xt7b5m62873q https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7b5m62873q/data/mets.xml  Kentucky  1962 newsletters  English Eddyville, Ky.: Kentucky State Penitentiary  This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Physical rights are retained by the owning repository. Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Please go to https://exploreuk.uky.edu for more information. Castle on the Cumberland Kentucky State Penitentiary -- Periodicals Journalism, Prison -- Kentucky Castle on the Cumberland, August 1962 text Kentucky State Penitentiary v.: ill. 28 cm. Call Numbers HV8301 .C37 and 17-C817 20:C279 Castle on the Cumberland, August 1962 1962 1962 2021 true xt7b5m62873q section xt7b5m62873q  

 

  
 

 

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Volume II, Number 11 E ‘ August 15, 1962

 

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 

The Honorable Bert T. Combs, Governtr
Wilson W. Wyatt, Lt. Governor W. C. Oakley, Welfare Commissioner
Marshall Swain, Deputy Welfare Commissioner

Dr. Harold Black, Director of Corrections

PRISON ADMENISTRATION

 

Luther Thomas, Warden Lloyd T. Armstrong, Deputy Warden

Kathlyn Ordway, Business Manager W. T. Baxter, Guard Captain

Reverend Paul J agge rs , Chap lain

BOARD OF PARDO E‘ 8:: PAROLE:

 

Dr» Fred Moffatt, Executive :Director

Walter Fergus on, Chai rman

Simeon Willis, Member Ernest Thompson, Member
CASTLE STAFF

Lawrence Snow, Editor Leonard Rule, Associate Editor

Stanley Brawner, Lithographer Billy Howell, Sports Editor

 

 

 

The CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND is published monthly by the inmates of the Kentucky
State Penitentiary at Eddyville. Subscriptions, one dollar a year, payable by
money order at: CASTLE ON THE CIMBERIAND, Subscriptions Dept., Kentucky State
Penitentiary, Eddyville, Kentucky, and by inmates at the Chief Clerk's Office.
Articles are solicited, but the CASTLE reserves the right to reject, edit, or
revise any material submitted. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not nec—
essarily reflect those of the administration. Permission is hereby granted to
reproduce any part of this magazine, provided proper credit is given, Where
possible, a marked copy of the quoting publication is requested.

 

 

 

  

 

Lloyd Armstrong
Deputy‘Warden

 

JULY 27

On this date I received word that Mr.
Iamrenoe Casner, an architect from a
firm in Madis onville, Kentucky, muld be
here on Monday, July 50, to start making
plans for the new building that is so
badly needed and that has been talked
about for so long. This building will
be located on the northeeast corner of
the institution on part of the ground
which was used as a stockpile for coal.
If I understand the plans correctly;
this will be a quite large tWOustory
building with school classrooms on the

first floor and an auditorium on the
second flooro

This building, in my opinion, will be
one of the best steps that have ever
been made as far as construction inside
the institution is concerned. It 'will
provide room for all types of indoor
athletics, picture shows, and special

entertainment groups from outside.

This building, if I understood core
rectly, will have to be constructed with
inmate labor and outside supervisiono
Not only will it help the inmates who
are now serving time in the institution,
but it will also help those who will be
here in the future.

By this time next year the building
should be in useo It will be built of
concrete, concrete blocks, bricks, and,

of course, quite a bit of steels All
the materials that come from the razing
of the Lyon County Consolidated School
will be used as far as possible, and, of
course, there will be quite a lot of HGW‘
material purchasedo

It will be our duty, once this building
is started, to move along as swiftly as
possible; and, of course, we cannot have
any waste if we intend to finish this
building on time without running out of
capital. There is only a limited amount
of money set aside for this projeoto
Naturally; the more swiftly' we move a=
long on this job the less it will cost
us for outside supervision.'

The warden and I ask:the desperation of
each and every employee and inmate of
this institution in getting this jab unm
der way and completed as sotn as possi»
ble. I think that when this building is
completed we will have a building that
all can enjoy and take pride in having
had a part in constructing it. As I
have said before in other articles,
since I have been associated with this'
institution, we have progressed a long
wayo However, we still have a long way
to go and there is no reason why we
cannot move along and help modernize
this institution as much as .possible if
everyone will cooperate. I say WE CAN
and‘WE WILL. .

