Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/135



boys. Maybe the old man was grouchy, but, gee, the coop was his, and “swiping” wasn’t “square.” It was sneaky, it was weak to steal. So he proposed to stop this “weakness” of this gang; not only of the three that had been caught, but of the whole gang.

Now, the Judge teaches respect for grown-up law by himself invariably showing great respect for “kid law.” It is against the law of Boyville to “snitch” (tattle). So he wouldn’t let them tell him who the other “burglars” were! ?r But, say, fellers,” he said, “you bring in the other kids, and we’ll talk it over, and we’ll see if we can’t agree to cut out stealing altogether, and especially td stop swipin’ pigeons off the old man.”

That was fair, and it was human. They went away, and they got the gang. And the gang entered into a deal with the “ Jedge”; “sure the did.” Who wouldn’t ? And do you think they would go back on a Judge like that? Sure they wouldn’t, and they wouldn’t let any other feller go back on him either; not much; not if they could prevent it; and they thought they could. And they did, as they reported from time to time.

It was this case, which, coming home so personally to him, set the Judge thinking. “It seemed to me,” he says, “that we were not proceeding just right in such cases. I didn’t know