introduced to me by the jailer as "a first-rate fellow and
clever man." When the door was locked, he showed me where

to hang my hat, and how he managed matters there. The rooms
were whitewashed once a month; and this one, at least, was

the whitest, most simply furnished, and probably neatest
apartment in town. He naturally wanted to know where I came

from, and what brought me there; and, when I had told him, I
asked him in my turn how he came there, presuming him to be

an honest an, of course; and as the world goes, I believe he
was. "Why," said he, "they accuse me of burning a barn; but

I never did it." As near as I could discover, he had
probably gone to bed in a barn when drunk, and smoked his

pipe there; and so a barn was burnt. He had the reputation
of being a clever man, had been there some three months

waiting for his trial to come on, and would have to wait as
much longer; but he was quite domesticated and contented,

since he got his board for nothing, and thought that he was
well treated.

He occupied one window, and I the other; and I saw that
if one stayed there long, his principal business would be to

look out the window. I had soon read all the tracts that
were left there, and examined where former prisoners had

broken out, and where a grate had been sawed off, and heard
the history of the various occupants of that room; for I

found that even there there was a history and a gossip which
never circulated beyond the walls of the jail. Probably

this is the only house in the town where verses are
composed, which are afterward printed in a circular form,

but not published. I was shown quite a long list of young
men who had been detected in an attempt to escape, who

avenged themselves by singing them.
I pumped my fellow-prisoner as dry as I could, for fear

I should never see him again; but at length he showed me
which was my bed, and left me to blow out the lamp.

It was like travelling into a far country, such as I
had never expected to behold, to lie there for one night.

It seemed to me that I never had heard the town clock strike
before, not the evening sounds of the village; for we slept

with the windows open, which were inside the grating. It
was to see my native village in the light of the Middle

Ages, and our Concord was turned into a Rhine stream, and
visions of knights and castles passed before me. They were

the voices of old burghers that I heard in the streets. I
was an involuntaryspectator and auditor of whatever was

done and said in the kitchen of the adjacent village inn--a
wholly new and rare experience to me. It was a closer view

of my native town. I was fairly inside of it. I never had
seen its institutions before. This is one of its peculiar

institutions; for it is a shire town. I began to comprehend
what its inhabitants were about.

In the morning, our breakfasts were put through the hole
in the door, in small oblong-square tin pans, made to fit,

and holding a pint of chocolate, with brown bread, and
an iron spoon. When they called for the vessels again,

I was green enough to return what bread I had left, but my
comrade seized it, and said that I should lay that up for

lunch or dinner. Soon after he was let out to work at
haying in a neighboring field, whither he went every day,

and would not be back till noon; so he bade me good day,
saying that he doubted if he should see me again.

When I came out of prison--for some one interfered, and
paid that tax--I did not perceive that great changes had

taken place on the common, such as he observed who went in a
youth and emerged a gray-headed man; and yet a change had

come to my eyes come over the scene--the town, and State,
and country, greater than any that mere time could effect.

I saw yet more distinctly" target="_blank" title="ad.清楚地，明晰地">distinctly the State in which I lived. I saw
to what extent the people among whom I lived could be

trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship
was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly

propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me
by their prejudices and superstitions, as the Chinamen and

Malays are that in their sacrifices to humanity they ran no
risks, not even to their property; that after all they were

not so noble but they treated the thief as he had treated
them, and hoped, by a certain outwardobservance and a few

prayers, and by walking in a particular straight through
useless path from time to time, to save their souls.

This may be to judge my neighbors harshly; for I believe
that many of them are not aware that they have such an

institution as the jail in their village.
It was formerly the custom in our village, when a poor

debtor came out of jail, for his acquaintances to salute
him, looking through their fingers, which were crossed to

represent the jail window, "How do ye do?" My neighbors did
not this salute me, but first looked at me, and then at one

another, as if I had returned from a long journey. I was
put into jail as I was going to the shoemaker's to get a

shoe which was mender. When I was let out the next morning,
I proceeded to finish my errand, and, having put on my

mended show, joined a huckleberry party, who were impatient
to put themselves under my conduct; and in half an hour--for

the horse was soon tackled--was in the midst of a
huckleberry field, on one of our highest hills, two miles

off, and then the State was nowhere to be seen.
This is the whole history of "My Prisons."

I have never declined paying the highway tax, because I
am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a

bad subject; and as for supporting schools, I am doing my
part to educate my fellow countrymen now. It is for no

particular item in the tax bill that I refuse to pay it. I
simply wish to refuse allegiance to the State, to withdraw

and stand aloof from it effectually. I do not care to trace
the course of my dollar, if I could, till it buys a man a

musket to shoot one with--the dollar is innocent--but I am
concerned to trace the effects of my allegiance. In fact, I

quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though
I will still make use and get what advantages of her I can,

as is usual in such cases.
If others pay the tax which is demanded of me, from a

sympathy with the State, they do but what they have already
done in their own case, or rather they abet injustice to a

greater extent than the State requires. If they pay the tax
from a mistaken interest in the individual taxed, to save

his property, or prevent his going to jail, it is because
they have not considered wisely how far they let their

private feelings interfere with the public good.
This, then is my position at present. But one cannot be too

much on his guard in such a case, lest his actions be biased
by obstinacy or an undue regard for the opinions of men.

Let him see that he does only what belongs to himself and
to the hour.

I think sometimes, Why, this people mean well, they are
only ignorant; they would do better if they knew how: why