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JACOB HODGES.
his confinement, was truly to him, "more
like a palace than a prison."
At length his pardon was granted, and
his prison door was opened. Few scenes
in his whole life were so affecting as this.
That cell which had been his place of
anguish and of tears, his dark abode of
penitence and searchings after God, where
light had broken upon his mind, he had
met Jesus and found peace to his soul:—
that cell, his closet, his Bethel, he was
now to leave forever.
Taking his Bible, the only article that
belonged to him, he walked out to have
his last, parting interview with his keeper
and the chaplain. And it was one truly
affecting to them all. He was one \i hom
they regarded as the first, fruits of their
experiment upon the new plan of prison
discipline. Jacob stood before them, the
murderer, the ignorant, wretched African;
but how changed! Intelligent in the
knowledge of God, a man of prayer,
blessed in the hope of eternal life. His
prison garments were taken off and he