The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-06-17
Guilty, or not guilty p

Guilty, your Honor. It's the old
plea, Judge. the plea Joe. the Wreck.
has been making for years. 1t has been
entered against me in all the courts be-
low, and I'm afraid I'll find it entered
against me in the courts above. Will
they be hard on me up there, Judge
Will they call me Joe, the Wreck, and
because 1 have to put in tie Old plea,
will they drag me around like heart
less thing? You know l can't alter the
plea, Judge. Will there be any mercy
when / answer guilty in the court
above?"
"Yes, up there, mercy will be shown
even to Joe, the Wreck but they will
punish the guilty up there You
are a hard case, Joe. Always on a
drunk"
"Always?" Oh, no, Judge, not al
Gays. Once was an innocent babe on
my mothers breast. Once was happy
boy, playing about her knee. There
wasn't bad thought in my heart,
Judge, nor blotch, nor scar on the
face that she kissed. Once l was
loved. All, Judge, Joe, the Wreck,
was once good enough for "a pure wo-
man to love. Bessie loved me-oh-
the past"
"Joe, the court pities you, but"
"Dont, Judge, don't send me off yet.
want to let it out of my withered
heart. Once / had home, Judge
Joe the Wreck had home-mine and
Bessies. Did you know her, Judge,
her they called Bessie the Parsons
lass %"
Are you the Joe that married
Bessie"
"Ah, you did know her, then. The
first evening / went home and found
the cottage bright and warm, Bessie
smiling and blushing by the little table
where waited the tea her willing hands
prepared: was the proudest man in
the world, Judge. Something burned
In my heart and swelled in my throat
and couldn't speak. A feeling more
like heaven than I'll ever know again.
A feeling that died long ago-died even
out of my dreams-died when she died
Of q broken heart"
"Joe, the court"
"Wait, Judge, wait for her sake.
You told them Joe the Wreck won
Bessie. Let me tell them he wasn't a
wreck then. He won her because he
pledged her and God that he would
love and cherish her. He kept that
VOW till drink made him forget-forget
God, love, home, wife, the babe on her
bosom-Oh, if could forget no1U-
forget all the days that are dead-the
hopes 1 have wrecked-the graves
where I've buried-everything-"
This is a strange scene in court,
Joe. Will you try to break Off"
"Never, Judge, / can't. The past
pushes me on and down. 1 fear the
dead back there more than the death
before. The ghosts all rise up when 1
turn. They follow me in the bright
light of day, and come to haunt me in
the remorseful dreams of night l see
the old house where 1 played; the
mother who taught me prayer at her
knee: the father who dotted on his only
boy-and / see-Bessie-Oh, God =
her radiant face under the bridal veil
her face full of the heaven of mother
hood as she laid our first-born on my
breast-her face white and tear-wet as
she pleaded with me-holy with wifely
love as she prayed for me-the babe
I feel its soft hands on my cheeks-Oh,
Judge"
Joe, 1 forget that am Judge, and
pity you with the heart of an erring
man. But you"
wait, Judge, only word more and
Joe the Wreck will go. All, if the
world only knew. If it could see his
poor soul hiding from the past and the
devils that pursue him. They point at
their work and mine with shadowy
fingers, and laugh at the ruin we have
wrought. Yes, I'm guilty, your Honor.
l have branded my soul with the curse
of drink. Ay, men will look on Bessies
grave and say Pm murderer-Oh, the
day-the years that are gone-the
graves I have filed with their dead"
"Joe-"
I'm mad with this talk-ha, ha, ha,
why should thing of the good! 1 am
gone to the bad. Not Bessie and Joe,
but ruin and Joe are we'd. See the
boys how they stare at the wreck! All,
tits Bessie talking to-day-let me put
on the old wreck again. Now your
sentence, Judge, send me away
LIZ y. Cake, IN the Current.