![]() ![]() 'I decided I would teach them too, that they might find work on leaving prison, and not need to resort to petty crime again. I suspect most had never had the chance before. 'All the better, I thought, if the women too had the desire to learn. 'But the children weren't the only ones listening. Soon I had them all lined up and listening as I read aloud. ![]() 'I said I would teach them myself, and they agreed. 'A chance of a future beyond Newgate's walls, and to give them that chance, we should give them schooling. 'Should the children have a chance, even if their mothers did not? 'I said, should we not do something for these children who are innocent of any crime. 'I picked up a boy who could not have been more than four years old. 'But what I really wanted was to do something for the children. 'I'd brought the clothes we'd made, and fresh bread, which they ate like they'd not seen bread before. 'The very next day, I returned to Newgate prison. 'I gathered friends together and we sewed clothes for the children. 'First, I would see to it they got the most basic things. 'I would make it my job to light a way back to shore, to show them all was not lost. ![]() 'The people I had seen at Newgate prison, especially the children, 'I hurried away, knowing that I had found my purpose. 'But the worst sight of all was the sight of their poor children. Most of them there for petty crimes like stealing clothes or loaves of bread. And nowhere to wash themselves or clean their clothes. 'Treated worse than animals, they were all herded together in one room. 'When I saw the conditions the prisoners were kept in, I was appalled. 'It was a wonder any soul who dwelled in it could breathe at all. All heavy gates and thick walls without windows. All the fear had gone out of me, and I was focused only on the work that I would do. 'To think, I had been afraid to lie down in my own bed at night, and here was I, about to walk down the long, dark corridors of Newgate. 'People tried to put me off, saying it was no place for a lady like me. 'Even the building itself had been designed to instil fear in all those who looked upon it. 'It had a reputation for being a terrible place for a person to end up. 'It was the largest prison in London, and full to the rafters with both the worst kind of criminals, and with people who were put there for the smallest crimes. 'I felt compelled to visit it and see the terrible conditions for myself. 'That it was one of the darkest and most awful places you could imagine. I'd always wanted to do good, but I saw for the first time that it should be my sole purpose.Īnd rather than waiting for something to happen, like I had done all these years, I had to act. It was like I'd spent all my life up to this point underwater, and finally I'd swum up to the surface and could breathe.Īnd in that moment, what you might call my epiphany, I saw what it was I had to do. It was like a great weight was lifted from me. 'I never knew that one man's words could change your life.' I say again, take the life you have been given and do good with it. 'Suddenly, something he said made me listen, really listen, like it had woken me up. When he stood to speak, everyone listened. 'A man called William Savery, a Quaker from America, had come to sit with us. 'Anyone was free to speak if they felt moved to do so. 'At Quaker meetings, there would be no priest or vicar to lead the service, and mostly we would just sit together in silent prayer. 'One Sunday we went to the meeting house like we always did. 'But I knew that handing out apples or pennies wasn't nearly enough. I collected clothes for them, or gave them money or food. ![]() 'We had plenty of money, and I felt uneasy about the comfortable life we lived, whilst others around us struggled to get by. 'My family were Quakers, a religion that taught us we should do what we could to help the poor. 'I was never quite sure who I was, or what I was supposed to do with my life. 'I was a timid person, afraid to join in. Still I stared at the candle till it went out, and woke from dreams that the sea was coming to wash me away. 'Nearly every night, I dreamt the sea was coming to wash me away. 'We only had candlelight then, and I'd lie awake watching it burn down, dreading the moment it would go out. 'My fear of the dark was even worse at night. 'and I was afraid of the dark, and sometimes my brothers and sisters would tease me, and make me go into its dark corners, knowing I'd be scared. 'While were siblings all played together, and were loud, and ran around the house, I always felt like I couldn't keep up and I couldn't fit in. I had six brothers and sisters, but I always seemed to be the odd one out. I will begin the story I will tell you when I was just a child, so you can see where I started from, and what I became. I'm going to tell you something about my life. ![]()
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