New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-09-15
JUSTICE AND DUTY,
BY ALICE chEEvER.

ciation.l
An old woman sat in the anteroom
of Judge Bakers private office waiting
to be admitted to his presence Final
" the door opened, and she was told
to go in.
'.You see, judge, I'm here again.
eyes, you are here again.
81 have just come back from visiting
my boy. He told me 70 thank you for
your kindness to me-
81 suppose he will be kind to you
himself when he gets out He gave
you a terrible blow when he permitted
himself to fall into bad company and
got into the penitentiary."
''They fooled the poor boy, judge;
indeed they did. When they put him
on watch before they robbed the house
they told him they We're only going for
watermelon"
The judge made no comment on this
statement.
Hes earning time" continued the
woman, s'by good behavior If he
keeps it up-and he will-he'll have a
year and a half off his term. But
even that'll leave him three years and
half yet to serve It's as hard on
me as it is on him. I have trouble to
pay my rent and keep body and soul
together now my health has broken
down. If he We're free he could work
for me. | wish the officers of the law
could find some way of stopping crime
without visiting the punishment on
the women and children, and my boy,
too, the victim of foul play"
Il wish so, too," replied the judge,
with something akin to sigh.
Have you got son, judge?'
Il have, and about your boys age"
do you remember how it was when
he was born-helpless little thing!-
how your heart warmed to him, and
how when he began to walk and to
talk you watched every movement,
caught every word, and how as he
grew older you We're delighted with
his smart sayings, just as if no other
child said such things; how you
watched him grow up to be-
Eyes, yes, l understand what you
mean and sympathize with you with all
my heart. l would have liked to save
your boy, but the evidence was against
him, and the jury convicted him. It
was my duty to sentence him. Come
in here, say, a month from today, and
I'll give you another chance to see
him, or, rather, I'll confer with the
warden and let you know the date.
You must go now. l have to be in
court soon and have lot to do before
the opening"
"Thank you, judge; here is $1.55 left
over that I didn't use from the money
you gave me for my trip"
But the judge waved her away, the
door closed behind her, and she went
to her desolate home weighed down
with the remembrance of those long
months that must elapse before the
law would cease to punish her through
her boy. And yet the least of that
punishment was that, deprived of the
support OF her own son, a strong man
of twenty-five, she must earn her own
living. 1t was the pain that her clad
die" was a convict in stripes with
shaved head that hurt her most
A month dragged by. Her rent was
coming due, and there was no money
with which to pay it. One morning
the old woman received note asking
her to call at the judges Office at II
o'clock noon. She went there and was
given seat in the anteroom. There
she waited for half an hour. Then an
attendant opened the door to the
Judges private room and told her to
go In. The judge was turning over the
sheets of legal document and did
not indicate that he was aware Of her
presence. She sat down demurely and
waited Presently the judge turned
the last sheet and looked up at her.
I'm here again, judge she said.
Eyes, said the judge, taking out his
watch. you're here again, but this
time at my call. Twelve o'clock, I
wrote you, l believe, and it is now
nearly /. I'm sorry to have kept you
waiting, but there's been delay
Let me see. I told you'-he hesitated
-''when you left me the last time that
he paused again.
"You would send me word when the
warden considered it best for me to
see my boy again"
'The warden? Did l say the ward
| en-? l should have said-but never
mind"
The judge seemed confused He put
his spectacles on his desk and when
I he tried to find them again failed to
do SO. lie took up papers only to
throw them down again. Then he
! went to the door that led to his ante
room, opened it and said something in
low voice to an attendant. Going
back to his desk, he took out his watch
again and said incoherent nothings to
the old woman. Then suddenly door