  

 

 

Page 1

  

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SCHDOI.SUEER DOWN IN BACK:
MURRAY M. A. SUBSTITUTES

 

Education Super Henry B. Cowan, head
of the prison school for some two years,
has been absent from his desk with an
injured'back during the past month and a
half. Filling in during his absence has
been Garth Franklin Petrie, an education
major from Murray State College.

Mr. Petrie, 2h, is a man who has accomp-
lished much in a short time. Entering
the army prior to graduatirg from high
school, he has also worked as a driver
and bookkeeper for a trucking finn, as
well as acting as principal and teacher
i11Murray City School for two years.
Somehow he has found time to take his
B. S. and M. A. degrees from Murray
State College (be qualified for the B.S.
in three, rather than four years). This
winter, he plans to enter Indiana
University to work tOWard his Ph.D. in
education. He hepes to make it in two
years 0

Married (he married his wife while she
was a junior in high school), Petrie is
the proud father of twin girls (they're
11 weeks old). His wife has been busy,
too. Just last month she took her B. A.
in.music from.Murray, and she plans to
become a teacher.

Petrie's yen to teach comes natural.
There were 15 teachers in his mother and
father's families. Both his parents
teach, as does his brother. His sister
plans to teach, as do his 'wife and
sister-in—law. Counting him, that makes
22 teachers or prospective teachers in
the family.

WES this his first experience at teach-
ing in a prison? .Yes. Did he find any
surprises? Most certainly.

complete surprise,"
Mr. Petrie said. "The only idea I had
of prisons was from TV." One of the
Surprises, he said, was the size of the
cells. “On TV, all the cells seem so

"Everything was a

large," he told us. "Here
just big enough for the bad.“

they seem

"Another great surprise was the youth of
some of the inmates. I expected all of
the men to be old, hardened criminals,
but so many of them are actually teens
agers, aren't they?"

In Spite of the surprises, however,
Petrie said that this is "the experience
of my life. It's something I'll never
forget."

mr. Petrie hopes to teach on the college
level when he obtains his Ph.D.

PRISON MAY GET HIGH SCHDOL,
VOCATIONAL TRAINING CLASSES

 

If W. Z. Carter, Director of Education
for the Department of Correctiom, has
his way, Eddyville Prison will get both
a senior high school and a vocational
training school.

During our interview with Garth F.
Petrie, acting Supervisor of Education
infiMr. Cowan's absence, 'we learned that
Mr. Carter and the Department are trying
to find ways and means to extend the
prison's training program, presently
confined to an academic grade school.

First in importance in the plan would be
the vocational school. Such courses as
auto mechanics, masonry, electronics,
and agriculture would be taught if Space
and funds could be found.

During the past months Mr. Carter has
been working with institution officials
to set up a progrmn under which qualiu
fied inmates could earn high school dipa
lomas through equivalency testing. A
high school course would enable dozens
more inmates to earn the diploma.

Also discussed was the possibility of
providing college correspondence courses
for inmates who could.profit from such
training. Mr. Carter confirmed the plans
in a subsequent interview.

 

CASTLE ON'NHE CUMBERLAND

Page 2

  

Castle

FIVE TIME IOSER FINDS SELF WITH YOUTHS

 

Pete Slager of Muskegon, Michigan, who
served five prison terms before l9h7, is
now a pillar of his community.

chil-
of his

A married ran and father of two
dren, Pete now contributes most
leisure time aiding wayward kids.

“I was ready to go up for the sixth time
when something struck home to me that I
didn't have to live that way," Isays
Pete. "I haven't lived that way since."

Recognizing the futility of his past,
Pete dedicated his future to preventing
youths from following in his footsteps.

Approximately three years ago,' he and
his wife, urged by the late James
Belgrave, probation officer at Muskegon,
and Circuit Judge Henry L. Beers, began
United Youth in their home.

They began with 3 youths who had already
been in trouble with the local police.
Pete's success with the 3 youths brought
a drove more to his door.

