find out about just such wild boys. How many want to go?”
To his satisfaction, all did; and so, that night that court room had rows of young folks, all agog with curiosity which a first visit to a court stirs up in a child. Just by luck, our young vagrant in rags was brought in first, shaking with childish doubt as to what was going to occur. But that kindly man sitting back of that big mahogany railing had no thought of scaring a child, and said, calmly:—
“Now, boy, what did you do that you ought not to do; and why did you do it?”
As our boys sat nudging and winking, but with our girls growing sad from sympathy, our young culprit said:—
“Aw! I grabs a bun, and dis big cop grabs my collar!”
“But why did you grab that bun? It wasn’t yours, you know.”
“Gosh, man!! I was hungry!!”
“Hungry? Don’t your folks look out for you?”
“Naw; I do my own looking. And that’s what I was doing, too!”
“What had you for food all day?”
[ 114 ]
