The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-01-11
JUSTICE WANTED.
How Jesse Clark Kept a Promise
Made to His Dying Wife.

and man walked up tc the high desk
where Judge Gray sat.
The Judge looked up quickly, his
deep blue eyes peered with a shrewd
kindliness from behind old-fashioned
spectacles. His heavy iron gray Eair
was pushed back from a broad fore
head. His upper lip was long and plain
while stubby gray beard partly con-
cealed his square chin. One very long
tooth overhung the lower ones, and
gave him a decided lisp when speak
ing. Over his head on the white
washed wall hung the photograph of
dead judge, his predecessor. Judge
Gray often looked up at il wondering
# some day his likeness would hang
there, and if he would be put crooked
in his frame like this man. He hoped
not He was an exact creature, and
the very idea of such thing made him
uncomfortable.
On one side the room two high
walnut bookcases stood in funereal
grandeur They were filed with
musty looking law books in yellow
calf bindings. A sign hung on the
wall, stating that: Each book must
be returned to its proper place" The
warning was unnecessary, for the dust
lay thick upon the shelves.
The walls were grimy and bore
traces of many finger marks There
was a black ring around the place
where the stove-pipe hole was, and
The opening had pasted over it piece
of dirty brown paper. A desk with
ink. in which a fly buzzed his last will
and testament, and a group of pens in
deep mourning. with some rough
wooden benches running round the
walls completed the furniture of the
courtroom, save for a large wooden
table in the center. This was strewn
with papers, and clerk sat before it,
rustling them occasionally with a
great appearance of energy.
A once brown oil-cloth, worn nearly
gray with the tread of many feet, COW
cred the floor. A large cloak, with a
placid face, licked away the tiresome
moments. Several widows posed in
various stages of grief around the
room. One could tell from their
faces the condition of the wills they
came to probate. Those who were
there for the first time had an anxious
look, and appealed constantly to
their companions, as they awaited
the unknown agonies of proba-
tion. The least and simplest point
of law often seems momentOus to the
feminine mind. The widows who
came for yearly settlement were
more assured, while those awaiting
the Final were serenely superior
and had an 'I-know-all-about-it'' air.
Groups of men stood about and
talked, others passed to and fro and a
notary acknowledged deeds and sig
natures.
All this was an old story to Judge
Gray, and he leaned his head OF his
hand thoughtfully as he waited to
hear the business of the man who
stood by his desk. He was a tall,
farmer, bowed in the
shoulders, and with long, unkempt
gray locks hanging about his face.
He wore a look of mingled uncer-
tainty and decision, as he glanced |
round the room. The bystanders |
looked at him in lazy curiosity. The |
round the desk, and pointing with a
long and skinny finger at Judge Gray, |
be asked:
BE you the jedge?"
Yes" was the reply; what do you |
want, my MANI"
Il want justice! The room was
very quiet, and the mans gruff voice
rang out: "Justice!"
THAT is what we are here for" said
Judge Gray, smiling a little. He was
accustomed to all kinds of appeals, but
his kind old heart never seemed to
harden. Tell me your story, my
friend" he said to the old man. As he
took off his battered hat and wiped
his face with his handkerchief, the old
farmer said:
Il amt much of hand at talkin'."
Never mind said the judge, go
on."
''Wa-al," said he, sit was like this:
My Jane was alters set on our havin' a
farm. So after we wuz married
-ented a farm over on the Rock road,
and we lived there ten years. Then
We he'd saved some money and we
bought the place on mortgage. We
worked and shaved and screwed. l
lunno as we'd ever hev paid fur it,
put the people wuz awful good about
vaitin' fur their money. Twas a FIVE
and paid the interest
light along, a savin' some towards the
principal. When it came due we paid
,ff half and renewed for five years
more. 1t TUX us ten years to git tibet
line. My boy Jim, he left US; said he
wuz goin' some place where he could
,arn huff to spend some He was
tired of scrimpin'. Jane TUX on or
III when Jim run off, and peared like
he never seemed the same after
wards. She didn't seem ter care so
much about the farm. But at last it
vuz all paid fur, and it's as purity bit
" farm land as there is in all of Mis-
ouri. l thought we'd hev some peace
hen, but Jane. she fell sick, and then
she died" The mans voice choked, |
,ut he went resoluteIy on.
''She said ter me, the night before
he died: Jesse, want yez ter prom
Sc me something
g What is it, said 1.
g Promise me never ter put another
emmy in land said she. We've
worked and toiled and sent our only
hid ter ruin, and all fur our farm. It
ont pay, Jesse. And l want you ter
romise me you'll never put any more
honey in land Said 1: Jane, you're ,
ight, and promise