"These aren't just kids from the other
side of the track," says Pete. "They
come from all phases of life, looking
for love, reSpect, affection a, somea
thing to belong to."

Slager's main line of action with these
kids is in discussion groups, which he
holds at least once a week. Talking out
their problems and encouraging them to
cope with thenlin a mature way, he tries
to show them that there is more to life
than what they've been.exposed to in the
past. There are social gatherings, too,
which include dances, beach parties,
sports events, and other activities.

To date, with very little financial help
from the community; Mr. Slager has
helped over 700 boys ~= some Who already
were a "hopeless" label pinned on them
by other community agencies who had
failed to help them.

Page 5

News

Judge Beers stated: "Of all the boys
Mr. Slager has worked with, only 25 have
reverted to their former habits. These
boys just won't listen to social workers,
but they listen to a man like Pete
Slagers a man who speaks their lanm
guage. ‘

a, Via the MEN‘IKR

PAROLEE'S EMPLOYER NOT RESPONSIBLE

 

Under existing rules in most states,
including Kentucky, a convict who has
been granted a parole by the board must
have valid employment before leaving the
prison.

Finding the allaimportant job is not
easy, cepecially in times When men who
are free to contact employers personally
have difficulty finding work. It's even
tougher because of the widespread belief
that a businessman who hires a parolee
is in some way responsible for his con-
duct. Partly because of this belief, a
large number of inmates who have had
paroles forxnonths are still in prison.

Yet nothing could be further from the
truth. The relationship between an em=
ployer and an employee who happens to be
a paroles is no different from that of
any other employer and employee. The
employer assumes absolutely no reopensim
bility for the ex=prisoner, beyond that
of providing hmm'with work. He is free
to discharge or lay off the parolee at
any time he sees fit, if he wishes, or
to keep the man in his employ indem
finitely, if both wish.

 

VOICE "mom THE PAST

 

"The activity of governments, with their
antiquated and merciless methods of
punishment, their galleys, prisons, gale
lows, and guillotines ... tends rather
to lower the standard of morals than to
elevate it, and therefore rather to in?
crease than to lessen the number of
criminals.“

--Leo Tolstoy, 1895

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 , Minimum—I

Cas tle News

U. S. PRISON‘S INHUMAN, SAYS KARL BARTH

 

World famous theologian Karl Barth
stated after his tour in the United
States that American church people ought
to be more conscious of what he called
the inhumm treatment in United States
prise ns, instead of making so much fuss
about Russia.

Dr. Barth, who occasionally preaches to
prisoners in his own home town of Basel,
Switzerland, told a press conference
here that he had been taken on a tour of
a large American prison which he do-
clined to name. '

Speaking with considerable emotion, the
famous theologian said the visit had
been "a terrible shock."

"I saw human beings ... in what they
called cells," he said. "They were not
cells, but cages, with two people all
crowded up in each, with no privacy.“

"It Was like a scene out of Dante’s
Inferno," Dr. Barth declared. “The
prison in which I preach in Basel is a
paradise compared to that," he said.

Dr. Barth said that instead of Spending
billions of dollars to send a man to the
moon, the United States might Spend more
money on building better prisons.

"Why are the churches silent on this
problem?" he asked.

The 75-year-old theologian came to the
United States to lecture at the Univer—
sity of Chicago. Divinity School and at
Princeton Theological Seminary.

.3... Via. The MENTOR

PRISO N

In Michigan State Penitentiary, inmates
are allowed lOaday Christmas furloughs.

In Mississippi, married inmates are al-
lowed conjugal visits with wives.

GASTLZE ON THE CWBERLAM)

HAIFWAY HOUSE ESTABLISHED IN NEW JERSEY

 

For prisoners across the nation, getting
a parole is only half the battle. There
is, for instance, the problem of getting
a job (most states require parolees to
have certified employment before leaving
the prison). And once the inmate leaves
prison, especially if he has no money or
family, there is the further problem of
living until he draws his first check.

