190 DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN
I consider that the day the prison portals opened to admit the Church Army evangelists (by authority) marked the beginning of a new era in penal his tory, and although the facts can never be tabulated, or reckoned, or statistically collected in the present, yet the future will reveal that many a weary soul has received its first impulse Heavenwards by the untiring, zealous and Christ-like labours of the Church Army prison missioner. I should add," put in Mr Carlile, " that missions were also con ducted in over 100 workhouses and several refor matories during the year with much success. We are now doing something to help the wives and children of repentant prisoners. The greatest misery, we find, which a man suffers while in gaol is due to his concern about the condition in which he has left his wife and family outside. We are able to relieve the anxiety of the man who shows signs of reforming by promising to make grants through the local clergy to the wife and the little ones. Yes, the prisoner undergoes most awful distress of mind about them during his incarcera tion. We are of opinion that the State owes a great debt of gratitude to the authorities of the Church Army." That is an extract which we have culled from a Parliamentary Blue Book containing the annual report of the Commissioners of Prisons and the directors of convict establishments. That our work in the prisons of England and Wales should be officially reported upon to Parliament
�� �
