| |
| SHE stood at the bar of justice, | |
| A creature wan and wild, | |
| In form too small for a woman, | |
| In feature too old for a child. | |
| For a look so worn and pathetic | 5 |
| Was stamped on her pale young face, | |
| It seemed long years of suffering | |
| Must have left that silent trace. | |
| |
| “Your name,” said the judge, as he eyed her | |
| With kindly look, yet keen, | 10 |
| “Is—?” “Mary McGuire, if you please, sir.” | |
| “And your age?” “I am turned fifteen.” | |
| “Well, Mary—” And then from a paper | |
| He slowly and gravely read, | |
| “You are charged here—I am sorry to say it— | 15 |
| With stealing three loaves of bread. | |
| |
| “You look not like an offender, | |
| And I hope that you can show | |
| The charge to be false. Now, tell me, | |
| Are you guilty of this, or no?” | 20 |
| A passionate burst of weeping | |
| Was at first her sole reply; | |
| But she dried her tears in a moment, | |
| And looked in the judge’s eye. | |
| |
| “I will tell you just how it was, sir; | 25 |
| My father and mother are dead, | |
| And my little brothers and sisters | |
| Were hungry, and asked me for bread. | |
| At first I earned it for them | |
| By working hard all day, | 30 |
| But somehow the times were hard, sir, | |
| And the work all fell away. | |
| |
| “I could get no more employment; | |
| The weather was bitter cold; | |
| The young ones cried and shivered | 35 |
| (Little Johnnie ’s but four years old). | |
| So what was I to do, sir? | |
| I am guilty, but do not condemn; | |
| I took—oh, was it stealing?— | |
| The bread to give to them.” | 40 |
| |
| Every man in the court-room— | |
| Graybeard and thoughtless youth— | |
| Knew, as he looked upon her, | |
| That the prisoner spake the truth. | |
| Out from their pockets came kerchiefs, | 45 |
| Out from their eyes sprang tears, | |
| And out from the old faded wallets | |
| Treasures hoarded for years. | |
| |
| The judge’s face was a study, | |
| The strangest you ever saw, | 50 |
| As he cleared his throat and murmured | |
| Something about the law. | |
| For one so learned in such matters, | |
| So wise in dealing with men, | |
| He seemed on a simple question | 55 |
| Sorely puzzled just then. | |
| |
| But no one blamed him, or wondered, | |
| When at last these words they heard, | |
| “The sentence of this young prisoner | |
| Is for the present deferred.” | 60 |
| And no one blamed him, or wondered, | |
| When he went to her and smiled, | |
| And tenderly led from the court-room, | |
| Himself, the “guilty” child. | |
| |