But inmates of the state reformatory at
Bordentown, New Jersey, now have the
chance to overcome both these problems
at once, if they choose. The answer to
the convict's prayers has come in the
form of a "halfway house," an instituw
tion dedicated to providing room, board,
clothing, and employment help, as well
as counseling, to released inmates. The
idea for the halfway houses was origin
nated by Father Dismas Clark, the famed
"Hoodlum Priest" whose St. Louis "Dismas
House" has achieved wonders in 'working
with ex—convicts.

The New Jersey halfway house at present
admits only Bordentown parolees. Partiw
cipation in the program is voluntary,
but immates agree that they may be
returned to the prison at any time the
directors of the house think fit. Orde-
inarily, however, inmates are not rem
turned. The usual requirement for
employment is waived in the cases of men
paroled to the house, and work is found
for them after they are releasad. All
their needs are provided during a period
of not more than 5 months, and working
inmates pay only 2.0% of their income in
return.

An important aspect of the New Jersey
halfway house is group therapy...

SIDRTS

In Florida, men being released from
prison are provided with jobs by the
Florida State Employment Agency.

Alaska joins Mississippi in conjugal visit.

Page LL

 g

 

SOVIET PRISON SYSTEM
PROGRESSIVE I'N MANY WAYS

According to an unsigned article in the
Penal Press, the Russians may be ahead
of us in penology as well as in space.

Penal and legal authorities in Russia
have formulated a Snpoint philosophy of
corrections and organized a new science
of penology. They call it: Corrective
labor Science.

The five points are (1) Conditional
release should be extended whenever
possible; (2) Wherever possible, pun~
ishment of the offender should consist
of a social reprimand by the court to
express society's attitude toward the
offenSe; (3) Wherever possible, obli»
gatory labor without deprivation of lie
berty should be the basis of punishment;
(h? Prisons must evolve into education-
al institutions; (53 The educational
work of the prison must be strengthened
'through the active, participating inter-
est of the community.

The philosophy seems to worko At
Krykukovo, a corrective labor colony
some 355 miles from.Moscow, inmates live
in‘rough barracks and work in prison
factories. They are paid the prevailing
scale for their labor. They pay their
own room and board, buy their own clothe
ing. With what is left, they save to»
ward their release or help support their
dependents.

No one escapes. They don‘t want to.
Minimum sentence is one year, maximum,
ten. Conjugal visits with wives are al»
lowed seven days in each quarter. Home»
sexuality is almost noneexistent. When
the inmate leaves, he has enough money
to get back on his feet and to make his
rewadjustment to the community with rem
lative ease.

Few inmates ever return to prison, and
the Soviet Union saves itself a whopping
prison bill.

Castle News

EDITOR.MUST DECLINE INVITATIONS

Approximately once a month, the mailman
brings us a handsomely printed card with
the rooster symbol of the OwensborOw

Daviess County Chamber of Commerce
printed on its front. On the other side
is an invitation that begins "Dear

Rooster Boosters“ and goes on to invite
us to a dinner or breakfast sponsored by
one or another of the Chamber members.

Reason we get the invitations is that
we're on the mailing list to receive the
Chamber's monthly bulletin. Since the
invitations as well as the bulletins are
addressed by an automatic process, we
get all the mail the Chamber sends out.

The invitations are attractive for‘ the
most part. The speaker one month was a
Cuban refugee. Last month it was an
Hungarian fugitive from Communism. And
the bill of fare is tempting, too.

But as much as
invitations,

we'd like to accept the
there are problems. For
one thing, we don't have a thing to
wear. Transportation would be a prob«
lem, too. And getting over the wall
wouldn't be easy. So we have to dew
cline, with thanke-

But it‘s nice to be wantedl

EmUGH IS END UGH'.

 

Police in Dallas, Texas, thought they
had a murder on their hands last week
When ihey answered a disturbance call
and found a man standing in his yard
with a shotgun and shouting, "I finally
did it! I finally did its"

Rushing into the house in search of a
body they found a gaping hole where the
glass and picture tube had been in his
television‘set.

 

DONTTZMISS "Closed World" an the publioe
service presentation of WCBL, broadcast
from.Eddyville Prison on the 1290 spot.

