The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-11
CHAPTER VIII,

lr The Story of Child. IN all within the courtroom save the judge the entrance kgEHfFFz@ of the child made visible i'm EdD pression. So fair and brigh child to be brought into the oppres sive atmosphere of a courtroom that seemed to be filled with the shadowy presences of a long line of murderers and thieves, abandoned men and wom- en of all sorts, "drug fiends'' and the offscourings of humanity! Why, on the very spot on which the child stood when she turned to her daddy the brother of young woman who had been wronged had stood and with a pistol had shot dead the man accused of the wrong, in the very presence of the court! Surely, as Robert Strick- land had moaned, this was no place for his pretty, winsome little Doris! Before Doris could be permitted to testify there was a legal formality to be observed. The law does not recog- n1ze the competence of a young child to give testimony unless the court is satisfied that the child has been in structed in and understands the mean ing of truth telling. So District Attor- ney Gray, addressing the court, said:
 k''Your honor, I respectfully ask that the competency of this child to testify be determined"
 Arbuckie being willing, Judge Dins- more asked the little one:
 'How old are you, Doris?'
 'EI'm going to be nine years old on the 9th of November
 .'And do you go to school?" , ''Yes. sir. was promoted. Pm in the grammar school now replied the child
 With a view to probing the child's moral training, Judge eDinsmore asked:
 Did you ever go to Sunday school"
 ssYes, sir; I went every Sunday be- fore mamma went away" replied Doris, But now Aunt Helen won't let me go because all the children talk about me and make me cry.''
 It was in plaintive voice that Doris told thus of the effect on her of the tragedy which had cost a mans life and had brought her beloved daddy into the shadow of the electric chair. Throughout the courtroom the sympa thy with the little one was apparent, but Robert Strickland did not stir.
 "Did you learn in Sunday school that you must always tell the truth P Judge Dinsmore continued.
  Commandments-tT Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. That means that you should never tel a lie. Miss Weston told me that She's my Sunday school teacher. She taught noe all the Ten CoTnmandments Shall say them for your
 Here, for almost the first time, lit tie gleam of humor darkened the trag fc scene. The child's eagerness to dis play her accomplishment made thsi judge raise his hand in affected horro as he said, Mot now,'' and many the courtroom laughed !
 Satisfied that little Doris would {; the truth, the judge turned to Distri Attorney Gray and said:
 "I, think she may testify and to Al buckle, Proceed. Mir. Arbuckle.''
 Her full namewas Doris Heie Strickland the little girl told the law yer, but the neF question, ''Who i your father?'' seemed to puzzle her Why should any one ask her who her father was when her daddy sat there in court in plain sight of them all?
 ''Why, that's my daddy .therer' said Doris, and she jumped from the wit ness chair and started toward him Her affection for him was evident. II was plain that she reciprocated the love which had made hizn beg so pas sionately that she be kept out of the case.
 Arbuck1e stopped her and with ten derness lifted her back into the wit ness chair. sN
 Robert Strickland is your father?'. he asked.
 "Yes, sir''
 And then, with careful, gentle ques tionfhg, the lawyer elicited from the little girl the story of that last even ing in the. home of Mir. and Mrs. Rob ert Strickland and their little daugh ter. Doris remembered the night ol which Mir. Trask was shot, she tolt -Arbuckle. Her father had been ava, from home, buying house in Cleve land for them, to live in. He came back that evening. Just before he re turned Doris was in the sitting room at about half past '. She was waitin- for daddy, she said. and while she was waiting she was practising her piano lesson.
 On the evening of June 24 thing ot her music and agitated by thoughts o1 her returning daddy. little Doris Strick land left the piano. crossed the roonz and went behind the sofa to play witt her dolls. She was very quiet for < time, so quiet that her mother did no know she was there. Mrs. Stricklane entered the room, went to the tabls whereon the telephone stood and cor suited the telephone book before tai ing the receiver from the hook The she spoke
 (To Be ContlnuedS