A BABY'S INFLUENCE

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 3, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 43.

A BABY'S INFLUENCE.

A PRETTY story of a baby's influence over fallen women in a Russian jail is told in the Woman's Journal:—

"The jailer was Colonel V., and he and his wife had just arrived to take charge of a large prison in one of the central provinces. The colonel was a terrible disciplinarian, but a kind enough man in his way. His wife was a gentle little enthusiast, who had made up her mind to reform all the women prisoners. This particular jail had a very bad reputation, and the women especially were often in mutiny. Colonel V. got along famously with the men, but the women were too much for him, and he meditated flogging and all sorts of terrible measures. Once Madame V. took a walk through the prison yard when the women were exercising. Behind her walked a nurse, with her baby. The prisoners, as soon as they got sight of the baby, flocked around, and Madame V., at first fearing violence, was relieved to see that only babylatry was the matter. First one and then another of the women begged to hold the child for a moment; some laughed with joy, and many shed tears. Madame V. had a happy thought, and she spoke it out. 'The best-conducted woman of you all at the end of the week will be allowed to tend the baby for half an hour.' Never was a change so instantaneously wrought. The women became amenable to every word of the warders, and at the week's end it was with the utmost difficulty that Madame V. could decide, among so many well-conducted prisoners, who had the best claim to the promised reward. The baby's visits were afterward frequent, and the women's wards were completely reformed."