 

Page 5

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERIAND

,r .. gnu-id

Wm.“ A 'A

  

Technologically speaking, the United
States is one of the biggest, wealthi-
est, most powerful nations on earth.

Socially speaking, it often seems to be
one of the most backward.

The United States, in Spite of mass edua
cation and the world's highest standard
of living, has one of the highest die
vorce rates in the world. It has more
alcoholics, drug addicts, and neurotics
than almost any other nation. In spite
of spending more money on crime preven-
tion than a dozen small nations spend on
defense, it has one of the world's
highest crime rateso And the'Uo So is
unequaled in the percentage of its popu=
lation that is in prison.

As the editor of a prison magazine, I am
acutely aware that this is 300 Every
day the mail brings me news of the great
forward strides that other nations are
making or haVe already made in the
fields of sociology and penologyo Every
day the mail brings me news of the con~
tinued rise in crime and other social
problems in this, our own nation.

As an individual, I an also aware that
We seem to be becoming a nation of cone
servatives. lacking a long tradition as

a state, we have become traditionm
lovers, shying away from new ideas sim=
ply because theere new. 'We look for

precedents where precedents have already
failed us time and time again. In
Short, we're afraid to be “radical."
And as long as we‘re afraid to be radi—
cal, to try something new when the old
Ways have proved their ineffectiveness,
we‘re going to stand still. 0r worse,
we're going to go backward.

fiflfiwfififliufltflfl 5517 6

-5". .r.-_,-..

Nowhere is this more true than in the
nation's prisons, the real strongholds
of tradition. While technology has adn
vanced to the point that our scientists
can plan and make guided flights to the
moon and Venus, there are yet prisons in
the United States which cling to the old
traditions of permanent leg shackles,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the silent system, and the whipping
post. Only a relatively few states have
broken away from the long, determinant
sentence inspired by the long—

discredited hedonist school of penologye
The traditions of the death sentence and
of "made" work and outright idleness
still persist in even the best of U. S.
PriSOHSo

Nor are We convicts blameless in this
respect, Glinging to our old traditions
of hate, prejudice, and resentment, we
more often than not negate any worth=
while efforts in our behalfo

In the news section of this magaaine are
two articles which point Up the once
cesses of other nations me one of them
our rival in the cold war a: in the pri-
son field. There could have been other
stories, of other nations. There could

have been stories illustrating how far
behind 25 some nations are. But the
only story that really matters is the

story of what this country, with its gia
gantic resources and its wealth of
trained minds, is doing with it§_mis—
fits.

It's not a pretty story»

an Lawrence Show

 

CASTEE ON THE CUMBERLAND

Page 6

  

 

Fiction 8c Articles

   

WILD BILL AND THE 45 summons

 

 

 

PM! HIV

1

 

—:.
\ '
9.

 

 

 

 

It happened in one of those Southwestern
states. You know the kind of country I
mean ... all sagebrush and caetus and
'open Spaces, except for bare, rocky
western mountains, and nothing but In=
diaJB and Meetizos scratching a living
out of 99 per cent of the country. The
other one per cent is different, though.
ThatVS where the cities are, and theyflro
not like cities in other parts of the
country; Not old and concentrated and
kinda dead, you know, but young and
rangy and sort of alivea Anyway, it was
in one of them cities that Jimmy and me
planned our capero

It would have been a good one,“ too, if
it hadn't been for Wild Billo A new dew
partnent store, it was doing a booming
business, like most enterprises in the
desert, and its safe was bulging with
green. ‘We knew, because weld made a
point of seeing ito

The trouble was getting to it. There
was so much money in that box it would
have taken a Brinks team to sack it up
and move it. In a way, that9s how we
planned to get it»

C:

 

by. .3wa Ho BRANDT

 

 

 

 

 

 

”‘3“ ‘
I-;\ I ‘_.4

;.mgg.=aw :5

A.__ m. _, .,

 

 

