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Show WHAT A PRISONER MADE. Solitude seems to be the mother of ingenuity and invention-as the proverb says necessity is. Most penitentiaries employ their prisoners in steady work, and wisely, too, for few confined men would make so good use of lonely cell life as the convict here mentioned did of his scant play-time. There is at present confined in the Maine State Prison, at Thomastown, a young French Canadian, who is incarcerated for the murder of a woman. During his leisure hours, with nothing but a pocket and shoe knife, a file and whetstone, this prisoner has manufactured a clock which keeps accurate time, and which is a great mechanical curiosity. It has a rooster on top who flaps his wings on the hour being reached. There are also figures showing the day of the week and month. Underneath is a glass case, three feet high, and two feet wide, containing two hundred and forty-five figures of men, birds, animals, etc. These objects go through various performances, as small springs are touched, and a music-box plays tunes at the same time. A mouse is made to run out from its hiding-place, and is quickly caught by a cat. A beggar approaches a man for money, is impudent, and after a tussle is knocked down. A snake glides stealthily over the door, and at the door a sentinel stands with a small tin cup in his hand, who takes off his hat and politely bows when coin is dropped into his cup. Among the objects are full companies of infantry and cavalry, which come out and go through the manual of arms very finely. The clock is exhibited by the prisoner while in his cell, and many are the odd dimes he receives from visitor. The Portland Transcript, after relating the above, says, at the present time, another convict in the same institution is making a very handsome doll house, with four rooms, the furniture all being in miniature style. One set is trimmed with red satin, and another with blue. It is intended as a present for the lady who has played the prison chapel organ for several years. |