, and he told me
he had eaten hash for his breakfast during his entire term--six
thousand five hundred and seventy days. I looked at the old man and
wondered to myself whether he was a human being or a pile of hash,
half concluding that he was the latter!