The annored car picked up the money
three times a week, always on different
days and at different timeso But about
15 minutes before they came, the manager
and the bookkeeper would have the money
out of the safe and into those green
canvas sacks that the armored car some
pany usedo We planned to get there just
a few minutes before the car dido

well, weld cased that store down for ale
most three weeks when we finally saw a
pattern in the time the car cameo In
another week we had it down pat, and‘we
was ready to move the following Monday,
Which was the day we figured theyid make
the next shipment of money,

But I mentioned Wild Billo 'Wild Bill
Hickok. That wasn9t his name, I guess,
but that9s how I thought of him. That
Sunday one the Sunday before the Monday
we was going to do our stuff 000 Jimmy
and me got to feeling tense and kind of
shut in, liken we hadn“t been out of
the house except to case that store for
almost a month, and we decided to take
a ride around the desert to settle our
nerves and get in the mood for the hito

 

Page 7

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND#‘

 

 L

Fiction & Articles

 

0n the way out of town Jimmy noticed.a
sign advertising a riding stable. It
was up in the forested part of the moun-
tains, rare in that part of the country
as I've already said, and Jimmy took the
notion he'd like to ride a horse. There
was a sort of road map on the sign show-
ing how to get to the place, so I watch
for the turnoff while Jimmy fights the
Sunday'traffic.

The road leading to the stables turned
out to be a winding, climbing little
asphalt strip with almost no traffic on
it. The country was all desert and
rocks when we first started up it, but
as we drove on, all that fell behind.
Before we know it, we are right up in
the mountains, with the trees getting
thicker and thicker and the road crook-
eder and crookeder. The air is cooler
and fresher up here, with a sort of
clean pine smell to it, and I begin to
think that maybe a little horseback rid-
ing wouldn't be so bad after all.

Pretty quick we come to another sign ad-
vertising the riding stables. Below the
sign, on the same post, there is a lit-
tle wooden shingle with a handrlettered
sign on it that says something about a
trading post a half mile ahead. "Guns
and Ammunition,"‘the sign says.

"watch for that trading post,“ I says to
Jimmy. "I need some ammunition." I have
a box of shells, but I den't want to
Ugo them up shooting at tin cans.

and a minute later he
pulls up in front of the little store.
There isn't much to it. Just a log
cabin with another handelettered sign
over the door, and a pull—off where cars
can park. I get out and push open
the door.

Jhmmy says okay,

Right off I get the funniest feeling
that this pbace isn't real, somehow.
To start with, the merchandise on the
Shelves is the sort of stuff you'd see
in old. western movies. Yard goods,
crackers in a barrel, cheese in big

wheels -- but nothing new, nothing mod-

ern. There is an old pot-bellied stove

in the middle of the room, ands two old

geezers are sitting with their feet

propped up on it, even though 'it isn't

lit, and not saying a word ~—just giving'
me the cold-eye as I come through the

door.

But the screwiest thing of all is the
way the fellow behind the counter
looks. He has on a faded plaid shirt
made of some real coarse material and a
pair of pants that look like buckskin.
His hair is white and so long it hangs
down tb his shoulders, and he has a big
white beard and handlebar moustache to
go with it. He is a dead ringer for
Wild Bill Hickok.

well, I Walk up to the counter and be—
fore I can say a word Wild Bill says,
"Sorry, son, we ain't got a new .h5
ca'tridge in the place."

“on," says I, and turns to walk out.

"well, now, just a minute, young fdllowh
We ain't' got no new ca'tridges, but
we've got some old.333s here in a ceegar
box, if you want 'em. You can do your
target shooting with them and save your
good ones." And he pulls an old cigar
box out from under the counter.

I buy a handful of the shells ~— old
cartridges they were, too, with the
brass just starting to turn green -— and
walk out. It wans't until I get to
to the car and sit down that it hits me.

How the devil did 'Wild Bill know I
wanted .h5 cartridges? I hadn't opened
my mouth to tell him what I wanted. And
how did he know that I wanted to do some
target shooting? For that matter, how
did he know that I had a box of good
shells packed away that I didn't want to
use up? It gives me the creeps, but I
don't say nothing to Jimmy, not right
13 hen.
(Please turn to Page 10?

 

TASTLB ON THE CUMBERLAND

Page 8

  

 

 

Fiction 8: Articles

I‘ 93"
f9 6

”1.4er o5?“

 

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: This unsigned article
appeared in the Summer Edition of The
EAGLE, inmate publication of the Federal
Reformatory for Women at Alderson,
Virginia.

 

Emerywhere I go, I find a .Mother. Yet 5
is to escape from a i

each time I go, it
Mother. It seems there is an ever“
present something for me that shapes
into "Mother 0"

As a child I loved “Mother." Just the
sound of the word did something wonderu
ful to me. Then as I grew older I began
to find I was losing too much of myself
to this “Mother.“ I began to be
selfless and more selfish. I wanted
myself to myselfo I could share with
others, but still wanted to be with
"myself."

So I got married, sort of to cut off
Mother and share with Hubby. But, Lo,
the tie is not so easily broken, and
through various tugs and pulls at the
strings of our connections, Mother won
out over Hubby. we were divorced (Hubby
and I), and we were reconciled another
and I) o

My'return to the womb, so to
lasted approximately five, days, during
which I was pampered, coddled, cooed
over, and made to feel completely inade-
quate to face life, “Help, " I cried
and on the sixth day I was rescued via
narcotics.t My previous experiences with
drugs had left little or no impression
on me except excitement a- you know,
"live dangerously." But now they seemed
a boon in the times of strife, a comfort
in the storms of coddling, and, like
fresh air_ after being smothered in the
bosom of my mother's love.

Yet each link that I broke from the
chain of Mother Love only added a pig»

West.,

less.

speak,

 

 

iron link to the chain of
made myself a slave to drugs

narcoticso I
and in bea

ing a slave seemed free. I had almost
loosed the 'Mother Chain mm or so I
,thought.

And then I was arrested, was I pleased?
we. was I disturbed? Slightly, Was I
worried about whai;Mother woul 'think?
No. .At last I was doing something on
my owno Mother couldn"t help me now our
and I was glado

So I arrived at Alderson, my‘ mind made
up to find myself and be my own person,
my own guide in life, to be an indiriw,
duals But Lo, I found I was still an
embryo. A different womb, but still
“Mother," a bigger, more accomodating
womb, but still “Mother." I have been
coddled when performing a likeable task,
and chastised when I was “bad.“ I get a
pat on the head for being a good girl,
a good talking to when on the wrong
track. Sometimes the admonition is, ”Be
a woman” we and then I am given the dish
ersions of a child.

How to cape with this? Retreat? Defiw
ance? Submission? Am ,I equipped to
cope with it? How 'would I know? I

 

Page 9

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 Fiction & Articles

neverihave time to find out. I'm tired,
tired of Mothers and Mother figures, and
Mother Institutions. To the devil‘ with
them all; I'm going to be my own Mother
and lead my own life. I'm going to be
independent of all maternal ties and
suggestions. I don't need anyone to
smooth the path before me. After all,
I'm 29 years old now, and who wants to
be a 29-year-old child? Not me. I
think I've just about outgrown it. I've
crawled for a long time and when I began
to take my first steps, I had help, and
when I didn't need the help any more,
I had help. So this time when I try my
legs out, I'll run FROM help, especially
if it bears the name Mother.

WILD BILL (Continued from Page B3

 

We go on to the stable and rent our
horses all right, but all the time we
are riding I am thinking of old Wild
Bill knowing I want ammunition for my
.h5. Finally I tell Jimmy about it.
well, he remembers that he'd felt pret~
ty creepy sitting there in front of that

old trading post, too. The more we
talk about it, the more jittery we
get. So after a Spell we just look

at each other and nod, and then we head
for the car. '

We never do make that department store.
In fact, we get out of the state the
next day. We just don't feel right un-
til we do -— it is like someone read-
ing our minds all the time.

But I guess the funniest part of it is
on the way back down the mountain road.
It looks like the same road we had come
up on. Same signs, same trees. Even
the same twists and turns. And we are
both keeping an eye out for it, too.
But all the way down that mountain, we
never do find that old trading post er
the little wooden sign 'underneath the
riding stable ad:

i

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it! Address: Box 128, Eddyvil'le, Ky.

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